Plato’s Academy mosaic – from a Villa in Pompeii. [Wikimedia Commons.]
Almanac Music: ‘Ring, Ring, Goes the Bell’ – Songs Involving School
Hi, Almanackers! This piece in my long-running series about key popular song themes concerns songs involving school. By this, I mean songs that are connected in some clear way to school life – the period before university / tertiary education. I’m surprised I haven’t put forward this theme before, as school is so often a theme in songs of the formative years of rock’n’ roll in particular.
So, dear readers, please put your relevant ‘school’ songs in the ‘Comments’ section. Below, as usual, are some examples from me to get the ball rolling.
‘School Days’, written and performed by Chuck Berry (1957)
‘Be True to Your School’, written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, performed by the Beach Boys (1963)
‘Maggie May’ written by Rod Stewart and Martin Quittenton, performed by Rod Stewart (1971)
‘It’s late September and I really should be back at school’
‘School’s Out’, written by Alice Cooper, Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith, performed by Alice Cooper (1972)
‘Teacher I Need You’, written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, performed by Elton John (1973)
‘All My Friends Are Getting Married’, written by Greg Macainsh, performed by Skyhooks (1975)
‘sometimes I feel like I just left school’
‘Looking for an Echo’, written by Richard Reicheg, performed by Ol’ 55 (1976)
‘At daydream junior high school we used to harmonise’
‘When I Kissed the Teacher’, written by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, perfomed by ABBA (1976)
‘Girls’ School’, written by Paul McCartney, performed by Wings (1977)
‘Rock ‘n’ Roll High School’, written by Joey and Dee Dee Ramone, performed by the Ramones (1979)
‘Teenage Dirtbag’, written by Brendan B. Brown, performed by Wheatus (2000)
‘Her boyfriend’s a dick / And he brings a gun to school’
…………………………………………………………………
Now, dear readers / listeners – it’s over to you. Your responses to this topic are warmly welcomed. In the ‘Comments’ section, please add your own choice of a song (or songs) involving school, along with any other relevant material you wish to include.
[Note: as usual, Wikipedia has been a solid general reference for this piece, particularly in terms of checking dates and other details.]
Read more from Kevin Densley HERE
Kevin Densley’s latest poetry collection, Please Feed the Macaws…I’m Feeling Too Indolent, is available HERE
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About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His sixth book-length poetry collection, Isle Full of Noises, was published in early 2026 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
Hot for Teacher – Van Halen
Thanks, Greg, for opening the batting with this classic ‘school rock’ number.
A couple from Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’:
‘The Happiest Days of Our Lives’ into ‘Another Brick in the Wall Pt 2’.
Looking for cool: Australian Crawl
Maxwell’s silver hammer: Beatles
I don’t like Mondays: Boomtown Rats
The ballad of Lucy Jordan: Belinda Carlisle
I still love him: Belinda Carlisle
Drivin’ thunder: Crosby Stills Nash and Young
Bad reputation: Fleming and John
Underground: Ben Folds Five
Working class hero: John Lennon
Surf and mull and sex and fun: Mental as anything
Come said the boy: Mondo Rock
The voice: Moody Blues
The morning (another morning): Moody Blues
Fire brigade: The Move
California man: The Move
Into the great wide open: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
My old school: Steely Dan
School: Supertramp
Hey schoolgirl: Tom and Jerry
Holyanna: Toto
Cousin Kevin: The Who
Ball park incident: Wizzard
No Surrender, Bruce
Boom Sha La La Lo – Hans Poulsen
“In a dreamy little country
There’s a sleepy Sunday school”
Back To Schooldays – Graham Parker
Nude School – Painters and Dockers
To Have And To Have Not – Billy Bragg
“Up in the morning and out to school
Mother says there’ll be no work next year
Qualifications once the Golden Rule
Are now just pieces of paper
Just because you’re better than me
Doesn’t mean I’m lazy
Just because you’re going forwards
Doesn’t mean I’m going backwards
If you look the part you’ll get the job
In last year’s trousers and your old school shoes
The truth is son, it’s a buyer’s market
They can afford to pick and choose”
The Saturday Boy – Billy Bragg
“I’ll never forget the first day I met her
That September morning was clear and fresh
The way she spoke and laughed at my jokes
And the way she rubbed herself
Against the edge of my desk
She became a magic mystery to me
And we’d sit together in double history twice a week
And some days we’d walk the same way home
And it’s surprising how quick
A little rain can clear the streets
We dreamed of her and compared our dreams
But that was all that I ever tasted
Cause she lied to me with her body you see
I lied to myself ’bout the chances I’d wasted
The times we were close
Were far and few between
In the darkness at the dances in the school canteen
Did she close her eyes like I did
As we held each other tight
And la la la la la la la la means I love you
She danced with me and I still hold that memory
Soft and sweet
And I stare up at her window
As I walk down her street
But I never made the first team
I just made the first team laugh
And she never came to the phone
She was always in the bath
In the end, it took me a dictionary
To find out the meaning of unrequited
While she was giving herself for free
At a party to which I was never invited
I never understood my failings then
And I hide my humble hopes now
Thinking back she made us want her
A girl not old enough to shave her legs”
The Headmaster Ritual – The Smiths
“Belligerent Ghouls
Run Manchester schools”
Women In Uniform – Skyhooks
Stay Free – The Clash
Birth School Work Death – The Godfathers
Belle and Sebastian’s T-Rex stomp from The Life Pursuit called ‘The Blues are Still Blue.’
