Introduction


Welcome to my Blog which combines the unlikely topics of supply teaching with progressive rock. Here you will find my ongoing 'Diary of a Surviving Supply Teacher' and a variety of lists/ timelines/ articles on progressive rock.



Monday 24 January 2011

Songs About School

S
chool and the education system has occasionally been the subject of rock songs, from Chuck Berry’s teenage joy to Roger Water’s bitter resentment. Here are the lyrics to a few of these:


School
Performed by Supertramp on Crime of the Century
Written by Roger Hodgson, Rick Davies

I can see you in the morning when you go to school
Don't forget your books, you know you've got to learn the golden rule,
Teacher tells you stop your play and get on with your work
And be like Johnnie - too-good, well don't you know he never shirks
- he's coming along!


After School is over you're playing in the park
Don't be out too late, don't let it get too dark
They tell you not to hang around and learn what life's about
And grow up just like them - won't you let it work it out
- and you're full of doubt

Don't do this and don't do that
What are they trying to do? - Make a good boy of you
Do they know where it's at?
Don't criticize, they're old and wise
Do as they tell you to
Don't want the devil to
Come out and put your eyes

Maybe I'm mistaken expecting you to fight
Or maybe I'm just crazy, I don't know wrong from right
But while I am still living, I've just got this to say
It's always up to you if you want to be that
want to see that
want to see that way
- you're coming along!


Notes: A track on the album Crime of the Century which was a hit in 1974.


School’s Out
Performed by Alice Cooper on School’s Out

Well we got no choice all the girls and boys
Makin' all that noise 'cause they found new toys
Well we can't salute ya can't find a flag if that don't suit ya that's a drag
School's out for summer school's out forever school's been blown to pieces

No more pencils no more books no more teacher's dirty looks yeah
Well we got no class and we got no principals and we got no innocence
We can't even think of a word that rhymes
School's out for summer school's out forever my school's been blown to pieces

No more pencils no more books no more teacher's dirty looks
Out for summer out till fall we might not come back at all
School's out forever school's out for summer
School's out with fever school's out completely

Notes: Alice Cooper has said he was inspired to write the song when answering the question, "What's the greatest three minutes of your life?" He added "There's two times during the year. One is Christmas morning, when you're just getting ready to open the presents. The greed factor is right there. The next one is the last three minutes of the last day of school when you're sitting there and it's like a slow fuse burning. I said, 'If we can catch that three minutes in a song, it's going to be so big.'" It was indeed a hit in summer 1972.


Another Brick in the Wall Part 2
Performed by Pink Floyd on The Wall
Written by Roger Waters and David Gilmour

We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.
"Wrong, Do it again!"
"If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding. How can you
have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?"
"You! Yes, you behind the bikesheds, stand still laddy!"

Notes: A number one single bridging the end of 1979 and the start of 1980. Rebellious school children begin to rebel against their mocking teacher, who is sarcastic, critical and uses clichéd teacher phrases. Roger Waters (both of whose parents were teachers) believed he was tormented at school by abusive staff and this is part of an epic whinge, dragged out over a double album. Many people have to live with, or get over, their school experience. Not Waters, he has to inflict it on the rest of us.   
   

Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
Performed and written by Paul Simon on Paul Simon

The mama pajama rolled out of bed, and she ran to the police station
When the papa found out, he began to shout, and he started the investigation
It's against the law, it was against the law
What the mama saw, it was against the law.
The mama looked down and spit on the ground ev'ry time my name gets mentioned
The papa say "Oy, if I get that boy
I'm gonna stick him in the house of detention."
I'm on my way, I don't know where I'm goin',
I'm on my way, I'm takin' my time, but I don't know where.

Goodbye to Rosie, the Queen of Corona
See you, me and Julio down by the schoolyard
See you, me and Julio down by the schoolyard

In a couple of days they come and take me away
But the press let the story leak
And when the radical priest come to get me released
We's all on the cover of Newsweek
Well, I'm on my way, I don't know where I'm goin'
I'm on my way, I'm takin' my time, but I don't know where

Goodbye to Rosie, the Queen of Corona
See you, me and Julio down by the schoolyard
See you, me and Julio down by the schoolyard
See you, me and Julio down by the schoolyard


Notes: A hit single from Paul Simon’s first solo album in 1972. The song is about two boys who have broken a law, although the exact law is not stated. When "the mama pajama" finds out what they have done, she goes to the police station to report the crime. The boys are later arrested, but released when a radical priest intervenes. The central character in the song says goodbye to "Rosie, the Queen of Corona". It is possible, that this reflects the place where the events occurred - Corona, Queens.


Summer In The Schoolyard
Performed by City Boy on Book Early

In the summer of '63, it was so damn hot you could hardly breathe.
Kicking dust in the mission square, trace of perfume in the air.
Whatever happened to the calendar girl with the beautiful teeth? Does
she dream of me when she's sound asleep?

(Chorus)
When everybody sang 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah'.
That summer in the schoolyard
It was oh so hot.
That summer in the schoolyard
Everybody sang 'Yeah Yeah Yeah'

She was Marilyn, Tuesday Weld, we were just thirteen but what the hell? Let
me tell you how a young boy feels When he hears the clickin'of a girls hi-heels.
She wore a pin for a college boy, life's cruel to me.
She couldn't care for the kid with the dirty knees
(Chorus)
When everybody sang 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah'.
That summer in the schoolyard
It was oh so hot.
That summer in the schoolyard
Everybody sang 'Yeah Yeah Yeah'



School Love
Performed by Barry Blue
Written by Barry Ian Green

The only thing you learn in school is ABC
But all I wanna know about is you and me
I went and told the teacher 'bout the thing we found
But all she said to me is that you're out of bounds at

School love, school love
Even though we broke the rule
I only wanna be ruled in
School love, school love
You an' I will be together, end-of-term until forever

They never ever teach you in history
And yet we seem to learn about it easily
I went and wrote 'I love you' on the classroom wall
I wanted ev'ry one to know the way to fall in

School love, school love
Even though we broke the rule
I only wanna be ruled in
School love, school love
You an' I will be together, end-of-term until forever

After school, oh, I'll be walkin' you home
Just me and you - my very own - very own
School love, school love . . .

Notes: Barry Green was the original bass guitarist with Uriah Heep, but became a prolific singer-songwriter-producer of hit singles. In 1973, School Love was one of five hit singles he had as a solo performer signed to Bell Records.


School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)
Written and performed by Chuck Berry on After School Session

Up in the mornin' and out to school
The teacher is teachin' the golden rule
American history and practical math
You studyin' hard and hopin' to pass
Workin' your fingers right down to the bone
And the guy behind you won't leave you alone

Ring, ring goes the bell
The cook in the lunch room's ready to sell
You're lucky if you can find a seat
You're fortunate if you have time to eat
Back in the classroom, open your books
Keep up the teacher don't know how mean she looks

Soon as three o'clock rolls around
You finally lay your burden down
Close up your books, get out of your seat
Down the halls and into the street
Up to the corner and 'round the bend
Right to the juke joint, you go in

Drop the coin right into the slot
You're gotta hear somethin' that's really hot
With the one you love, you're makin' romance
All day long you been wantin' to dance,
Feeling the music from head to toe
Round and round and round we go

Hail, hail rock and roll
Deliver me from the days of old
Long live rock and roll
The beat of the drums, loud and bold
Rock, rock, rock and roll
The feelin' is there, body and soul.

Notes: Aka School Days, a hit from 1957 on the Chess label.


Originally posted on Monday, 24 January 2011

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