By Marco den Ouden
Despite the adventures and challenges we face in post-secondary life and education, our memories always hold a special place for high school. Perhaps that's because we make our first lasting friendships in high school. This nostalgia is captured well in The Rover Boys' Graduation Day.
Graduation is the first step to college and/or career. And for many taking this step it means leaving home, leaving the nest. It's often a liberating experience, but can also be be an emotional one for both parent and young adult. Suzy Bogguss tells us of the pain of Letting Go.
One of the things I love about taking the guru's chair at the Song Bar is the unexpected new knowledge I discover. Every song has a story and some of the stories are outstanding. The line "We are poor little sheep who have lost our way. Baa! Baa! Baa!" sticks in the mind. I'm not sure where I first heard it. So I was delighted to find it is the refrain in an old college anthem called The Whiffenpoof Song. The song is traditionally sung by an capella group called the Whiffenpoofs made up of Yale seniors. The group's membership changes every year and each year's group takes a year off from academics to tour the country singing. The most famous Whiffenpoof alumnus is Cole Porter who was in the 1913 line-up. That line about the poor little sheep was borrowed from the poem Gentlemen-Rankers by Rudyard Kipling. Our line-up's version is sung by Rudy Vallee, the 1920s teen idol.
The idea of going to university produces mixed reactions. Some are enthusiastic about taking a big step towards future career and life planning. Others, like the Smoking Popes find the idea of College stultifying. College may be a "perfect plan but it isn't mine," they sing. "When I think of wearing suits to work, it really makes me sick… I don't wanna do things that require a degree. That seems like death to me."
Going back to Yale briefly, two stories underground the university houses "the world's first tandem electrostatic accelerator" built in 1966. The Anti-War Songs website suggests Jefferson Starship's song Rose Goes to Yale which depicts the area as a nuclear wasteland is associated with fears about this facility.
The late sixties were a time of campus turmoil with the rise of the hippie movement and the anti-Vietnam War movement. Berkeley was a hotbed of student protest. Jimmy Rushing sings about this in Berkeley Campus Blues. He's not impressed. "We've got sit-ins, dropouts and freedom fighters too. We've got kooks and politicians, everything but kids in school." Which echoes the views of longshoreman philosopher Eric Hoffer who opined that too many kids go to university to teach and not to learn.
Be that as it may, the authorities sometimes over-reacted to campus protests. The most notorious was the murder of four students at Kent State in 1970. The Ohio National Guard was called in to disperse a peace rally at the university. "Twenty-eight National Guard soldiers fired approximately 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis." (Wikipedia). Two of the dead were not even part of the protest but were observing it from a distance. All of the dead were over 250 feet away from the Guardsmen. The Isley Brothers sing a devastating cover of Neil Young's Ohio.
From these negatives let's conclude with some positive vibes. "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades," sing Timbuk 3.
David Bazen waxes philosophical in Hard to Be. He considers the creation myth that Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge. "You expect me to believe that all this misbehaving came from one enchanted tree?" he asks. "I swung my tassel to the left side of my cap knowing after graduation there would be no going back." His uber-religious family is not pleased.
Vampire Weekend reminisces about a Campus love affair with a professor that fell apart. And Pat Green tells us that his College days " were the best days of my life
I found my friends, myself, and my wife." He liked it so much he stretched four years into six!
We finish up with two more upbeat numbers. Brandon Brown is rapper Griot B who founded School Yard Rap, an organization whose "mission is to drastically improve the educational experiences of learners of all ages by providing curriculum, content, music, and professional development that uplifts the narratives of minorities." HBCU There is about Historically Black Colleges and Universities and is a rousing song promoting black education. And Chris Webby's University of Life is an inspiring rap number on the value of learning.
The Top Honours A-List Playlist:
Graduation Day – The Rover Boys (SweetHomeAlabama)
Letting Go – Suzy Bogguss (SweetHome Alabama)
The Whiffenpoof Song – Rudy Vallee (TarquinSpodd)
College – Smoking Popes (Fred Erickson)
Rose Goes to Yale – Jefferson Starship (Fred Erickson)
Berkeley Campus Blues – Jimmy Rushing (Nicko)
Ohio/Machine Gun – The Isley Brothers (pejepeine)
The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades – Timbuk 3 (Loud Atlas)
Hard to Be – David Bazen (Shoegazer)
Campus – Vampire Weekend (Loud Atlas)
College – Pat Green (Fred Erickson)
HBCU There – Griot B & School Yard Rap (pejepeine)
University of Life – Chris Webby ft Madi Wolf (BanazirGalbasi)
The Student Bar B-List Playlist:
The Graduates - Speedy Ortiz (vanwolf2)
Happy Boy - The Bolshoi (vanwolf2)
The Open University - Clifford T Ward (severin)
Sukie in the Graveyard - Belle & Sebastian (happyclapper)
Bright College Days - Tom Lehrer (Uncleben)
I Love College - Asher Roth (SweetHomeAlabama)
The Freshmen - The Verve Pipe (SweetHomeAlabama)
Fraternity Blues - Townes Van Zandt (BanazirGalbasi)
The Free Electric Band - Albert Hammond (TarquinSpodd)
Closer to Fine - Indigo Girls (Noodsy)
Dark of the Matinee - Franz Ferdinand (happyclapper)
Bar Exam - Derailers (Williamsbach)
Rat Race - The Specials (Max Visconta Nuclerosea)
Varsity Drag - Anita O'Day (pejepeine)
Off My Rocker at the Art School Bop - Luke Haines (Max Visconta Nuclerosea)
I Hate College - Sam Adams (Fred Erickson)
Lack of Education - Dub Syndicate ft Andy Fairly (Shoegazer)
Musical College - Prince Buster (pejepeine)
College Life - Terence Boylan (Fred Erickson)
Student Demonstration Time - Beach Boys (TarquinSpodd)
Killer Wants to Go to College - Paul Simon (Fred Erickson)
Startin' Tonight - Elvis Presley (Fred Erickson)
I'm Going to Say It Now - Phil Ochs (Fred Erickson)
Little Boxes - Malvina Reynolds (tincanman)
Better Git Yer Learnin' - Rhiannon Giddens (tincanman)
Collegiana - Waring's Pennsylvanians (Nicko)
I Love the College Girls - Harry Reser and his Six Jumping Jacks (Nicko)
Young Conservatives - The Kinks (Fred Erickson)
Madame Joy - Van Morrison (Fred Erickson)
Graduation Day - Chris Isaak (Fred Erickson)
Master's Degree - David Roth (BanazirGalbasi)
Professor Guru’s Qualified Wildcard Picks:
Graduation (Friends Forever) – Vitamin C
Like a Surgeon – Weird Al Yankovic
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations from last week's topic: A matter of degree: songs about higher education and graduation. The next topic will launch on Thursday at 1pm UK time.
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