I left my homework in the launderette
I got a letter from my mamma which my stupid dog has ate
I hid behind the fence
Here comes the deputy head with the bark of a bulldog
He’s not making much sense.
Another prolific theme I’m sure, KD.
Ah yes KD – I do remember the days of the old schoolyard with Cat Stevens.
Thank you, Greg, for the Pink Floyd pair. Spot on material, theme-wise.
Excellent foray into the school theme, Liam. I particularly loved the variety of material you put forward. Thank you.
Thanks for ‘No Surrender’, Rick, which is, incidentally, close to my favourite song on the Born in the U.S.A. album.
Thanks, Swish, for your fine bunch of songs. To choose just one for comment: ‘Boom Sha La La Lo’ was certainly on the radio and TV a great deal when I was a kid.
This one just popped in to my head – which is one of the wonderful benefits of your music themed posts KD:
Whole Lotta Love – Led Zeppelin
You need coolin’, baby, I’m not foolin’,
I’m gonna send you back to schoolin’,
Way down inside honey, you need it,
I’m gonna give you my love,
I’m gonna give you my love.
Wanna Whole Lotta Love
Thank you, Mickey, for ‘The Blues are Still Blue’.
Yes, I agree with your comment about the school theme, too. As I indicated in my introductory remarks, I’m surprised I didn’t put it forward earlier in this series.
Thanks, Karl, for your excellent opening choices – the Cat Stevens and Led Zep numbers.
U-Mass – Pixies
Coney Island Baby – Lou Reed
“You know, man, when I was a young man in high school
You believe in or not, that I wanted to play football for the coach”
Fight For Your Right – Beastie Boys
“You wake up late for school, man you don’t want to go
You ask you mom, please? but she still says, no
You missed two classes, and no homework
But your teacher preaches class like you’re some kind of jerk”
Don’t Be Denied – Neil Young
“When we got to Winnipeg
I checked in to school
I wore white bucks on my feet
When I learned the golden rule
The punches came fast and hard
Lying on my back in the school yard”
Thanks Kev
Jerusalem – Steve Earle
Well, maybe I’m only dreaming and maybe I’m just a fool
But I don’t remember learning how to hate in Sunday school
and later in the song:
But I believe there’ll come a day when the lion and the lamb
Will lie down in peace together in Jerusalem
Not sure if or when that will happen.
Thanks, Greg, for your latest trio of choices.
Already, early in the piece, the school theme is eliciting a wonderful range of selections.
Thanks, Peter C, for the Earle song. So topical in the present circumstances.
Morning KD….
A general observation….I think that Springsteen’s songbook will be where there will be rich rewards for this theme – he seemed to often express a romantic nostalgia for his school days – unlike Dylan who wanted to distance himself from Robert Zimmerman’s childhood & teenage years.
