I have my playlist going during dinner—my husband is away and my friend Karen is over for really fancy mac & cheese (I make it with gruyere, gorgonzola, fresh horseradish, chopped red onion, and Madeira)—and Karen wonders, in passing the salad dressing, why there are all these great songs about high school and none about college.
Why there were no good songs about college had not been a question keeping me up at night. It had not occurred to me before always-interesting Karen asked the question. Once she asked it, though, the rest of the night was shot.
Not that it wasn’t a fun evening—it was a riot. We always have an excellent time. It was simply that, throughout the organic spinach salad with fresh bacon and apple course, all we could do was look for lyrics. We dragged the laptop to the dinner table, pushed away the lovely candles and nice linens while keeping the good glasses containing excellent wines untouched, and began searching the Internet.
This moment might well define academic nerdiness: Even though it was a Real Dinner Party (i.e. I cooked lots of food that had to be served on a variety of plates and that required cutlery and, in addition, in a final decisive gesture, had not required any outside distributors to show up with kegs or calzones) we still ended up searching stuff on the Web.
Once Karen brought up the topic, you understand, we could speak of nothing else.
Everything is about high school.
We’d already heard my old-time songs—vaguely defiant “School’s Out for Summer,” coyly sexy “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” (it’s the Nabokov line that slays me every time), wistfully naïve “Will I See You In September?”
We’d permitted ourselves to be slipped even further in the arms of age and were signing loudly, if not harmoniously, to the Coaster’s version of “Charlie Brown”: “Who walks in the classroom / cool and slow / Who calls the English teacher / Daddy-O?” which was my absolute personal favorite.
But new songs about college or the college experience itself? You might think we’d find something. But we know better. We got nada.
This means, my colleagues, that Karen and I need your help. Won’t you give? Won’t you help and support two women who need to prepare a rigorous examination of pop songs and pop song lyrics as they apply to “the academy”?
We want to know your favorite songs about college or education. What titles do you see falling into this category or skipping wraithlike into this genre?
What are your favorite songs about colleges, classes, dorms, teachers, exams, libraries, graduation, dropping out—anything?
The big question is this: Are we missing something, or is there nothing out there?
We had to ask.
Inform and enlighten us, please, and if you could give us one reason why you love like the song you chose or why you liked it ages ago when you were actually in university, that would be terrific. Be specific.
Just remember what made the Coasters raise their voices high was this: “Fe-fe, fi-fi, fo-fo, fum / I smell smoke in the auditorium.”
49 Responses to Why Are There No Good Songs About College?
lindseyta - June 28, 2010 at 2:13 am
Kanye West’s three albums College Dropout, Late Registration, and Graduation come to mind. “Good Morning” is one song from those albums that I like and that’s especially about college.The musical Avenue Q has a song, “What Do You Do with a B.A. in English?”"Commencement at the Obedience Academy” by Aesop Rock?”Prisstina” by Sleater-Kinney
babyboots - June 28, 2010 at 5:40 am
Tom Lehrer’s “Bright College Days”: “Ivy-covered professors, in ivy-covered halls.”
mr_punch - June 28, 2010 at 9:11 am
There are many country songs that refer to college — though most are actually about not going to college (“She went to William & Mary, I went to Haggard and Jones”). But country is much more adult-oriented than rock/pop, and the break point is 18.There are references to college in songs by rock performers, however. How about Elvis in “Baby Let’s Play House”? “Well you may go to college/You may go to school/You may have a pink Cadillac/But you don’t be nobody’s fool.” Or the Beatles:”Out of college money spent/See no future pay no rent”? Of course “college” means something different in a British context, but “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” is certainly about postsecondary education. Offhand, there’s your winner.
jffoster - June 28, 2010 at 9:12 am
Try “Benny Havens’ “. That’s a pretty good college song.
hoodlib - June 28, 2010 at 9:57 am
Relient K’s College Kids”oh no! not for me, not for mecall it torture, call it university”
bstevens - June 28, 2010 at 10:28 am
I agree with the comment on Tom Lehrer’s song. It’s a classic.
