Ah, this is a good question.
The first adult song I can remember being into is “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash. I must have been five or six and I’d put it on the old record player at my grandparent’s house over and over again.
This was well before Johnny Cash’s hipster renaissance, so I guess I’m a triple double hipster, eh? Must’ve been about 1980 or 1981.
I didn’t know it at the time, but Cash was at his best when someone else did the songwriting. It’s true for Ring of Fire and just as true when he later covered other works, too.
It depends on how you definet “kids song”.
Would Hello Muddah,Hello Fadduh” count? I also remember loving Ring of Fire as a kid.
First record I bought with my own money was probably “Ain’t nothing like the real thing” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.
I also remember loving albums by Bobbi Gentry, Glen Campbell, Herman’s Hermits, the Monkees and Steppenwolf in that same general time frame but I’m not sure how they came to be around.