I want to be be a part of it

"Da, da, daaa dada. Da da, daaa dada." Tiernan was singing that refrain for most the the afternoon yesterday. I tried to ask him what he was singing but he was unable to tell me.

Later that night, he was lying on the couch next to me and started singing again, "Da, da, daaa dada. Da da, daaa dada." And I asked him who signs that song and he said Alex. And I thought his uncle Alex had taught him a song. I said, "What song did Uncle Alex teach you?"

Tiernan responded that Uncle Alex didn't teach him the song. That Alex the Lion sings that song.
And that's when it dawned on me, that his new favorite song is New York, New York.

"Da, da, daaa dadaaa. Da da, daaa dada. Start spreading the news. Da daa dada. I'm leaving today. Da daa dada."

"Ah ha!!!! Alex the Lion from Madagascar," I said. And he said, "Yeah. Da, da, daaa dada. Da da, daaa dada."

In the movie, the animals are in the Central Park Zoo, and are proud of the fact that they are big attractions in the "City that Never Sleeps" and they sing that song (or a variation of it) to pump themselves up when they are feeling down. It is a source of pride and the song is repeated a couple of times in the movie. However, the song is not played as part of the movie soundtrack, it is just spoken/sung by the characters with no music behind it. They really say/sing Da, da, daaa dada. Da da, daaa dada.

Tiernan – being 3– has no knowledge of American popular standards. He has no idea of how much that song is woven into the fabric of American culture. He doesn't know who Frank Sinatra (or Liza Minnelli for that matter) is, he doesn't know that there are laws requiring that song be played at all wedding receptions and that drunken wedding parties are obligated to begin a kickline while it is played, he has no idea that it is the unofficial theme song of the New York Yankees or that it is played at the end of every Yankee home game. All of this is lost on him. All he knows is that the lion and zebra sing "Da, da, da dada" and they feel better.

I tell him that it is a very, very, very famous song. That everybody knows it. I dial it up on my iPod and play it for him. And he goes nuts. Starts dancing and laughing and smiling. He can't believe that I know all the words. And I tell him that you have to dance in a kick line and we are kicking around the kitchen like the Rockettes. And he's singing along with me and Frank, "New York, Neewwwww Yooorrrrkkkk!"

And I am just happy to be a part of it.