When some loud braggart tries to put you down on Monday…just remind them that it’s Music Monday!
Oh, and that your school is number one in the state.
Because why not?
It’s back to school week, both here and well…out there. I’m not going back to school, but younger people are (and perhaps people my age?). For the last two years, I kicked off September/celebrated Labor Day with a song about working in a coal mine, as well as a song about working in an office (so apropo for Labor Day, wouldn’t you say?), but this year, I’m kicking September off with a song about school.
“Be True to Your School” is a 1963 single by The Beach Boys, the third track from their album Little Deuce Coupe. Recorded in September 1963 (appropriate for back to school, wouldn’t you say?), the single was released on October 28, 1963.
Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, the song is a tribute to the Wilson Brothers’ alma mater, Hawthorne High School (Hawthorne, California), despite the melody of the University of Wisconsin’s “On, Wisconsin!” as part of the song.
There are two versions of “Be True to Your School” – the album version, and the one that was released as a single. The latter version featured The Honeys (a girl group from whom Brian Wilson would meet his future wife, Marilyn Rovell, the mother of singers Carnie and Wendy Wilson) as the cheerleaders.
Push ’em back, push ’em back, waaaaaaaaay back…and click play!
“Be True To Your School” reached #6 on the Billboard charts. The single was released backed with “In My Room,” and was ranked in the top 20 of United Press International’s survey of jukebox play in the United States, and gave The Beach Boys a boost of popularity in a time when they were merely thought of as a Southern California phenomenon.
I first heard this song in 1992, during a dance recital (the theme for the show was seasons, this one was at the beginning of the show, during the “Fall” portion of the recital routines). It was coupled with the very familiar theme from the sitcom Coach (likely to pad out the song, which was only 2 minutes and 10 seconds, most recital routines top out at 3 minutes or more). Both songs were once again featured in a dance recital during my dance school’s 10th anniversary recital in 1997.
Both times, the song was danced to by acrobatics classes (of course) in cheerleader costumes (again, of course). The first time around, the kids in the class were between 9 and 11 years old (I knew a few kids that were in the class). Five years later, those kids were just finishing 8th and 9th grades (I had just finished eighth grade at the time), and the kids dancing to it this time were about that same age.
And yes, both times they did the “push ’em back, push ’em back, waaaaaaay back!” chant!
Well, isn’t that the first thing that comes to mind when you hear this song?
Have a great Monday, enjoy the music, and here’s to a great school year!
Allison's Written Words