21 Best Songs About Teachers Ever

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Teachers can inspire us & make a lifelong impression. Often it's a good impression, but sometimes it's not.

It's no surprise then, that many artists have written songs about the profession and the people in it. Here are the best songs about teachers ever.

Teacher I Need You by Elton John

Song Year: 1973

Most of us had a teacher who had something special. For Elton John’s, that something inspires a schoolboy crush that most people who have been teenage boys can completely understand.

He can’t concentrate, so he can’t get his homework done. He sits and stares at her in class, but it’s not for the sake of learning.

Who knows how good a teacher she actually was? It doesn’t matter.

Don’t Stand So Close to Me by The Police

Song Year: 1980

Lots of songs sing about crushing on a teacher. Not too many songs are about a teacher’s obsession with a student.

But in “Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” the song’s teacher narrator silently begs his students to stay away from him, but when he sees her waiting at a bus stop in the rain, he can’t help himself. As creepy as the song’s lyrics are, the song itself has an upbeat chorus that doesn't match its dark nature.

Hot for Teacher by Van Halen

Song Year: 1984

Just like Elton John’s teacher-loving song, Van Halen’s David Lee Roth also covers this classic theme: the sexy teacher that’s the focus of every drooling teenage boy in the school.

Oh, you’re going to give me detention? Where I’ll have to spend time with you after school when there are fewer people around? Okay.

It’s tongue-in-cheek, and it was in the 80s, so it’s all in good fun.

To Sir With Love by Lulu

Song Year: 1967

Scottish singer Lulu had some hits in the UK in the 60s and 70s, but “To Sir With Love” wasn’t one of them. Weird, since it was from the soundtrack to the 1967 film of the same name.

The lyrics capture the movie’s themes well. In the film, Sidney Poitier plays a teacher at a tough school in London’s East End. He has unruly students and prejudiced coworkers, but his regal bearing and respect for all win everyone over. By the film’s end, everyone in the school has changed for the better.

The students give their teacher a gift inscribed, “To Sir With Love.”

One More Try by George Michael

Song Year: 1988

The teacher in “One More Try” isn’t a certified teacher in a classroom. She’s the other half of a relationship with which George Michael’s narrator needs help. He’s been hurt before and doesn’t want to risk it.

He understands that she might be able to teach him how to love again. He’s hesitant but decides to chance it.

The song came from Michael’s debut solo album, Faith, released to critical and commercial success in 1987. It went to number one in the US and several other countries.

Teach Your Children by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Song Year: 1969

Another song that’s not about tenured, credentialed teachers, but it’s still about teachers. People with children of their own bear a moral responsibility to teach them how to be good humans and make the world a better place.

Conversely, kids whose parents can’t or don’t know how to do those things should teach them. We must help each other and work to improve life for everyone. After all, not everyone has equal opportunities in life.

I Love You Period by Dan Baird

Song Year: 1992

Ever had a love note returned to the sender with grammatical corrections? It happens, but it probably hurts a lot less when the one sending it back is the teacher you sent it to. How could she not be expected to take advantage of a teaching moment? She’s a teacher, after all.

Dan Baird, before this single, the frontman of the Georgia Satellites, sings about how he loved being in this one class (not due to the subject matter). He finally gets up the nerve to write his beloved teacher a note, which she sends back, having made changes with her trusty red pen to make it more effective.

The Future’s So Bright by Timbuk 3

Song Year: 1987

This song doesn’t focus on the teacher (though it does mention that he’s crazy, and in teacher-student interactions, that adjective usually translates to “cool”), but rather on the effect the teacher has on the narrator student.

He’s learning lots of great stuff which means a good job in the future. To a teenager, that means having beer money. To this teenager, that means that the future is looking up thanks, in part, to his science teacher.

The Teacher by Paul Simon

Song Year: 2000

Paul Simon’s “The Teacher” tells a metaphorical tale of a boy, lost in the world, who meets a teacher. The teacher beckons the boy to follow him away from danger, and the boy learns from the unnamed teacher on the journey.

The titular character ages, and the boy matures. By the song’s end, the boy is changed by what he’s learned over the years-long journey, and though he’s wiser, he wistfully looks back at the past and longs for simpler times.

Children Will Listen by Bernadette Peters

Song Year: 1988

Anyone with children of their own knows they’re sponges. Accidentally swear in front of a toddler, and he’ll repeat that word loudly at the worst possible time. In church, if at all possible.

The Broadway musical Into the Woods has as part of its finale “Children Will Listen,” sung by Bernadette Peters as The Witch. The song warns us about the broader nature of children’s impressionability.

They watch and learning from us. Live right, it says, or your kids won’t learn how to do so when they’re the grownups.

When I Kissed the Teacher by ABBA

Song Year: 1976

In 1976, a song about a teenage girl with a crush on her teacher was cute. This song, in particular, is bouncy and joyful in a way few groups other than ABBA could ever pull off. The girl finally can’t help herself, and during a geometry lesson, she’s overcome and plants a wet one on her instructor.

“When I Kissed the Teacher,” despite being one of Benny Andersson’s favorite ABBA songs, never became a huge hit, though it appeared in the film Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

It’s still a cute song, but in the 21st century, its lyricals hit a bit differently.

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