Here’s a song from both master lyricists:
Bruce Springsteen – The River
Me and Mary we met in high school
When she was just seventeen
We drive out of this valley
Down to where the fields were green
We’d go down to the river
And into the river we’d dive
Oh, down to the river we’d ride
Bob Dylan – Like A Rolling Stone
Ahh you’ve gone to the finest schools, alright Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
Nobody’s ever taught you how to live out on the street
And now you’re gonna have to get used to it
Morning, Karl. I think your observation concerning Springsteen and Dylan is right on the money.
Thanks for your two superb song choices – featuring Bruce and Bob both at the top of their game
Jeremy – Pearl Jam
“Clearly I remember picking on the boy
Seemed a harmless little fuck
Ooh, but we unleashed a lion
Gnashed his teeth and bit the recess lady’s breast
How could I forget?
And he hit me with a surprise left
My jaw left hurtin’, ooh, dropped wide open
Just like the day, oh, like the day I heard
Daddy didn’t give affection, no
And the boy was something that Mommy wouldn’t wear
King Jeremy the wicked
Oh, ruled his world
Jeremy spoke in class today
Jeremy spoke in class today
Jeremy spoke in class today”
One more:
Holiday in Cambodia – Dead Kennedys
“So, you’ve been to school for a year or two
And you know you’ve seen it all
In daddy’s car, thinkin’ you’ll go far
Back east, your type don’t crawl
Play ethnicky jazz to parade your snazz
On your five-grand stereo
Braggin’ that you know how the n***** feel cold
And the slums got so much soul”
Thanks, Greg, for your latest couple from Pearl Jam and the Dead Kennedys.
And another while I’m thinking about it: Paul Simon’s ‘Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard’, among my favourite Simon songs.
Mailed it to your sister: The Sports.
I hear talk of Bruce and I have to lean in. You want it Brucer, here goes:
Growin’ Up (The flag of piracy flew from my mast/My sails were set wing to wing/I had a jukebox graduate for first mate/She couldn’t sail but she sure could sing/I pushed B-52 and bombed them with the blues/With my gear set stubborn on standing/I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school/Never once gave thought to landing)
Lost in the Flood (The ragamuffin gunner is returnin’ home like a hungry runaway/He walks through town all alone/”He must be from the fort,” he hears the high school girls say)
The E Street Shuffle (Sparks fly on E Street when the boy prophets walk it handsome and hot/All the little girls’ souls go weak when the man-child gives them a double shot/Them schoolboy pops pull out all the stops on a Friday night/The teenage tramps in skintight pants do the E Street dance, and everything’s all right/Well, the kids down there are either dancing or hooked up in a scuffle/Dressed in snakeskin suits packed with Detroit muscle/They’re doing the E Street Shuffle)
Rosalita (Jack the Rabbit and Weak Knees Willie, don’t you know they’re gonna be there?/Ah, Sloppy Sue and Big Bones Billy, they’ll be comin’ up for air/We’re gonna play some pool, skip some school, act real cool/Stay out all night, it’s gonna feel all right/So, Rosie, come out tonight, oh, baby, come out tonight)
Hey Rick – I’ll see your ‘4 Springsteens’ for ‘2 Dylans + 2 Springsteens’:
My Back Pages
‘A self-ordained professor’s tongue/Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty/Is just equality in school
“Equality,” I spoke the word/As if a wedding vow’
Subterranean Homesick Blues
‘Twenty years of schoolin’
And they put you on the day shift’
Glory Days
‘Well, there’s a girl that lives up the block
Back in school, she could turn all the boy’s heads’
My Hometown
‘In ’65 tension was running high/At my high school
There was a lot of fights/Between the black and white
There was nothing you could do’
Life During Wartime – Talking Heads
“Why stay in college? Why go to night school?
Gonna be different this time
Can’t write a letter, can’t send no postcard,
I ain’t got time for that now”
Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town – Talking Heads
“I’ve been to college, I’ve been to school
I’ve met the people that you read about in books”
The Big Country – Talking Heads
“I see the school and the houses where the kids are.
Places to park by the fac’tries and buildings”
Modern World – Modern Lovers
“Put down the cigarette
And drop out of high school”
That Summer Feeling – Jonathan Richman
“When even fourth grade starts looking good
Which you hated
And first grade’s looking good too
Overrated
And you boys long for some little girl that you dated
Do you long for her or for the way you were?
