School - New Edition

You got to go to school and beat that bell

When the alarm clock wakes—ring, ding dong

We’re gonna start our rap about this song

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday…

The weekend’s here!

Well listen

When I was very young I used to sit around the house

Watching Oil Can Harry battle Mighty Mouse

Until my mother said, «Son, that’s not the way to be

You’ve got to go to school and learn your ABCs.»

I said, «Is that it, mom?»

She said, «That's not even half

You’ve got to go to school, you got to learn some math

You gotta learn how to count — 1, 2, 3

And then get brushed up on the history.»

My first day of school I’ll never forget.

My teacher said, «Recite the alphabet.

I said, «A E M, um, L R,»

And as you can see, I didn’t get very far

The teacher said, «Son, there’s nothing to it

Before the day’s over, you’ll learn how to do it

And not only that, you’ll learn how to read

And that’s one thing in life you’ll always need.»

Well, school’s not all work;

there’s fun things to do

Like gym, lunch, and recess, too

Kindergarten was easy, it was mostly play

What I was worried about was elementary

You got to go to school and beat that bell

When the alarm clock wakes—ring, ding dong

We’re gonna start our rap about this song

You got to go to school and beat that bell

When the alarm clock wakes—ring, ding dong

We’re gonna start our rap about this song

Ha!

Now it started out wrong, I took another turn

I didn’t want to study, didn’t even want to learn

Didn’t want to go to class, I was always late

Because school became something that I started to hate

Started hanging with my boys;

didn’t mean no harm

We was going around the school pulling fire alarms

I was a chilly homeboy, yes, I was down

Because I came to school just to mess around

I started hanging in the halls, and writing on the walls

Until I got started playing basketball

But I didn’t have a job so I couldn’t get paid

And I couldn’t play ball because of my grades

But I still used to practice each and every day

In case the coach decided to let me play

But it didn’t work out the way I planned

So I ran to a man who said he can understand

The problems I was going through

He said, «Son, it’s all about going to school.»

So I shut up, and shipped out, turned in my keys

And now I’m moving up to the big leagues: high school!

You got to go to school and beat that bell

When the alarm clock wakes—ring, ding dong

We’re gonna start our rap about this song

You got to go to school and beat that bell

When the alarm clock wakes—ring, ding dong

We’re gonna start our rap about this song

(Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, and Mike)…and Ralph!

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday…

The weekend’s here!

So check it out, check check, I’m feeling cool

'Cause I was going on to something they call «high school»

And I’m feeling funny, 'cause things aren’t the same

Wondering why nobody knows my name

That became something that I started to miss

And now that I’m here it feels like a big diss

But anyway, I had to leave, I had something to achieve

It was singing -YEAH- that’s what I wanted to do

So I got a tutor, because I’m no fool

Dropping out of school is quite absurd

And it’s up to New Edition to spread the word

Stay in school!

S-C-H-O-O-L, you got to go to school and beat that bell…

S-C-H-O-O-L, you got to go to school and beat that bell…

S-C-H-O-O-L, you got to go to school and beat that bell…

(…go to school, beat that bell)

S-C-H-O-O-L, you got to go to school and beat that bell…

S-C-H-O-O-L, you got to go to school and beat that bell…

(…go to school, beat that bell)

S-C-H-O-O-L, you got to go to school and beat that bell…

(S-C-H-O-O-L…go to school, beat that bell)

(Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, and Mike)…and Ralph!

(S-C-H-O-O-L…go to school, beat that bell)

(Repeat and fade…)