Jonathan's Top 5 Songs About Education
Pay attention class! Here are Jonathan's top songs about education in honor of International Teacher's Day.
1. "Teach me Tonight"
The song was composed by Gene De Paul with lyrics by Sammy Cahn that uses educational terms very metaphorically. Just listen to the a few verses and you'll see what we mean and why it quickly became a popular standard of the 1950s.
2. "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught"
A serious song about the dangers of a hate-filled education. It was written by Rodgers and Hammerstein for their 1949 musical South Pacific. They were originally criticized for creating a song that was seen to some as "a threat to the American way of life." Years later Rodgers and Hammerstein are praised for their championing of social justice.
3. "You Don't Learn That In School"
The song was composed by Fred Fisher's (of "Chicago," and "Dardanella" fame) son Marvin with lyrics by Roy Alfred. It mischievously teaches children about the scandalous stories their history books don't include. The Nat "King" Cole Trio took on teaching those missing tales when they recorded the song in 1946.
4. "Pick Yourself Up"
This lesson in confidence was taught by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields for the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film Swing Time. In the movie, Penny (Rogers) is teaching Lucky (Astaire) to dance, telling him if he happens to fall to "take a deep breath, pick yourself up, start all over again."
5. "Teacher's Pet"
The song was written in 1958 by Joe Lubin for the movie of the same title. The film stared Doris Day and Clark Gable and teaches an important lesson of not lying and pretending to be someone you're not to get revenge on a teacher for making fun of the real you in front of her class, because you may fall in love with her.