That summer feeling is gonna haunt you the rest of your life”
Smokin’ In The Boys Room – Brownsville Station
“Oh, put me to work in the school book store
Check out counter and I got bored
Teacher was lookin’ for me all around
Two hours later, you know where I was found
Smokin’ in the boy’s room, yes indeed
I was smokin’ in the boy’s room
Now, teacher, don’t you fill me up with your rules
But everybody knows that smokin’ ain’t allowed in school”
Rollers Show – Rockpile
“Calling out across the land
Calling every single Roller fan
School?s been a drag but that’s alright
Cause we’re gonna see Woody on stage tonight”
Cherry Bomb – The Runaways
“Can’t stay at home, can’t stay in school
Old folks say, “You poor little fool”
Down the street, I’m the girl next door
I’m the fox you’ve been waiting for”
Thanks for the Sports number, Liam.
They were an underrated band, in my opinion.
The Bruceier the better, Rick, especially in connection with this school theme. Thanks for your most recent Springsteen.
Thank you for another Bob and Bruce combo, Karl. Interestingly, as you’d know, ‘Glory Days’ also refers to a star baseball player ‘back in high school’.
Fine bunch of songs in your latest batch, Swish – thank you.
Handle Me with Care, The Traveling Wilburys
It Started with a Kiss, Hot Chocolate
Eton Rifles, The Jam
Hot Fun in the Summertime, Sly & the Family Stone
” Technical School, it was a waste of time.
making robots for a factory line”
Scarred for Life, Rose Tattoo 1982.
Glen!
Thanks, Rick, for your latest choices. A couple of specific comments: coincidentally, I was very recently watching a YouTube video where Harrison was talking about how the Wilburys came together, including the writing of ‘Handle With Care’; also, I’ve always really liked Hot Chocolate, a band who released some fabulous songs, including the one you mentioned, and others like ‘Emma’, ‘Every 1’s A Winner’ and ‘You Sexy Thing’.
Always good to see some ball-tearing, blazing Oz pub rock on one of our songlists – thanks for the Tatts’ ‘Scarred for Life’, Glen.
If you like country music, or whatever you want to call it, like Americana or alt-country, so you don’t have to admit you like country, I highly recommend Hayes Carll.
She Left Me for Jesus (We’ve been datin’ since high school/We never once left this town/We used to go out on the weekends/And we’d drink till we drowned/But now she’s actin’ funny/And I don’t understand/I think that she’s found her/Some other man)
Down the Road Tonight (High-school heroes, back row preachers/Pool hall hustlers, tantric teachers/Teenage cuties politickin’/Harry Krishna feed me chicken/All gone down on the road tonight)
Good Friends (We used to run around skippin’ school and drinkin’ beer/One drink and the good lord would get us out of here/But now those days are gone, and everything has changed/It’s all been turned around, everybody’s rearranged)
Hard Out Here (I guess there must be something I’m missing/My momma told me I should’ve gone into easy listening/I joined up with the band ’cause I thought it was cool/Oh, probably I should’ve gone back to school)
Love Don’t Let Me Down (I never been the lucky one/Watched my dreams all turning wrong/They left me alone, thinking, they’d come back some day/Well it turns out I was wrong/Time don’t wait for anyone/Now I stand here like a school kid hoping that it’s not too late)
Oh, and great pick up with the Rose Tattoo song, Glen, cheers
The Police – Don’t Stand So Close To Me
‘Young teacher, the subject of schoolgirl fantasy
She wants him so badly, knows what she wants to be
Inside her there’s longing, this girl’s an open page
Bookmarking, she’s so close now
This girl is half his age’
Getting Better – Beatles
“I used to get mad at my school,
The teachers that taught me weren’t cool”
Top Of The Form – Squeeze
“We had PE on Tuesdays
And English on Wednesdays
School was a prison
Where I served my time
The teachers all loathed me
My attitude fooled them
They quite often nailed me
To any old crime”
Dropkick Murphys (with Billy Bragg) “School Days Over” from their latest album
Boomtown Rats “I don’t like Mondays” (nobody’s going to go to school today…)
Van Halen “Hot for teacher”
Frankie Avalon “Beauty school dropout” (from “Grease”)
Kinks “Schooldays”
Police “Don’t stand so close to me”
Lulu “To sir with love”
Madness “Baggy trousers” (naughty boys in nasty schools…)
AC/DC “School days”
Thanks for the Hayes Carll songs, Rick. On the basis of the lyrics you quoted, Carll really sounds like an artist whose work is well worth getting into.
