School Days (song)
Encyclopedia
"School Days" is a song written and recorded by rock and roll
icon Chuck Berry
, released by the Chess
record label as a single
in March 1957, and released on the LP
After School Session
two months later (see 1957 in music
). It is one of his best known songs and is often considered a rock and roll anthem. It was first released as a single
and later appeared as the lead track on Berry's first album
, After School Session
.
The last verse of the song contains the lyrics "Hail, hail rock and roll / Deliver me from the days of old." Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll
became the title of a 1987
documentary
and concert film
about Berry. Much of the song's musical arrangement would later be reused by Berry in 1964 on "No Particular Place To Go
". The same arrangement was also used on the very rare "Big Ben Blues".
"School Days" also appears at the end of the Neil Young
concert film Rust Never Sleeps
during the credits.
, Illinois
. The session(s) were produced
by the Chess brothers – Leonard
and Phil
– and backing Berry on the recording were guitarist
Hubert Sumlin
(who is known for his work with Howlin' Wolf
), bassist
Willie Dixon
, and drummer
Fred Below
.
chart, his third highest-ranked pop hit and hit number one on the R&B Best Sellers
chart. The song was also Chuck Berry's first appearance on the UK Singles Chart
reaching #24.
recorded a version of "School Days" for their second album, T.N.T.
. The song was originally released only in Australia. However, in 1997
it was released internationally on Volts
, a compilation of Bon Scott
-sung songs, part of the Bonfire
box set.
, who recorded it under the title "School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell)" on his album Glitter
in 1972
.
for their first album, Love's So Tough
under the title "School Days (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)" but was cut from the final release. The track was made available on their compilation album Pumping Iron & Sweating Steel: The Best of the Iron City Houserockers
.
.
recorded a version of "School Days" as an 'outro' track on their album Take it Greasy released in 1976.
on their 1980 album Keepin' the Summer Alive
with Al Jardine
on lead vocals. Like Gary Glitter's recording, their version was released with the alternate title "School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell)".
's album, The Album
, he covered the song, added a skit, and remade the song. In his version, called "Street Dayz", he replaces all the school related lyrics with lyrics that have to do with gang life, drugs, and sex.
album The Simpsons Sing the Blues
with vocals from Buster Poindexter and the character, Bart Simpson
.
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
icon Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
, released by the Chess
Chess Records
Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
record label as a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
in March 1957, and released on the LP
LP record
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
After School Session
After School Session
After School Session is Chuck Berry's first studio album, released in 1957 by Chess Records. The album was released in May 1957 as LP 1426, making it the second LP record released by Chess.- Releases :...
two months later (see 1957 in music
1957 in music
-Events:*January 5 – Renato Carosone and his band start their American tour in Cuba.*January 6 – Elvis Presley makes his final appearance on the The Ed Sullivan Show.*January 16 – The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool, UK....
). It is one of his best known songs and is often considered a rock and roll anthem. It was first released as a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
and later appeared as the lead track on Berry's first album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, After School Session
After School Session
After School Session is Chuck Berry's first studio album, released in 1957 by Chess Records. The album was released in May 1957 as LP 1426, making it the second LP record released by Chess.- Releases :...
.
The last verse of the song contains the lyrics "Hail, hail rock and roll / Deliver me from the days of old." Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll
Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll
Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll is a 1987 documentary film directed by Taylor Hackford that chronicles two 1986 concerts celebrating rock and roll musician Chuck Berry's 60th birthday. A soundtrack album was released in October 1987 on the MCA label....
became the title of a 1987
1987 in film
-Events:*January 31 - The Cure for Insomnia premieres at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois, to officially become the world's longest film according to Guinness World Records....
documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
and concert film
Concert film
A concert movie, or concert film, is a type of documentary film, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by a musician ....
about Berry. Much of the song's musical arrangement would later be reused by Berry in 1964 on "No Particular Place To Go
No Particular Place To Go
"No Particular Place to Go" is a song by American rock and roll icon Chuck Berry, released as a single by Chess Records in May 1964 and was released on the album St...
". The same arrangement was also used on the very rare "Big Ben Blues".
"School Days" also appears at the end of the Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
concert film Rust Never Sleeps
Rust Never Sleeps
Rust Never Sleeps is an album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse released in 1979. The bulk of the album was recorded live at San Francisco's Cow Palace, with overdubs added. Audience noise is removed as much as possible, although it is clearly audible at certain points, most noticeably on the opening...
during the credits.
Recording
The song was recorded on January 21, 1957 at Universal Recording Studios in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. The session(s) were produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by the Chess brothers – Leonard
Leonard Chess
Leonard Chess was a record company executive and the founder of Chess Records. He was influential in the development of electric blues.- Early life :...
and Phil
Phil Chess
Philip Chess is an American record producer and company executive, the co-founder of Chess Records.He was born Fiszel Czyż in a Jewish community in Częstochowa, Poland. He and his brother Lejzor, sister Malka and mother followed their father to Chicago in 1928...
– and backing Berry on the recording were guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Hubert Sumlin
Hubert Sumlin
Hubert Sumlin is an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer, best known for his celebrated work, from 1955, as guitarist in Howlin' Wolf's band. His singular playing is characterized by "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic...
(who is known for his work with Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
), bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon
William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...
, and drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Fred Below
Fred Below
Fred Below was a leading blues drummer, best known for his innovative work with Little Walter and Chess Records in the 1950s. Nobody laid more of the Chicago blues rhythmic foundations, particularly its archetypal backbeat, than Fred Below.-Career:He was born in Chicago, and started playing drums...
.
