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Musician Jim Aycock performs at the Helena Summer Reading Program finale on Wednesday, July 18. (Reporter Photos/Keith McCoy)

By LAURA BROOKHART / For the Reporter

HELENA–A delighted group of dedicated readers followed performer Jim Aycock’s every move at the “Libraries Rock” finale on Wednesday, July 18.

Aycock strummed his way through a series of classic children’s songs adding hilarity along the way with word play mixing up the traditional lyrics.

“When I’ve had too much lemonade,” Aycock confided. “Sometimes I just get mixed up.”

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star became: Starkel, starkel little twink, how I wonder what you think!

Adding crazy faces to his singing, he led the children through ‘Rock-a-bye Baby,’ ‘Hickory Dickory Dock,’ ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ and ‘She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain.’

Periodically between funny faces, he would collapse on the floor with his guitar, feigning exhaustion and bringing shouts of “wake up, wake up” from his audience.

“When you use your fingers and hands as you sing, it helps you remember the words,” Aycock encouraged.

“I like cartoons and my favorite cartoon is SpongeBob,” Aycock said as he launched into this well-known melody.

For ‘Do Your Ears Hang Low?’ Aycock was joined by Cade, Madelyn, Rebecca, Barrett, Mason, Alia, Gracie, Emma, Ava and Micah.

After this energetic participation, Aycock settled the children with appropriately, ‘The Library Song’ by Tom Chapin, which one can listen to online.

A sample of the lyrics go as follows:

“I’m going down to the library
Picking out a book, check it in, check it out
Gonna say, ‘Hi’ to the dictionary
Picking out a book, check it in, check it out

I like books and they like me and when I go to the library
I sit down in my favorite chair and check to see who’s there
Maybe one book, maybe two
‘Take me home!’ says Winnie the Pooh
And if we have to travel far, I’ll take my honey jar! Oh…”

Prior to introducing Aycock, Director Dan Dearing announced that during the summer reading program participants read more than 5,300 books.

Aycock moved from Birmingham to Nashville in 2013 and has since made his mark on The Music City with his show, “Off the Hook Nashville.”

A comedy show, its four songwriters and Aycock spontaneously play guitar and keyboards to an announced theme. Selected by applause, the high score takes home a cash prize.

He also has three songs on an album called Procrastinated Memoirs, produced by Spectrum Music Group. Aycock recently finished a TV pilot which he will pitch to Netflix and Hulu.

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