Thank you for ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’, Karl – a school song par excellence.
Thanks, Swish, for your latest two choices. I thought ‘Getting Better’ was a particularly good pick up.
Thank you Smokie, for your fine bunch of additions. ‘To Sir with Love’ and ‘Baggy Trousers’ are a couple of my personal favourites, in a broad context. (Small note: the Boomtown Rats, Police and Van Halen songs had already been put forward.)
Three folk songs from the Sixties
What Did You Learn in School Today – Tom Paxton
“What did you learn in school today, dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school today, dear little boy of mine?
I learned that Washington never told a lie
I learned that soldiers seldom die
I learned that everybody’s free
And that’s what the teacher said to me
And that’s what I learned in school today
That’s what I learned in school
And what did you learn in school today, dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school today, dear little boy of mine?
I learned that policemen are my friends
I learned that justice never ends
I learned that murderers die for their crimes
Even if we make a mistake sometimes
And that’s what I learned in school today
That’s what I learned in school
And what did you learn in school today, dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school today, dear little boy of mine?
I learned that war is not so bad
I learned about the great ones we have had
We fought in Germany and in France
And someday I might get my chance
And that’s what I learned in school today
That’s what I learned in school
And what did you learn in school today, dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school today, dear little boy of mine?
I learned our government must be strong
It’s always right and never wrong
Our leaders are the finest men
And we elect them again and again
And that’s what I learned in school today
That’s what I learned in school”
Here’s to the State of Mississippi _ Phil Ochs
“And here’s to the schools of Mississippi
Where they’re teaching all the children that they don’t have to care
All the rudiments of hatred are present everywhere
And every single classroom is a factory of despair
And there’s nobody learning such a foreign word as fair
Oh, here’s to the land you’ve torn out the heart of
Mississippi, find yourself another country to be part of”
The Ballad of Accounting – Ewan MacColl
“Did they teach you how to question when you were at the school?”
A mixed bag below, varied in genre, date, and even quality
Pamela Brown – Tom T Hall
“I’m the guy who didn’t marry pretty Pamela Brown
Educated, well-intentioned, good girl in our town
I wonder where I’d be today if she had loved me too
Probably be driving kids to school
I guess I owe it all to Pamela Brown
All of my good times and all my roamin’ around
One of these days i might come ramblin’ through your town
And I guess I owe it all to Pamela Brown
Lyin’ Eyes – The Eagles.
“She wonders how it ever got this crazy
She thinks about a boy she knew in school
Did she get tired, or did she just get lazy?
She’s so far gone, she feels just like a fool”
Angela Jones – John D Loudermilk
“I’ll meet you at your locker when school’s dismissed
I’ll carry your books home if you just give me one little
Doot’n do doo doot’n do doo doo, Angela Jones
Doot’n do doo doot’n do doo doo, Angela Jones”
(Not John D Loudermilk’s best lyrics)
Home of the Brave – Jody Miller (written by Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann)
“The school board says, “He can’t come to school, no more
Unless he wears his hair like he wore it before”
The PTA and all of the mothers
Say, “He oughta look like the others”
Home of the brave
Land of the the free
Why won’t you let him be what he wants to be?”
Swingin” School – Bobby Rydell
“Chicks, kicks, cats, cool, yeah school!
Yeah, yeah, yeah I go a swingin’ school
Where the chicks are kicks and the cats are cool.
Well we dance the greatest and we dress the latest
Wo, wo, wo I go a swingin’ school.
Ah, Bobby Ah! Uh huh! Everythings cool, thats cool
We’re glad you go to a swingin’ school.”
(I didn’t much like this song when it came out in 1958 and I still don’t now, but lots of people did, particularly in the USA)
(And now for something a lot better)
Tex Loves Daisy – Brent Parlane
“I can see you now
comin’ through the long grass
late for school again”
Thanks, Dave, for your fine contributions to this school theme – excellent artists, an interesting array of songs, and telling inclusions of lyrics. I also note that you’ve included one of my favourite Australasian songs, ‘Tex Loves Daisy’ by Brent Parlane. (I used the word ‘Australasian’ because Parlane was born in New Zealand, though he has lived most of his life in Australia, as you’d know.) To the best of my knowledge and memory, two versions of the Parlane song were released, an earlier one on ABC Country records on the Tex Loves Daisy album in 1994 and a later one on The Closest album (Shoestring Records Australia) of 1999. I like the earlier version of ‘Tex Loves Daisy’ better, because to me it has a more pared-back, spontaneous feel to it, while the latter one is somewhat overproduced to my ear.
