Track Listing

1. Free to Be...You and Me - The New Seekers
2. Boy Meets Girl - Mel Brooks, Marlo Thomas
3. When We Grow Up - Diana Ross
4. Don't Dress Your Cat in an Apron - Billy DeWolfe
5. Parents Are People - Harry Belafonte, Marlo Thomas
6. Housework - Carol Channing
7. Helping - Tom Smothers
8. Ladies First - Marlo Thomas
9. Dudley Pippin and the Principal - Billy DeWolfe, Bobby Morse, Marlo Thomas
10. It's All Right to Cry - Billy DeWolfe
11. Sisters and Brothers - Sisters and Brothers
12. My Dog Is a Plumber - Dick Cavett
13. William's Doll - Alan Alda, Marlo Thomas
14. Atalanta - Alan Alda, Marlo Thomas
15. Grandma - Diana Sands
16. Girl Land - Jack Cassidy, Shirley Jones
17. Dudley Pippin and His No-Friend - Bobby Morse, Marlo Thomas
18. Glad to Have a Friend Like You - Marlo Thomas
19. Free to Be...You and Me (Reprise) - Marlo Thomas

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30272 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording

Amazon.com
There are thousands upon thousands of children's albums out there, but the one that quietly left its mark with more '70s children than perhaps any other album was this disc. Free to Be...You and Me was a pet project of proud feminist Marlo Thomas (a.k.a. "That Girl"), and it was born--according to the liner notes--by the desire to provide her niece with music "to celebrate who she was and who she could be." Harry Belafonte sings "Parents Are People," ex-football great Rosie Grier offers an incredible, touching melody titled "It's All Right to Cry," and Diana Ross waxes future-positive on "When We Grow Up." A great hour of brain food for young--and not-so-young--children. --Denise Sheppard

Customer Reviews

we're more free for this record...
I love this record. I remember listening to it and watching a movie in elementary school at least 22 years ago and really THINKING about the messages in songs like "William Wants a Doll". Anything that inspires deep philosophical thought in a 7 year old is amazing. Later I came across this record when I was 17, brought it home and cried while listening to it over and over again. If you grew up in America in the 70's it's a little piece of your childhood. It's also amazing to think about how far we've come and where we got stuck trying to make this world a better place for all kids. I took the album with me to college and it was a favorite with everyone, men and women. I remember a guy on my floor said something about how lucky we were to grow up in a generation that began to question gender sterotypes. I just bought this CD for my nephew, as much as I love it I'm kind of sad that the messages are still pertinant nearly 30 years later.

I'm soooo not a Hippie!
I think it's funny that so many reviewers who didn't like this album (and yes in the 70's they were albums) refer to those of us who DO give high reviews as hippies. I have news for you. Children of the 70s were not hippies, their parents were. I was born in the early 70s, my teenage years were in the 80s and my young adulthood was in the 90s. I really don't qualify as a hippie in any way, shape or form.
Having said that, I still have my old album, which I saved all these years because this was my absolute favorite album of all time! (I no longer have a record player, but the album lives on!) I loved these songs so much as a child. I remember the movie we used to watch in school. They are such wonderful memories. Twenty something years later, I found the cd and purchased it immediately. I now sing and play these songs for my baby. True, the songs are somewhat dated. The 70s were very big on feminism and equality - but is that such a bad message? Plus, as a child, I didn't pay attention to the message, just to the silliness and the catchy tunes. I had no idea who Alan Alda, Carol Channing, and Marlo Thomas were. When I sing these songs to my son now, it's not becaue I want to raise a budding feminist, but because I loved it so much and I would love to share my fond memories. And if he doesn't enjoy it as much as I did, that's ok too.

PS - for other 30-somethings who want to relive another childhood memory - check out the School House Rock series (DVDs, Cd's etc)... another cheesy 70s tool to educate our children about grammar, science, politics, etc. (I'm sort of embarassed to admit this but most of what I know about how a bill is passed through Congress comes from the "I'm just a bill" song.)

Get it while you can, in a plain brown wrapper.
"Free to be...." should be a yard-sale trifle, too corny for consideration as anything other than baby-boomer nostalgia.

If only...

We live in a time when the word "free" is subject to daily, fanciful redefinition, and even a cartoon sponge arouses suspicion.

The gentle lessons of "Free to Be..." are more relevant than ever. And they're political dynamite, as proved by the nasty reviews seen occasionally below.

Get this disc to remember. Get it for your kids, none of whom may ever have the luxury of taking tolerance for granted, as some of us did in an abbreviated era when cultural moments like "Free to Be..." helped heal the past, and made the future seem infinitely bright.

Belated cheers to Marlo and all participating artists. At this point in our decline and fall, I've begun to take down names...