akafka - June 28, 2010 at 10:36 am
The whole song isn’t about higher ed, but there’s a great college-y verse in the Indigo Girls’ “Closer to Fine”:”I went to see the doctor of philosophy / With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee / He never did marry or see a B-grade movie / He graded my performance, he said he could see through me /I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind, got my paper / And I was free.”
tendrecroppes - June 28, 2010 at 11:09 am
Asher Roth’s “I Love College,” Although, the refrain does go like this: “I love college! / And I love drinking! / I love women! / Man I love college!”I have to say, my college years were never spent quite like this song depicts them. I’m starting to wonder if I did something wrong…
22137478 - June 28, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Steely Dan’s “My Old School” Although the lyrics are obscure, it clearly presents a voice with great antipathy for either William and Mary or Bard College.
goxewu - June 28, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Anybody with a subscription to NetFlix should know not only the best song about college ever written, but also that it embodies in its lyrics the de facto motto of academe (at least the humanities part, and certainly most of “Brainstorm”):”(Whatever It Is) I’m Against It,” from the Marx Brothers’ 1932 movie, “Horse Feathers.”Lyrics available at http://www.themadmusicarchive.com/song_details.aspx?SongID=5381
alicemdean - June 29, 2010 at 6:02 am
How about “Math Prof Rock Star,” by Jim’s Big Ego? Here is a page at npr.org where you can listen to the song:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1484361
vedomavus - June 29, 2010 at 6:33 am
I’m shocked by the question! The greatest university song bar none is by the late lamented Bob Blue, “Their Way”. It marks the trajectory of a man from grad student to tenure – “Where once I was oppressed, I’ve now become the cruel oppressor”(The best rhyme for “full professor”). You don’t like it? Go tell the dean! “I did it their way.”http://www.bobblue.org/pages/Articles.html
beverlx - June 29, 2010 at 6:42 am
Dear Dr. Barreca,Please let us not forget Pixies’ great last gasp, “U-Mass,” off the record (if I may use such an archaism) “Trompe le Monde”:In the sleepy west of the woody eastis a valley called called the Pioneerwe’re not just kidsto say the leastwe got ideas to us that’s dearlike capitalistlike communistlike lots of things you’ve heard about…Bonus: it rocks. Have fun.
beverlx - June 29, 2010 at 6:49 am
Add the immortal verse about Louisiana State University in Randy Newman’s “Rednecks” (1974).[We got] college men from LSUWent in dumb – come out dumb tooHustlin’ ’round Atlanta in their alligator shoesGettin’ drunk every weekend at the barbecues
beverlx - June 29, 2010 at 6:55 am
Not college, high school, but the first verse of “Kodachrome”:When I think back on all the crap I learned in high schoolIt’s a wonder I can think at allAnd though my lack of education hasn’t hurt me noneI can read the writing on the wall.
kinsereaps - June 29, 2010 at 8:16 am
Of course “Poison Ivy League” from the Elvis Presely movie Roustabouthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdxC0jefysM
dukemarketing - June 29, 2010 at 8:27 am
Vampire Weekend’s “Campus”: Then I see youYou’re walking cross the campusCruel professorStudying romancesHow am I supposed to pretendI never want to see you again?How am I supposed to pretendI never want to see you again?
kolausen - June 29, 2010 at 8:28 am
“The Pointless, Yet Poignant, Crisis Of A Co-Ed ” by Dar Williams, that addresses the poltics and activism of the college years. I’m not a leaderI’m not a left-wing,rehtoric,mobilizing force of oneBut but there was a time way backmany years ago in collegeDon’t laughbut I thought I was a radicalI ran a hemp liberation league with my boyfriendIt was true love with a common causeand besides that he was a sagittarius
cleverclogs - June 29, 2010 at 8:31 am
Ben Folds Five has a song called “Army”:Well I thought about the armyDad said, son you’re f***ing highAnd I thought, yeah, there’s a first for everything So I took my old man’s adviceThree sad semestersIt was only 15 grand, spent in bedI thought about the armyI dropped out and joined a band instead.It’s mostly about being lost and thinking he should have gone into the army – great song though.
