School’s Out

For most students, the 2014 – 2015 school year has ended. The old nonsense rhyme always comes back to me at this time: “No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers’ dirty looks.”

These lines were included in the lyrics to the 1972 Alice Cooper hit, “School’s Out,” preceded by the unforgettable verses: “School’s out for summer. School’s out forever. School’s been blown to pieces.”

In an interview, Alice Cooper claimed he was inspired to write this song when someone asked him, “What are the greatest three minutes of your life?” Cooper answered: “There are two times during the year. One is Christmas morning, when you’re just getting ready to open the presents. The greed factor is right there. The next one is the last three minutes of the last day of school when you’re sitting there and it’s like a slow fuse burning.” Cooper added, “If we can catch those three minutes in a song, it’s going to be so big.”

In this Sunday page from 1998, the members of the Flagston family respond in different ways to the end of their school year.

Hi and Lois Sunday page, June 14, 1998.

We hope all of our readers have a great summer.

– Brian Walker