Tuesday 8 March 2011

Skipping School With Pink Floyd



Lotta talk about skipping, and ditching at school these days.  Whadya do with 'em?  Why do kids skip?  What gives?  Kids are changing.  Teens are different today..the usual staffroom banter.

French and I laugh it off.  We once skipped due to Pink Floyd.  Try writing that down as an excuse.

We were standing around at lunch once when I was in grade 10; and I made a pretty dumbass, or at least naive comment.  The lads were talking about Pink Floyd the Wall.  I said: "who is Pink Floyd?  (At that point I was into Skid Row, Whitesnake, Cinderella et al. )  French scowled at me and said "you better be kidding".  I thought Sweaty was gonna smack me.  I wasn't just playing dumb.  The only classic rock I listened to was Led Zeppelin. 

French insisted that we ditch school and remedy this travesty.  Sweaty came along; he kept trying to kick me in the ass on the walk to French's shed.

He got out his box of tapes and pulled out a double cassette.  It was really beat up.  French slid it into his ghetto blaster and cranked it.  We listened to the whole album.  Then he made me listen to it again; just to be sure my lesson stuck.

Great album, and it sure beat the hell outta Math and Geography.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Although I listened to PF at a young age, it wasn't until Godzilla pulled out his classic "Pipers at the gates of Dawn" album that I really fell in love. We passed one or two and then everything became clearer but more confused. That night was a mixture of sweet sedation and progressive imbibment. The night was a blur but the lyrics were unforgettable..."I've got a bike you can ride it if you like, it's got a basket, a bell that rings...."

Poot

Fisheye Lens said...

The Wall might be "classic rock" now to the kids, but for me it was a startling new discovery when it was just released. In Grade 6 Music class, each of us could bring in an album to play -- the other kids were bringing in their K-Tel and Kiddie shit, and when I spun the Wall nobody knew what the hell they were listening to.

erin said...

bettcha learned more for it too.

i skipped because i was and i wasn't sure before but i was more sure after.

xo
erin

Bubba said...

"Don't know much about History,
Don't know much Biology..."

But I do know that you can't have your pudding if you don't eat your meat!

Christine said...

PF brilliant poets, genius. Dark Side of the Moon man, Dark Side.
Long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be.
Thanks for the memory lane.

PAQ said...

I got thrown out of French lab for listening to "The Wall" instead of the crappy French tapes they made us listen to.

Also lost a job because I went to Reading festival to see Motorhead and Girlschool, yes Girlschool, instead of turning up to work.

Festivals, Happy days, even when some drunk guy pees up against the back of your leg. All worth it to see Rock legends.

Human Paradox said...

Great lesson learned Olie. French was a true teacher. Not some guy standing in front of the class with a bad mustache and a soup stained tie going "blah,blah,blah,blah."