fkoscie - June 29, 2010 at 8:37 am
“I study nuclear science, I love my classes, I got a crazy teacher who wears dark glassesI’m doing allright, I’m getting good gradesMy future’s so bright I gotta wear shades.”–Timbuk3 “My Future’s so Bright I Gotta Wear Shades”
wjprice - June 29, 2010 at 9:12 am
“Old College Avenue” by Harry Chapin
edubrul - June 29, 2010 at 9:13 am
Graduation Day, Summer Has Gone, Moments to Remember, and, of course, Where the Boys Are. Gina, you’re just too young!
jdub2b - June 29, 2010 at 9:25 am
I can’t believe no one has mentioned “Keg in the Closet” by Kenny Chesney!
catawba - June 29, 2010 at 9:29 am
More Steely Dan “They call Alabama the Crimson Tide, call me Deacon Blues”or The Mamas and the Papas”When Cass was a sophomore, planned go to Swarthmore”
mraymond - June 29, 2010 at 9:37 am
Maggie May, by Rod Stewart, on the dropping-out subject: “Wake up, Maggie, I think I got something to say to you. It’s late September, and I really should be back at school.” I think that’s university.
jdrewr - June 29, 2010 at 9:40 am
There is a song Halls of Ivy — at least a part of the lyrics are below. It sounds quite nice when sung by four or more voices.”Oh we love The Halls Of Ivy, that surround us here todayAnd we will not forget, though we be far far awayTo the hallowed Halls of IvyEvery voice will bid farewellAnd shimmer off in twilight like the old vesper bell.”It was apparently a theme song from a radio program back in the day.
jerryfaria - June 29, 2010 at 9:41 am
Don’t know about the music….but how about sharing your mac & cheese recipe?
cerebellum - June 29, 2010 at 9:43 am
Indigo Girls: Closer to Fine”And I went to see the doctor of philosophyWith a poster of rasputin and a beard down to his kneeHe never did marry or see a b-grade movieHe graded my performance, he said he could see through meI spent four years prostrate to the higher mindGot my paper and I was free”
laker - June 29, 2010 at 10:08 am
What about the “Verve Pipe” Freshmen?When I was young I knew everythingShe a punk who rarely ever took adviceNow I’m guilt stricken,Sobbing with my head on the floorStop a baby’s breath and a shoe full of riceI can’t be held responsibleShe was touching her faceI won’t be held responsibleShe fell in love in the first placeFor the life of me I cannot rememberWhat made us think that we were wise andWe’d never compromiseFor the life of me I cannot believeWe’d ever die for these sinsWe were merely freshmenMy best friend took a week’sVacation to forget herHis girl took a weeks’s worth ofValium and sleptAnd now he’s guilt stricken sobbing with hisHead on the floorThinks about her now and how he never reallyWept he saysI can’t be held responsibleShe was touching her faceI won’t be held responsibleShe fell in love in the first placeFor the life of me I cannot rememberWhat made us think that we were wise andWe’d never compromiseFor the life of me I cannot believeWe’d ever die for these sinsWe were merely freshmenhey yeah hey yeahhey yeah We’ve tried to wash our hands of all thisWe never talk of our lacking relationshipsAnd how we’re guilt stricken sobbing with ourHeads on the floorWe fell through the ice when we tried not toSlip, we’d sayI can’t be held responsibleShe was touching her faceAnd I won’t be held responsibleShe fell in love in the first placeFor the life of me I cannot rememberWhat made us think that we were wise andWe’d never compromiseFor the life of me I cannot believeWe’d ever die for these sinsWe were merely freshmenFor the life of me I cannot rememberWhat made us think that we were wise andWe’d never compromiseFor the life of me I cannot believeWe’d ever die for these sinsWe were merely freshmenWe were merely freshmen
janeer1 - June 29, 2010 at 10:18 am
I give a “Final Lecture” to an undergraduate spring core class–they groan when I put up the ppt on the last day–that is links to recordings that I consider the great summer songs, beginning with school songs. I lead off with Summertime, Summertime by the Jamies, and sing along with it. Now, thanks to you all, I have college songs to add to my high school repertoire.”Well shut them books and throw ‘em away And say goodbye to dull school days Look alive and change your ways It’s summertime… Well no more studying history And no more reading geography And no more dull geometry Because it’s summertime ….Well I’m so happy that I could flip Oh how I’d love to take a trip I’m sorry teacher but zip your lip Because it’s summertime
hawkeyecc - June 29, 2010 at 10:32 am
Even more Steely Dan …The weekend at the collegeDidnt turn out like you planned.The things that pass for knowledge I can’t understand.
