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    The Wondarium started with a dream. I dreamed I was combing the beach for shells with my friend Alfred then a message came through the air from his wife Sarah. She said, "The Hippopotamus says bring her back some treasures."

    The next morning, I told my dream to Alfred over the telephone who later sent a chorus to me about Hippo. But before I'd heard his chorus, I'd written two verses about her as well. Once I listened to his chorus, I realized that my verses fit in with the rhythm of what he'd already written.

    Alfred and I call this ESP (extrasensory perception) songwriting. We write a lot of songs this way. Once we realized that both of us enjoyed making up songs that would suit children, we wrote another and another and another. We didn't think about them in a methodical way; they just dropped into our minds over the course of about a year.

    What makes these songs particularly for kids? Well there's something free about them, something nonsensical, and something playful. These are things which I always loved in songs I heard on Sesame Street or on Pete Seeger records.

    Not all adults are open to a song about the virtues of string, whereas kids seem to understand. But I was pleased to meet an adult after the first public performance of these songs who said, "I know you wrote that string song for kids, but I like it too." Perfect.

    Songs for kids, songs for free thinkers, songs for nonsense-lovers, songs for socks, songs for bears, boats, beans, and hippos.

    Come one, come all. Take your chances in The Wondarium.

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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of String Unraveller Demo May 2021, The American Dream (Harlis and Freda), Voice Memo Demo, I'm Letting Go of You – Kitchen Single, The Wondarium: Songs For Kids, A Body is a Delicate House, I Fell Into the Fire, The Loneliest Snowman, I Fell Into The Fire – Limited Edition Handprinted, and 18 more. , and , .

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about

Alfred wrote most of this lyric for his niece Summer on her birthday. That year she was crazy about Trampolines. I had to get a part in the song about twirling a baton because I loved my twirling classes when I was a kid.

lyrics

Trampoline Girl

There’s a girl who wants to know
just how high a girl can go –
saw the moon
and thought she would fly there.
Prettiest thing I’ve ever seen,
springs just like a trampoline.
Baby can you jump any higher.

But every time I look at you
then my heart starts leaping too.
Haven’t you heard ‘bout the
Trampoline Girl?
Trampoline Girl.
Trampoline Girl.

There’s a girl who broke my heart –
put the horse before the cart.
And Here we are another year older.
Still I won’t abandon hope
even if the axle broke cause
she turns cartwheels over and over.

And even if I’ve fallen flat,
you can bring me bouncing back.
You tumble and twirl,
Trampoline Girl.

Saw her twirling her baton
then I knew my heart was gone.
She’s helium rising inside me.
So, I leapt up to join her there –
twisting, shouting through the air.
Trampoline girl jumping beside me.

Every year I won’t forget
you put the spring back in my step.
You rock my world,
Trampoline Girl.

credits

from The Wondarium: Songs For Kids, released December 13, 2022
Music and Lyrics by Jeni Hankins, Lulu Wall Music, BMI,
and Alfred John Hickling, Sweet Pea Music.

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Jeni Hankins London, UK

Jeni Hankins grew up in the coalfields of Appalachian in Southwest Virginia among a family of miners, moonshiners, and journalists. Her writing pulls the grit, gumption, and keen sense of observation out of that heritage like drawing water from her grandmother’s well.

In every song, Jeni’s “true sense of place shines through – old as the hills, but brand new at the same time.” ... more

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