Various School House Rock Vol.1 - School Is In! (CD)

School is in – at last! ‘I worked and slaved the summer through, doing the things my papa told me to…’ Gary U.S. Bonds nails it. But wait a minute … why be glad? Nagging teachers, getting up early, tedious studying, stuffing your head with stuff you won’t be needing on Lovers Lane? 

But then, you will be seeing that cutie again, the one that made eyes at you at the bake sale last May. You can sleep longer, talk jive talk with the other cats and kittens, play pranks, be in-the-know of where to be and where to go! Sounds like fun, after all.

Ahh, school days. Arduous! Ambivalent! Sweet reminiscing, and painful memories! During the 1950s, a new target species was developed - or busted down doors and demanded recognition after centuries of neglect: the teenager. They talked differently, dressed differently, acted weird, smelled funny, and were hard to get by. They seemed to rule their little universe. 

One central gathering point to control them, study them, bully them, or try to coax them into usable directions was school. And school is where it all happens - boy meets girl; pimples cause nervous breakdowns; you can’t keep twitching due to itching; and you look for your place in life, your little self, your big dreams. School.

Bear Family Records® honors that most important timespan in all our lives by collecting two volumes of songs about high school, starting with ‘School House Rock, Vol. 1 - School Is In!’.

And what a fine collection it is – surpassing the obvious shooba-dooba of mentally-sentimantely deranged harmony groups, snarly-lipped teenage wonderboys, and other ‘50s cliches. Don Willis's deranged echo dripping garage rockabilly romp Boppin’ High School Baby rocks side by side with the big city R & B jump of Frankie Lymon’s Waiting in School (Look out Ricky!); John D. Loudermilk’s reflection on the most important school document – the Yearbook – eases through a spheric sci-fi chorus and makes John Waters rush off to write a new movie script about teenagers from outer space, while The Winstons are living proof that music class is a valid alternative to football – learn to play saxophone in no time! 

Classics like Frankie Avalon’s Teacher’s Pet stand alongside obscure rockabilly swingers like High School Lover, blending Jerry Lee and Big Bopper mannerisms and icing them with a mean guitar solo!

Don’t miss out on all the fun – buy the CD and feel young. Reminisce and do it all over again. Life is but a school, and there ain’t no golden rule.