southbound - June 29, 2010 at 10:35 am
Find the unreleased gem by The Black Crowes: “Darling of the Underground Press.”more overtly, there’s “Paradise Cafe” by the Arc Angels (Charlie Sexton wrote it)Well now everything is rosyAnd the money’s so well spentThis kind of educationIs worth every centWhen your momma pays the tuitionAnd your daddy pays the rentYou could learn a lot in collegeAlthough you never wentNow you ain’t that funnyAnd you ain’t that smartBut you become a model studentWhen you step up to the barThey’re drinking their life awayAt the paradise cafeTalking with nothing to sayAt the paradise cafe…and, someday I’ll give you my version of House of the Rising Sun, rewritten ever so slightly to be about grad school…
mercy_otis_warren - June 29, 2010 at 11:14 am
Old 97s, “Only Nineteen”:”I was only nineteen, finished up with high school, headed to a state school, wandered into you”Talking Heads, “Life During Wartime”: “Why stay in college? Why go to night school? Gonna be different this time? Can’t write a letter, can’t send a postcard, I can’t write nothing at all”R.E.M.’s “Moral Kiosk” is named after the bulletin boards announcing protests, etc. at the University of Georgia. (And add R.E.M.’s song “Sad Professor.”)
van_gessel - June 29, 2010 at 11:15 am
Two famous Harvard alums, lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Leonard Bernstein, wrote a song–though they ended up not using it–for their ill-fated 1976 collaboration, “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.” Lonely, lonely men of HarvardSet apart from all the rest,Isolated men of Harvard,All because we are the best…We’re the lonely men of Harvard,Alone, alas, alone, alack are we!And that’s the way we’ll stay,It’s the price we’ve got to payFor our indubitable superiority!Solitary men of Harvard,Unmistakably supreme,Doomed and blighted men of Harvard,All because we are the cream…(Did I mention I graduated from Columbia?)
shstonecenter - June 29, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Roll Call by the 69 Boyz is by far the most inclusive song out there — manages to call, by name, more than 25 HBCU’s in 4:43 — a rousing, engaging, danceable, infectious tune. From their 1998 “the Wait is Over” cd release. Also one of their less risque, but no less enjoyable, works. Sort of broadens the scope of pop sensibility represented in your responses thus far.
carmenftbl - June 29, 2010 at 12:24 pm
‘The Anthropology Song:’ http://chronicle.com/blogPost/The-Anthropology-Song/20974/The Chronicle: February 1, 2010
11333651 - June 29, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Not specifically college related, but I think many readers may appreciate “Teacher I Need You” with music by Elton John and lyrics by Bernie Taupin:”I was sitting in the classroomTrying to look intelligentIn case the teacher looked at meShe was long and she was leanShe’s a middle-aged dreamAnd that lady means the whole world to me”It’s a natural achievementConquering my homeworkWith her image pounding in my brainShe’s an inspirationFor my graduationAnd she helps to keep the classroom sane”and so on
rbrucep - June 29, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Sniper by Harry Chapin – unfortunately it is about Charles Whitman, a student at the University of Texas at Austin who killed 14 people and wounded 32 others, many from high atop a tower on campus.
