Bronze Age Babies: Who's the Best... Song About School?

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Who's the Best... Song About School?

21 comments:

J.A. Morris said...: 'Rock N Roll High School' by the Ramones is great. Is 'My Old School' by Steely Dan an acceptable answer? Chuck Berry's 'School Days' and 'We're Gonna Be Friends' by the White Stripes are other "school" favorites of mine.

And there's the old school (pardon the wordplay) playground song "Glory, Glory Hallelujah, teacher hit me with a ruler."; September 22, 2015 at 6:30 AM
Anonymous said...: Cat Stevens - "Remember The Days In The Old School Yard". Abba - "When I kissed The Teacher". Madness - "Baggy Trousers".; September 22, 2015 at 7:03 AM
Anonymous said...: I forgot about Pink Floyd - "Another Brick In The Wall" !!!; September 22, 2015 at 7:10 AM
Humanbelly said...: Welllllll, I have to say that the genre subset of songs that dwelt upon the whole "evil, rigid, put-me-down" view of school just never registered with me at all. I do get where it comes from, and that someone with the talent-set to become a rock musician would very likely have had school experiences that would foster that mind-set. . . but I honestly loved school, both high school and college. And the whole "Blow it up, baby!" kind of wish-fulfillment never found a resonant chord in me own breast. Not that I didn't have a sizable chunk of classmates in our podunk-y little town that would have happily lit the fuse to the dynamite in order to get a week off for a perpetual kegger in one of the farmer's back-40 fields.

Oddly enough, even though it's not a school song per se, and it's not a particular favorite, the tune that has ALWAYS made me think of my town and high school is Thin Lizzy's THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN. 'Cause it never fails to bring to mind the long, enduring (but far from endearing) chain of local guys who never grew past their brief glory days on the football team or basketball court or party scene. And for decades afterward would always be on-hand, mistakenly thinking their vital past youth bore any relevance or generated any measurable respect from the current youth. One, two decades down the road, and they hadn't changed or grown a bit. The song, to me, comes right from the rather deluded perspective of that bunch- unable to recognize how small, shallow, and pointless they've become with the passage of time.

Hmm-- bit of a downer, there, eh? So sorry--! Do carry on-- and I'll still say that I like ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL best of what's been mentioned so far-!

HB; September 22, 2015 at 7:48 AM
Anonymous said...: Another song that's sort of about school is Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World"...."Don't know much about history, don't know much biology, don't know much about the French I took..." etc. HB, you mentioned that you didn't care for negative songs about school - when "Another Brick..." came out in December 1979 I remember how sinister it seemed with all that stuff about "dark sarcasm in the classroom" and "we don't need no education" which wasn't my view and if I'd told my father that I didn't need no education he'd have battered me :); September 22, 2015 at 8:48 AM
ColinBray said...: Jock O Rama by Dead Kennedys

Like the other Colin I have a soft spot for Baggy Trousers by Madness too. It must be a Brit thing.; September 22, 2015 at 9:05 AM
ColinBray said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; September 22, 2015 at 9:06 AM
ColinBray said...: Oh, and Kooks by David Bowie - also one of the best 'parenthood' songs of all time!; September 22, 2015 at 9:12 AM
david_b said...: On a sly note, I'd add Police and 'Don't Stand So Close to Me'.. about teacher frustrations and 'schoolgirl fantasies'. :)

Will second Colin's mention of 'Wonderful World', just watched Art Garfunkel doing it live on his SNL performance back in 1978.., his voice was PRIMO, just MAGNIFICENT on that.

Like Paul Simon, it's like a audio 'warm embrace' whenever you hear 'em on ballads.

LOVE the Ramones's 'High School' track as well, probably the best there is.; September 22, 2015 at 9:23 AM
Karen said...: Umm, there's a video for 'Don't Stand So Close to Me' in the post...

The Ramones classic was my first thought. The second was the Beach Boys' hokey "Be True to Your School," which is certainly a lesser effort by them.; September 22, 2015 at 10:04 AM
Humanbelly said...: @ Colin Jones-- Ha-- yeah, "Brick i/t Wall" is of course just about as dark as it gets. It wins simply on the basis of having a great, creepy, beginning-of-a-horror-movie vibe to the casual ear. Yup.

HB; September 22, 2015 at 10:15 AM
Steve Does Comics said...: The only school-related songs I can think of that haven't been mentioned yet are School by Supertramp (yet another of those, "Education is bad," songs) and Eton Rifles by the Jam, which isn't really about school but is about a certain kind of schoolboy.

School is OK. Eton Rifles, I love. Like so many Jam songs, it has an air of thuggish, righteous fury to it that I find suitably enervating.

Oh. And there's also Wings' Girls' School, which was on the flip-side of Mull of Kintyre but it was a terrible song and I can't believe it's anyone's favourite.; September 22, 2015 at 11:21 AM
Edo Bosnar said...: Yep, "Another Brick in the Wall" is the first one I thought of as well.

HB, I know exactly the type of guys you're talking about, but I rather like "The Boys Are Back in Town" and Thin Lizzy in general for that matter...; September 22, 2015 at 11:22 AM
Bruce Adams said...: Are you guys trying to tell me that I'm the only person who gets out of the bed in the morning with Chuck Berry singing "Up in the morning off to school"?; September 22, 2015 at 12:10 PM
Anonymous said...: Ramones and Chuck Berry were the first ones that came to my mind. WASP also had a really good song called "School Daze", but it was a lot different from the Chuck Berry one!

Mike Wilson; September 22, 2015 at 1:33 PM
Anonymous said...: I'd go with Cooper's School's Out for Summer even though his brand of music is not exactly my cup of tea, and of course Pink Floyd's magnificent Another Brick in the Wall. Hmm also for some reason 38 Special's Teacher Teacher keeps playing in my head while I'm typing this ..... :)

- Mike 'call me what you want, just don't call me a juvenile delinquent' from Trinidad & Tobago.; September 22, 2015 at 8:23 PM
Anonymous said...: I think you guys covered the bases. Let's see... the first verse of "Story of My Life" by Social Distortion? "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam?

Yeah, "Rock & Roll High School" is definitely the best.

- Mike Loughlin; September 22, 2015 at 9:05 PM
Anonymous said...: Elton John's "Teacher I Need You" was a favorite of mine.; September 22, 2015 at 10:45 PM
Edo Bosnar said...: Mike from T&T, I'd never call you juvenile ... ;); September 23, 2015 at 2:15 AM
david_b said...: Thanks Karen, the video links wouldn't come up when I placed my comment.; September 23, 2015 at 8:15 AM
Anonymous said...: A day late but how about "Smokin' in the Boys Room"?

But I'm with HB, I kinda liked school.

Tom; September 23, 2015 at 9:34 AM

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