It’s fair to say that like a lot of kids I hated school. Teachers, classrooms, homework, uniforms, the whole lot was a loathsome task in the simple days of my schoolboy years. At the time an old Pink Floyd song captured how I felt about school beautifully. The words of ‘Another brick in the wall’ said it all with a moody chorus proclaiming “We don’t need no education.”

Of course, in a twist of irony, chanting “We don’t need no education” demonstrated that an education was indeed needed if only to learn that the song should have actually proclaimed “we don’t need AN education.”

The track became a classic, as did ‘The Wall’ which was the Pink Floyd album it was taken from. But eventually the track faded away, consigned to ‘classic’ stations and the memories of those who were at school back when the track reached number one in the charts of 1979.

However, nearly 28 years later, the rebellious chant of “we don’t need no education” is once again enjoying the musical limelight. Swedish producer and DJ, Eric Prydz, has taken Pink Floyd’s classic track and breathed new life into it with his remix entitled ‘Proper education’ which is currently enjoying success in the UK charts (See video below).

Prydz is perhaps best known for his 2004 track ‘Call on me‘ which heavily sampled Steve Winwood’s 1982 track ‘Valerie.’ The video of ‘Call on me‘ shot the track to the top of the charts and if often voted one of the sexiest music videos of all time with it’s 80’s aerobic-based gyrating which apparently made British Prime Minister Tony Blair fall off a rowing machine when he saw the video for the first time at his gym! (I wrote a post about that video back in October 2004.)

‘Proper Education’ might be considered by hardcore Pink Floyd fans as the musical equivalent of tasteless and unnecessary wings and spinners on a Ferrari, but I actually like the reworked version of their classic track which keeps the vocals of Pink Floyd and teenagers of the Islington Green School in north London who were featured on the track.

ROYALTIES

In fact, those former pupils from the Islington Green School may well be in line for some royalties from Prydz ‘Proper Education.’ Back in 2004 when Tony Blair was still picking himself up after seeing the Call on me video, the group who were featured on the track began court action against The Performing Artists’ Media Rights Association to claim a share of the royalties earned from the ‘Brick in the wall’ song.

In 1979 music teacher, Alun Renshaw, took a group of 23 teenagers to the Britannia Row Studios to lay down the backing vocals for the chorus of the Pink Floyd song. The session was recorded without the permission of the headmistress who promptly banned the teenagers from appearing in the media in relation to the song when she heard it. The teenagers were initially thrilled to have the opportunity to sing on the track, but they were disappointed to see other children from an acting school lip-synching to their vocals on the video of the song, and the BBC’s ‘Top Of The Pops‘ TV show.

With the teenagers singing “We don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control, no dark sarcasm in the classroom – teachers leave them kids alone” the Inner London Education Authority described the song as “scandalous”.

Despite this the school was paid £1,000 and was even given a platinum record of the song some time later. However, the pupils who made the recording were never offered a share in the huge success of the song which was also featured in the semi-animated 1982 film, The Wall, which itself became a cult classic.

Using the popular UK school friend finding website, Friends Reunited, the former pupils located one another in 2002 after one of them had learned that a 1996 change in UK copyright law meant the group were now eligible for a share in the songs royalties. Although the amount each of them would get was likely to be nominal the action was brought to once and for all associate them with the song for which they had never been given any recognition for being a part of.

Prydz reworked version of the classic track may bring a moderate financial reward to the former pupils, but more importantly it will perhaps give them another opportunity to say “that’s me” and feel some sense of ownership in what undoubtedly became a little piece of music history.

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[Video] : Another brick in the wall
Islington Green School
The Wall : A complete analysis
We all need some compensation
The dark side of The Wall
Storey behind ‘Another brick in the wall’
Call on me by Eric Prydz
Look what popped up
UK singles chart