marymcg - June 29, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Here’s one from 1973, full of good 60s/70s countercultural bravado…Free Electric Band (Albert Hammond)I went to school in handwashed shirts with neatly oiled hairAnd the school was big and newly built and filled with light and airAnd the teacher taught us values that we had to learn to keepAnd they clipped the ear of many idle kid who went to sleep.Till my father organised for me a college in the eastBut I went to California for the sunshine and the beachMy parents and my lecturers could never understandWhy I gave it up for music and the Free Electric Band.(and a verse later…)My father sent me money and I spent it pretty fastOn a girl I met in Berkley in a social science classYes and we learned about her body but her mind we did not knowUntil deep routed attitudes and morals began to showShe wanted to get married even though she never saidAnd I knew her well enough by now to see inside her headShe’d settle for suburbia and a little patch of landSo I gave her up for music and the Free Electric Band.
jvputten - June 29, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Good songs about college, England circa 1980: The Specials ‘Rat Race’You’re working at your leisure to learn the things you’ll need The promises you make tomorrow will carry no guarantee I’ve seen your qualifications, you’ve got a Ph.D. I’ve got one art O level, it did nothing for me Working for the rat race You know you’re wasting your time Working for the rat race You’re no friend of mine You plan your conversation to impress the college bar Just talking about your Mother and Daddy’s Jaguar Wear your political T-shirt and sacred college scarf Discussing the worlds situation but just for a laugh You’ll be working for the rat race You know you’re wasting your time Working for the rat race You’re no friend of mine
laker - June 29, 2010 at 4:12 pm
another, not necessarily about college, but mentions college:The Wedding Song, by Charlie RobisonWell you are still here And I am still hereWhether I ever loved you is not perfectly clearYou went a semester to West Texas StateBut the freshman fifteen you gained killed all your datesI guess I still love you if I ever didAnd I can see myself having a couple of kidsAnd we will get by for the rest of our lives
mathmaven - June 29, 2010 at 4:43 pm
#1 beat me to the punch in mentioning Avenue Q, but missed the other song in the play that’s about college:I Wish I Could Go Back To CollegeI wish I could go back to collegeLife was so simple back thenWhat would I give to go back and live in a dorm with a meal plan again!I wish I could go back to collegeIn college you know who you areYou sit in the quadAnd think “Oh my God!I am totally gonna go far!”How do I go back to college?I don’t know who I am anymore!I wanna go back to my room and find a message in dry-erase pen on the door!I wish I could just drop a classget into a playOr change my major…Or #### my T.A.I need an academic advisor to point the way!We could be…Sitting in the computer lab4 a.m. before the final paper is dueCursing the world cuz I didn’t start soonerAnd seeing the rest of the class there, too!I wish I could go back to college!How do I go back to college?!AHHHH…I wish I had taken more pictures.But if I were to go back to college,Think what a loser I’d beI’d walk through the quadAnd think “Oh my God…These kids are so much younger than me.”
jegraves - June 29, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Surely the song is a reference to high school but I’m surprised no one has mentioned “Schools Out” by Alice Cooper. My favorite verse:Well we got no classAnd we got no principalsWe got no innocenceWe can’t even think of a word that rhymes
whitep - June 29, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Seconding edubrul’s reference to “Moments to Remember” 1955 written by Robert Allen and Al Stillman and recorded by The Four Lads. Singing it when I delivered morning papers in the early sixties, it evoked the presumptive nostalgia about college that I had yet to taste, being first generation and just 12, and is a key note of the romance of American college life.