Charts
It peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart, his third highest-ranked pop hit and hit number one on the R&B Best Sellers
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
chart. The song was also Chuck Berry's first appearance on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
reaching #24.
Don Lang & his Frantic Five
Don Lang's contemporary 1957 British cover version made number 26 in the UK.AC/DC
Australian hard rock band AC/DCAC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
recorded a version of "School Days" for their second album, T.N.T.
T.N.T. (album)
T.N.T. is the second studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released in December 1975. Seven of the album's nine songs were written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Bon Scott...
. The song was originally released only in Australia. However, in 1997
1997 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1997.-January:*January 9 – David Bowie performs his 50th Birthday Bash concert at Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA with guests Frank Black, The Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of The Cure, Lou Reed, and Billy...
it was released internationally on Volts
Volts (album)
Volts is an album by AC/DC released as a part named "Disc Four" on the Bonfire box set. Released in November 1997, the album is a compilation of some alternate versions of songs recorded for Let There Be Rock and Highway to Hell albums, and some songs previously released.A hidden track containing...
, a compilation of Bon Scott
Bon Scott
Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott was a Scottish-born Australian rock musician, best known for being the lead singer and lyricist of Australian hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980...
-sung songs, part of the Bonfire
Bonfire (album)
-Let There Be Rock: The Movie - Live in Paris:-Volts:-Back in Black :-AC/DC: Let There Be Rock :-Volts :-References:...
box set.
Gary Glitter
The song was remade by the British rocker Gary GlitterGary Glitter
Gary Glitter is an English former glam rock singer-songwriter and musician.Glitter first came to prominence in the glam rock era of the early 1970s...
, who recorded it under the title "School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell)" on his album Glitter
Glitter (Gary Glitter album)
Glitter was an album released in 1972 by British glam rock singer Gary Glitter, produced by Bell Records. Two tracks, "I Didn't Know I Loved You " and "Rock And Roll", the latter a song in two parts, achieved success as singles; each spent time amongst the top forty singles in both the United...
in 1972
1972 in music
-Events:*January 17 – Highway 51 South in Memphis, Tennessee is renamed "Elvis Presley Boulevard"*January 20 – The début of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon at The Dome, Brighton, is halted by technical difficulties,...
.
Iron City Houserockers
The song was covered by the Iron City HouserockersIron City Houserockers
The Iron City Houserockers were an American rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, led by singer/guitarist Joe Grushecky, that existed from 1976 until 1984...
for their first album, Love's So Tough
Love's So Tough
Love's So Tough is a studio album by the Iron City Houserockers. Released in 1979, the Iron City Houserocker's first album attempts to capture the presence of what was essentially a Pittsburgh bar band playing to a blue collar crowd every night...
under the title "School Days (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)" but was cut from the final release. The track was made available on their compilation album Pumping Iron & Sweating Steel: The Best of the Iron City Houserockers
Pumping Iron & Sweating Steel: The Best of the Iron City Houserockers
Pumping Iron & Sweating Steel: The Best of the Iron City Houserockers is a compilation album by the Iron City Houserockers. Released in 1992 under Rhino Records, it was at that time the only Iron City Houserockers material available on compact disc Pumping Iron & Sweating Steel: The Best of the...
.
Jan & Dean
The song was covered by Jan & Dean on their 1964 album Dead Man's Curve - The New Girl In School under the title "School Days". The song was later released on a single in 1966 by Liberty RecordsLiberty Records
Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.-1950s:...
.
Ol' 55
Australian rock n roll revival band Ol' 55Ol' 55
Ol' 55 was an Australian band specialising in retro, 1950s-era Rock 'n' Roll. They formed as Fanis in 1972 in Sutherland, Sydney, New South Wales . Drummer Geoff Plummer was working with Glenn A. Baker at the NSW Department of Media and invited Baker to hear his part-time band, including Pat...
recorded a version of "School Days" as an 'outro' track on their album Take it Greasy released in 1976.
The Beach Boys
"School Days" was also covered by The Beach BoysThe Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
on their 1980 album Keepin' the Summer Alive
Keepin' the Summer Alive
-Singles:* "Goin' On" b/w "Endless Harmony" , March 11, 1980 US #83* "Livin' with a Heartache" b/w "Santa Ana Winds" , May 20, 1980...
with Al Jardine
Al Jardine
Alan Charles "Al" Jardine is a founding member of top-selling American music group The Beach Boys, a guitarist and occasional lead vocalist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.-Early life:...
on lead vocals. Like Gary Glitter's recording, their version was released with the alternate title "School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell)".
Lil Rob
On Lil RobLil Rob
Roberto Flores , best known by his stage name Lil Rob, is a Mexican American rapper, producer, and actor-Biography:...
's album, The Album
The Album (Lil Rob album)
- Track listing :* 1. Intro * 2. Brought Up In Small Neighborhood* 3. City That Everyone Knows Me* 4. Barely Getting By* 5. California* 6. Linda Mujer* 7. I Remember* 8. Saw You On The Dance Floor* 9. Drinking On My Driveway...
, he covered the song, added a skit, and remade the song. In his version, called "Street Dayz", he replaces all the school related lyrics with lyrics that have to do with gang life, drugs, and sex.
The Simpsons
A version of "School Days" was included on The SimpsonsThe Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
album The Simpsons Sing the Blues
The Simpsons Sing the Blues
The Simpsons Sing the Blues is the first album released as an offshoot of The Simpsons. The album contains originally recorded music not featured in the series save for the first verse of the track "Moaning Lisa Blues" which was first featured in the episode "Moaning Lisa", aired February 11, 1990...
with vocals from Buster Poindexter and the character, Bart Simpson
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
.