A few rocking tunes from Eddie Cochran where he refers to education.
” Well I’ve been doing my homework all week long, And now the house is empty and the folks are gone.”
Eddie Cochran, Come on everybody.
” But she don’t notice me when I pass, she goes out with all the guys from out of my class.”
Eddie Cochran, Somethin’ Else
Glen!
Thanks, Glen, for these Eddie Cochran numbers – and with them, also, we’ve achieved our half-century. Well done to all concerned!
Happy Sunday KD
I loved your addition of ‘Me & Julio’, which (for me) ranks right up there with:
Kodachrome
‘When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school
It’s a wonder I can think at all
And though my lack of education hasn’t hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall’
Can’t believe this wasn’t my first post on this week’s theme, as it was my mantra during my teaching career that was over in 5 years.
Fuck School, The Replacements
and a few more:
Harper Valley PTA, Jeannie C. Riley (I wanna tell you all a story/About a Harper Valley widowed wife/Who had a teenage daughter/Who attended Harper Valley Junior High/Well, her daughter came home one afternoon/And didn’t even stop to play/And she said, “Mom, I got a note here/From the Harper Valley PTA”)
Strange Night, Dave Warner’s from the Suburbs (I was doing my homework bout 7 o’clock/When all of a sudden at my door was a knock/Standing before me was my mate Tommy Moore/He left school just three months before/Said come over my place the folks are out/I got eight Emu Export and some Kalgoorlie Stout)
Field of Glass, The Triffids (How does it feel now you’ve finished school?/You’re diving to the bottom of a deep blue swimming pool/Hey! I’m the one they call the Seventh Son/I’m the one they call the Seventh Son)
The Aztec Dance, Springsteen (The boys, they hold their machetes high/Girls in their satin dresses, they go twirlin’ by/From the San Juan River ‘cross the desert sand/Teresa moves in the Aztec dance/From the foothills of the Sierra Madre/To a high school gym in San Jose/She stomps her feet as her ma watches from the stands/Teresa twirls in the Aztec dance)
Cheers
Happy Sunday, Karl. Glad you liked the ‘Julio’ inclusion. There’s a fine video of the song, featuring Paul Simon and great baseball player, Mickey Mantle, who was nicknamed ‘The Commerce Comet’ (relatng to the American town of that name).
Thanks for ‘Kodachrome’., too.
Thanks for your most recent batch, Rick – full of interest, as always.
A New England – Billy Bragg
“I was twenty one years when I wrote this song
I’m twenty two now, but I won’t be for long
People ask when will you grow up to be a man
But all the girls I loved at school
are already pushing prams”
Snow Complications – Barry Humphries
“Every season up we go, Simon, Ross and Stephen,
Spearing up there, to the snow, deep and crisp and even.
We kicked off with a liquid lunch,
Though the frost was cru-el,
Drinking good wine with a bunch,
Of beut young blokes from schoo-el.”
Myfanwy – David Essex (A poem by John Betjeman set to music by Mike Read)
“Kind oer the kinderbank leans my Myfanwy
White oer the playpen the sheen of her dress
Fresh from the bathroom and soft in the nursery
Soap scented fingers I long to caress
Were you a prefect and head of your dormit’ry?
Were you a hockey girl, tennis or gym?
Who was your favourite? Who had a crush on you?
Which were the baths where they taught you to swim?
Smooth down the Avenue glitters the bicycle
Black-stockinged legs under navy blue serge
Home and Colonial, Star, International
Balancing bicycle leant on the verge
Trace me your wheel-tracks, you fortunate bicycle
Back to the house on the fringe of the park
Golden the light on the locks of Myfanwy
Golden the light on the book on her knee
Finger marked pages of Rackhams Hans Anderson
Time for the children to come down to tea
Oh! Fullers angel-cake, Robertsons marmalade
Liberty lampshade, come shine on us all
My! what a spread for the friends of Myfanwy
Some in the alcove and some in the hall
Then what sardines in half-lighted passages!
