Wat een geweldig nummer is het toch, dat School van de Engelse groep Supertramp. Ze spelen het hier tijdens een concert in Londen in 1975 en het komt van hun prachtige album Crime Of The Century van een jaar eerder. Het lied werd geschreven door groepsleden Rick Davis (toetsen) & Roger Hodgson (gitarist), die het hier ook samen zingen.
Hodgson zei het volgende over de betekenis van het lied, (it is) “basically saying that what they teach us in schools is all very fine, but it’s what they don’t teach us in schools that creates so much confusion in our being. They don’t really prepare us for life in terms of teaching us who we are on the inside. They teach us how to function on the outside and to be very intellectual, but they don’t tell us how to act with our intuition or our heart or really give us a real plausible explanation of what life’s about.”
School
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.
Your teacher tells you
stop your playing,
get on with your work.
And be like Johnnie-Too-good,
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).
And 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 and put out 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’m 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.