I mean, one of the things I realized through the years writing those kinds of songs - you realize there is actually a very thin line between a love song and a song talking about parental love. SIMON: I wonder why there are fewer of those songs.
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SIMON: But you've, more or less, cornered the market for a certain kind of parental, parent-child love.
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ROBERTS: (Singing) I, I, I, I'm an island. SIMON: There are so many love songs in music. But I see how all the gray skies turn to blue 'cause I'm not just an I when I'm with you. ROBERTS: (Singing) I, I, I, I'm an icicle. That had been hammered in over the years, but I had never had it spoken directly from my own child - to hear something so profound and beautiful. And I said, are you requesting the song or telling me that? And he said, I'm telling it to myself.
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And then, he said, I've got the world for you. And the very next day, I said, you know, music is so amazing. And I was amazed 'cause that's a song I wrote more for parents than for kids. I'll take the gray skies, make them blue 'cause I've got the world for you. ROBERTS: (Singing) 'Cause I just want to say, I've got the world for you when you don't know what to do. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'VE GOT THE WORLD FOR YOU") And it got to the bridge, and he just broke into tears. And the song "I've Got The World For You" came on. And at one point, we put on my previous record "Wild Life," or he put it on. ROBERTS: So I'm always trying to write songs that - you know, if something makes me laugh or makes me feel emotional, I just keep following that path. One of the things I've learned early on when I was working at that preschool was kids are capable of so much, and you really should never even try to assume what you think kids are going to like. ROBERTS: You know, it's been amazing to watch him experience the songs directly. SIMON: And now, that you have a child so nearby as your creative inspiration, does it make you rethink any of your earlier songs? And so I wrote a song about that called "Gimme A Fire Truck." All the world is just a sunny day.Īnd it just made me think about that idea of the wonder that kids have but also the people in our lives that are fire trucks to kind of pull us out of our own heads. ROBERTS: (Singing) Show me when I'm feeling in a rut the doors aren't shut. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GIMME A FIRE TRUCK") And his face lit up, and it changed his whole mood. ROBERTS: Well, I think a good example from the new record - there's a song called "Gimme A Fire Truck." And one evening, we were walking around our block, and we live close to a fire station. SIMON: Well, tell us how that creative relationship works. (SOUNDBITE OF JUSTIN ROBERTS SONG, "GIMME A FIRE TRUCK") However, it's been very inspiring to have someone in the house who's giving the ideas rather than borrowing them from neighbors' kids or friends. You don't necessarily have to have kids to make that happen. And I thought, you can write songs about things, imagining them. Everyone had always wondered how I wrote children's songs without kids. You have been on the music scene for a couple of decades now and became a father in 2018, right? But I started also playing Sam Cooke songs and Ramones songs and eventually started writing material for the 4-year-olds I was working with. And while I was there, you know, I played "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and things like that. ROBERTS: Yes, I was performing in a band in Minneapolis after college and decided to take a day job as a preschool teacher. SIMON: Did your music start when you were a preschool teacher? Is that how the flame was lit? Along the way, he's also become a father and is now back with his 16th studio album, "Space Cadet." Justin Roberts joins us now. SIMON: For 25 years, the Chicago artist and author has been producing energetic melodies and emotionally intelligent lyrics that are meant to resonate with listeners of all ages.
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I got 7 billion billion billion atoms in me. JUSTIN ROBERTS: (Singing) I'm a little acorn ready to grow. Justin Roberts makes music for children and their grown-ups.