Locking of fingers in long hide-and-seek
You will protect me, my silken Myfanwy
Ring leader, tom-boy, and chum to the weak”
(Not sure whether you will let this one through, Kevin. The word school isn’t mentioned but the terms “prefect” “dormit’ry” and the questions “who was your favourite?” “Who had a crush on you” all refer unmistakeably to Upper class boarding schools.)
Thanks for your latest material, Dave. With regard to this school theme, ‘Myfanwy’ is certainly OK, because all I said in my intro this time was ‘songs that are connected in some clear way to school life – the period before university / tertiary education’.
Hey KD
A final fling from me on the ‘school’ theme – and I’m surprised it hasn’t been picked up before now:
Itchycoo Park – Small Faces
‘I tell you what I’ll do (What will you do?)
I’d like to go there now with you
You can miss out school (Won’t that be cool)
Why go to learn the words of fools?’
Thanks, Karl for ‘Itchycoo Park’ – bit of a classic, that one.
Jack Shit George, Ian Dury and the Blockheads (What did you learn at school today? (Jack shit)/The minute the teacher turns away (That’s it))
Back to Schooldays, Graham Parker and the Rumour
Cadilac, Gang of Four (My M16 was in my prayers:-/’How is the world now I ain’t there?/Are they wearing flowers in their hair?’/The rich kids school while I am here)
Rollers Show Nick Lowe (Calling out across the land/Calling every single Roller fan/School’s been a drag but that’s alright/’Cause we’re gonna see Woody on stage tonight)
High School Nights, Dave Edmunds – from an 80s film called Porky’s Revenge, that if our kids ever watched it, would divorce us immediately, but it was funny for the times, wasn’t it …
Thanks for your latest batch of (UK) song choices, Rick.
Funny, every time I think of Graham Parker and the Rumour, Nick Lowe and the like, my mind goes back to TV music shows of that late seventies/eighties era that introduced me to artists of that ilk (who weren’t totally mainstream) – TV shows like Night Moves and Rage ( the latter is still going, of course).
And one that’s currently on my mind: ‘Good Girls Don’t’ by The Knack, from their 1979 album, Get the Knack. This song begins: ‘ She’s your adolescent dream / Schoolboy stuff, a sicky sweet romance…’
Oops – last bit above should read: ‘Schoolboy stuff, a sticky sweet romance…’
My little town: Simon and Garfunkel.
A magnificent song, recorded about five years after the duo broke up.
Also with Dave Nadel’s mention of A New England, note the lyrics “I was twenty one years when I wrote this song, I’m twenty two now, but I won’t be for long”. These lyrics are originally from another Simon and Garfunkel classic: Leaves that are green (not related to the school theme).
Kia Kaha (Ever Be Strong): Split Enz.
Thanks, Liam, for your most recent songs and comments.
Coat of Many Colours, Dolly
Rockstar, Dolly, aged 77, from her album of the same name with the title song featuring Richie Sambora
Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School, Warren Zevon
Rollin’ On, Mark Knopfler with Emmylou
Nobody, Emmylou
Thank you, Rick, for this quintet of American songs.
Tay Tay has announced a new album is on the way and I’m buzzed. So, I thought I’d throw some of her songs that reference school in the mix:
So High School (I’m watching American Pie/With you on a Saturday night/Your friends are around, so be quiet/I’m trying to stifle my sighs,/cause I feel so high school/every time I look at you)
Fifteen (You sit in class next to a redhead named Abigail/And soon enough, you’re best friends/Laughin’ at the other girls who think they’re so cool/We’ll be outta here as soon as we can)
august (our back/Beneath the sun/Wishing I could write my name on it/Will you call when you’re back at school?/I remember thinking I had you)
King of My Heart (Is this the end of all the endings?/My broken bones are mending/With all these nights we’re spending/Up on the roof with a school girl crush/Drinking beer out of plastic cups/Say you fancy me, not fancy stuff/Baby, all at once, this is enough)
Cheers
Excellent, Rick. Thanks for the Tay Tay material. Yes, topical indeed. And it figures that Swifty would have a goodly number of songs involving school.
