DadJoke is the children’s music project of Dave Reminick, an award-winning composer, educator, and guitarist based in Chicago. Reminick grew up on Long Island, New York, in a household steeped in music, from his grandmother’s Chopin interpretations on the family piano to his father’s bluegrass picking to the free jazz of Cecil Taylor that first made him want to dedicate his life to music making. Before launching DadJoke, Reminick fronted the Chicago indie band Paper Mice and built a career composing music for a wide range of contexts. DadJoke is where all of that experience gets filtered through a deep love for children and a genuine sense of humor that, as Reminick puts it, overlaps significantly with that of actual kids. The project’s stated goal is deceptively simple: create music that delights children without annoying adults. Fun Intended, released June 12, 2026, is his first full-length album of children’s music, and Reminick has described going, as he often does, way overboard in making it.
Track by Track
1. We’ve Got the Squiggles
The opening track reportedly contains more than thirty different instruments, which tells you everything about the ambition behind this record before you have heard a single note. It is an immediate statement of intent from an artist who takes children’s music as seriously as any other form. The layered, chaotic energy of the instrumentation is matched by the kind of joyful silliness that makes Reminick’s approach to this genre so distinct.
2. This is a Duck
A title that promises exactly what it delivers and then probably delivers something completely unexpected alongside it. Reminick’s gift for finding the comedic and the musical in the most ordinary things is a running thread throughout the record, and this track leans fully into that instinct.
3. I Hope Nobody Drops a Big Rubber Horse on My Head
One of the more memorably absurd track titles in recent memory, and a perfect encapsulation of what DadJoke is going for. Reminick has spoken about writing songs built around completely absurd concepts, and this one wears that commitment proudly. The kind of song that will have kids repeating the title for days.
4. Wakey Wake Up
A morning energy track that fits naturally into the album’s celebratory, imaginative tone. Short and sweet in the best possible way, with the kind of melody that earworms itself into your morning before you have had coffee.
5. I Heard a Bird
One of the quieter, more observational moments on the record. Reminick’s ability to find wonder in ordinary sensory experience gives this track a gentleness that contrasts well with some of the more chaotic pieces around it.
6. Because We’re Friends
A warmhearted piece about friendship that hits the emotional core the DadJoke project is built on. Reminick has said he writes music driven by a desire to share his joy for life and love of music with people, and this track is one of the purest expressions of that on the album.
7. I’m Glad to Be With You Right Now
Presence and gratitude in song form, and it is handled with the kind of sincerity that Reminick brings to everything on this record. There is nothing ironic about this title or the feeling behind it, and that directness is exactly what makes it land.
8. What Did the Dinosaurs Say?
An imaginative, playful piece that gives Reminick room to do what he does best: take a ridiculous premise completely seriously and build something genuinely engaging out of it. The kind of question that will keep kids thinking and laughing long after the song ends.
9. It’s Almost Halloween (But I Never Got a Costume)
This one reportedly moves through five different keys over the course of just two and a half minutes, which is exactly the kind of compositional overengineering Reminick was talking about when he described going way overboard on this album. The musical complexity is hidden inside a song that feels completely accessible, and the specificity of the title gives it an emotional life that most children’s music never reaches for.
10. I’m Deciding to Be Brave (feat. Amanda DeBoer Bartlett)
A standout track and one of the album’s most emotionally resonant moments. The theme of choosing courage is handled without condescension, with Bartlett’s featured vocal adding a warmth and depth that elevates the piece. It is the kind of song that speaks to children and adults in equal measure.
11. You Have to Go Potty Too
A deeply relatable subject for anyone who has ever tried to get a small child ready to leave the house. The humor here is grounded in real life in a way that will make parents laugh as hard as their kids, which is precisely what the DadJoke project exists to accomplish.
12. I Tried to Use AI… but it Came Out WEIRD
The album’s closer and perhaps its boldest swing. The last minute or so reportedly expands into a full orchestra, turning a comedic premise about AI-generated weirdness into something genuinely grand. It is a fitting way to close a record that has spent twelve tracks proving that thoughtful, imaginative, joyful music for children can be just as ambitious as anything else.
Final Thoughts
Fun Intended is the kind of children’s album that does not exist nearly often enough. Dave Reminick brings the same level of compositional craft and genuine emotional investment to this record that most artists reserve for adult audiences, and the result is something that works equally well for the kids it is made for and the adults who will be listening alongside them. If this is what going way overboard sounds like, more artists should consider it.
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