maxbini - June 29, 2010 at 9:07 pm
I like the anticollege songs, such as Herman’s Hermits’ “What a wonderful world” and XTC’s “Mayor of Simpleton”:”What a wonderful world”Don’t know much about history,don’t know much biology,don’t know much about science books,don’t know much about the French I took.But I do know that I love youand I know that if you love me toowhat a wonderful world this would be.Don’t know much about geography,don’t know much trigonomitry,don’t know much about algebra,don’t know what a sliderule is for.But I know that one plus one is twoand I just want to be with you,what a wonderful world this would be.Now, I don’t plan to be an A studentbut I’m trying to be.Well, maybe by being an A student, babyI could win your love for me.Don’t know much about history,don’t know much biology,don’t know much about science books,don’t know much about the French I took.But I do know that I love youand I know that if you love me to, what a wonderful world this would be.But i do know that I love youand I know that if you love me to,what a wonderful world this would be.”Mayor of Simpleton”Never been near a university, Never took a paper or a learned degree, And some of your friends think that’s stupid of me, But it’s nothing that I care about. Well I don’t know how to tell the weight of the sun, And of mathematics well I want none, And I may be the Mayor of Simpleton, But I know one thing, And that’s I love you. When their logic grows cold and all thinking gets done, You’ll be warm in the arms of the Mayor of Simpleton. I can’t have been there when brains were handed round (please be upstanding for the Mayor of Simpleton), Or get past the cover of your books profound, (please be upstanding for the Mayor of Simpleton), And some of your friends thinks it’s really unsound, That you’re ever seen talking to me. Well I don’t know how to write a big hit song, And all crossword puzzles well I just shun, And I may be the Mayor of Simpleton, But I know one thing, And that’s I love you. I’m not proud of the fact that I never learned much, Just feel I should say, what you get is all real, I can’t put on an act, It takes brains to do that anyway. (And anyway…) And I can’t unravel riddles, problems and puns, How the home computer has me on the run, And I may be the Mayor of Simpleton, But I know one thing, And that’s I love you (I love you). If depth of feeling is a currency, (please be upstanding for the Mayor of Simpleton), Then I’m the man who grew the money tree, (no Chain of Office and no hope of getting one). Some of your friends are too brainy to see, That they’re paupers and that’s how they’ll stay. Well I don’t know how many pounds make up a ton, Of all the Nobel prizes that I’ve never won, And I may be the Mayor of Simpleton, But I know one thing, And that’s I love you. When all logic grows cold and all thinking gets done, You’ll be warm in the arms of the Mayor of Simpleton. You’ll be warm in the arms of the Mayor of Simpleton. You’ll be warm in the arms of the Mayor. (Please be upstanding for the Mayor of Simpleton.)
kinsereaps - June 29, 2010 at 9:09 pm
I completely forgot about Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Ohio.Tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’.We’re finally on our own.This summer I hear the drummin’.Four dead in Ohio.
goxewu - June 29, 2010 at 9:42 pm
1. Party Pooper says, “There’s a difference between songs ‘about college’ and songs ‘that merely reference some aspect of college.’”2. Music Nitpicker says, “Wonderful World” is a 1960 release by Sam Cooke, who co-wrote it with Herb Alpert and somebody else. And it’s not “anti-college” at all. It’s a love-struck high school student’s saying that, even though he’s not academically gifted, he’ll try to make himself into an “A student” if that’s what it takes to win the girl’s affection. 3. Graybeard says, “While it may be the case that there ARE no great songs about college, there certainly WERE great songs about college, to wit: ‘Collegiate,’ from back in the 1920s, whose very title tells you everything you need to know. The lyrics are available in the Duke University digital library (http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/asl.3797441a17f/), and the names of the songwriters are priceless: Moe Jaffe and Nat Bronx. C’mon, academics–your frames of reference are supposed to be larger than your own adult lifespans.”
deanette - June 30, 2010 at 12:12 am
The most diapppointing lyrics are the lame ones they wrote for ANIMAL HOUSE. Those were a disaster and it was a missed opportunity.
bloomthinking - July 8, 2010 at 9:31 am
The article’s lament and comments remind me of a former student’s emails still beginning with “Teacher, How are you?” After 11 years, the person’s words about ‘making a song’ my college song, my high school song, connect with the former student’s mentioning of one song and then my fog clearning for two others that go back, back, and the titles may be a word(s) off, like the memory:Teacher by Jethro TullTeacher Teacher by RockpileTeacher Teacher by .38 Special