And how could we forget Ike and Tina Turner’s ‘Nutbush City Limits ‘? It commences: ‘A church house, gin house / A school house, outhouse…’
Good pick up re Tina Turner’s NBCL KD. I thought the same with my Dolly call, CoMC. I had to check that someone hadn’t already posted it. Some more TS:
Brought Up that Way (Emily comes home from school/Grabs onto her daddy’s hand/He says, “Baby girl, what’s wrong with you?”/She says, “Please, don’t make me go back there again”)
New Romantics (We’re so young, but we’re on the road to ruin/We play dumb, but we know exactly what we’re doin’/We cry tears of mascara in the bathroom/Honey, life is just a classroom)
epiphany (Something med school/Did not cover/Someone’s daughter/Someone’s mother/Holds your hand through plastic now/”Doc, I think she’s crashing out”)
Better than Revenge (But sophistication isn’t what you wear or who you know/Or pushing people down to get you where you wanna go/They wouldn’t teach you that in prep school so it’s up to me/But no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity)
Yep, Rick, I think the Turner and Dolly calls are equally good ones. Thanks for the additional Swift songs.
Keep on truckin’!
Perhaps this sixties classic is the ‘pick up to top all pick ups’ in relation to this school theme – ‘Carrie Anne’ by The Hollies (1967). The lyrics are worth quoting in full, especially for the first and last verses:
“Carrie Anne”
Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo-doo doo
Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo-doo doo
Hey, Carrie Anne
Hey, Carrie Anne
When we were at school our games were simple
I played the janitor, you played the monitor
Then you played with older boys and prefects
What’s the attraction in what they’re doing?
[Chorus:]
Hey Carrie Anne
What’s your game now, can anybody play?
Hey Carrie Anne
What’s your game now, can anybody play?
You were always something special to me
Quite independent, never caring
You lost your charm as you were aging
Where is your magic disappearing?
[Chorus]
You’re so, so like a woman to me
Oh like a woman to me
So, so like a woman to me
Like a woman to me
[Chorus]
People live and learn but you’re still learning
You use my mind and I’ll be your teacher
When the lesson’s over you’ll be with me
Then I’ll hear the other people saying
[Chorus]
(Lyrics from the AZLyrics website)
….And the song is probably the first pop number to feature a steel drum solo!
Maybe it is KD, maybe it is, and then there is the Nirvana’s song from Bleach, their first album, School (Won’t you believe it? It’s just my luck/Won’t you believe it? It’s just my luck/Won’t you believe it? It’s just my luck/Won’t you believe it? It’s just my luck/No recess/No recess/No recess/You’re in high school again/You’re in high school again/You’re in high school again/You’re in high school again/You’re in high school again/You’re in high school again/You’re in high school again/You’re in high school again/No recess/No recess/No recess/No recess/No recess/No recess/No recess)
Has High School Confidential, by Jerry Lee Lewis been put forward?
Night School, Roseanne Cash (The hungry ghosts still tap the walls/Where once there was a door/I’ve given everything to them/Still they wanted more/Steam lies on the windowpanes/We acted like such fools/But I’d give everything to be/Lying next to you/In night school)
Poor Napoleon, Elvis Costello (So good night little school boy/You’d better learn some self control/Did you mess up your hairstyle?/Pour scorn in your begging bowl)
At Seventeen, Janis Ian (I learned the truth at seventeen/That love was meant for beauty queens/And high school girls with clear-skinned smiles/Who married young and then retired/The valentines I never knew/The Friday night charades of youth/Were spent on one more beautiful/At seventeen I learned the truth)
Cheers
Fine bunch of new selections, Rick. ‘High School Confidential’ hadn’t been put forward, either, until you did do.
Speaking of Janis Ian
Society’s Child – Janis Ian
(Her first hit, released in 1967 when she was 16, and banned by many radio stations in the US because it was about a relationship between a black boy and a white girl) (verse 2 and chorus)
“Walk me down to school, baby
Everybody’s acting deaf and blind
Until they turn and say
“Why don’t you stick to your own kind?”
My teachers all laugh, their smirking stares
cutting deep down in our affairs
Preachers of equality
Think they believe it?
then why won’t they just let us be?
They say I can’t see you any more, baby
Can’t see you any more”
Another fine pickup in relation to our school theme – thanks, Dave, for ‘Society’s Child’.