Talking About "Windy"

It's been a couple years since I've tried singing the song "Windy" in school. In fact, I'd forgotten the lyrics until The Association classic took its turn on my playlist the other day. I seemed like a good one for the first day of our new 5's program, so I played it through a couple more times to lock in the words, then sang it for the kids on Monday.

No one sang along with me, of course, because none of them had heard it before, so it was like a performance with me throwing in a few hand gestures.

In introducing a new song, I like to sing it through once in my croaking, off-key voice, then follow it up  by going line-by-line, figuring out what it all means.

"Who's peeking out from under a stairway?" I sang to them. "I wonder what that means."

There was a moment of staring silence before, "I think it means there were some stairs that didn't have any wood under them."

Me: "And she got under there?"

"She got really small and crawled under."

"She was peeking out through the part of the stairs where there wasn't anything."

"My cousins house has a place under another place that doesn't have anything under it and you can go under there."

Me: "And you can peek out of there?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, one time I saw stairs that didn't have anything under them and you can look through them to the ground!"

Me: "And if you got under them could you look out?"

"I didn't get under them, but somebody could."

I sang, "Calling a name that's lighter than air? . . . I wonder what that's all about." I knew it was a tricky one, so I waited. When there was no response, I asked, "Is there anything lighter than air?"

"Clouds."

Me: "Clouds float up in the air."

"What about seeds?"

Me: "Yeah, like dandelion seeds, they float in the wind."

We diverted into a conversation about dandelion seeds, before I brought us back around, "What else is lighter than air?" Silence. "Is air heavy?" I made my arms into a kind of forklift and pantomimed lifting something.

"Yes."

"No."

Several of the kids imitated me, lifting air. There was then a general consensus that air was very light. I said, "I guess not many things are lighter than air."

"A whisper."

Me: "A whisper." I whispered the word "whisper" several times. "It has a very light sound."

"Words don't weigh anything."

"The Hulk."

Me: "The Hulk is lighter than air?"

"No, he's heavy," tightening his muscles in imitation of The Hulk.

"His name is light."

Me: "Lighter than air?"

"Yes."

"My friend Audrey is light. I can pick her up really easy. Right up like this."

I sang, "Who's peeking out from under a stairway? Calling a name that's lighter than air? Who's bending down to give me a rainbow? . . . How do you give somebody a rainbow?"

"Maybe she had a sprinkler and turned it on and the sun was shining."

Me: "And it made a rainbow?"

"Yeah."

Me: "Has anyone else seen a rainbow in a sprinkler?"

"Me!"

"I did!"

"You can see one with a hose too."

We then broke into a short discussion of rainbows before I brought us back to the song, "So did she bend down and turn on a sprinkler?"

"My friend has a baby and the baby has a rainbow. A toy rainbow." I made a rainbow shape with my hands. "No, it's little." I made a little rainbow shape with my hands. "Like this little," and she showed me the size. "Maybe that's what she gave him -- a toy rainbow."

I sang: "Who's peeking out from under a stairway? Calling a name that's lighter than air? Who's bending down to give me a rainbow? Everyone knows it's Windy."

"Who's Windy?"

We agreed she was a girl. This had all taken nearly 15 minutes. A great group conversation for the first day of class. Seriously. But since time was running short, we'll have to pick up the conversation next time. I can't wait to find out about those eyes that flash at the sound of lies.

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