Song: “The Logical Song”
British schooling got two classic criticism songs in the same year — this is one
From Supertramp’s massive 1979 album Breakfast In America, “The Logical Song” was a Top 10 hit in both the US and the UK.
Written by Rodger Hodgson, one of the band’s two stellar songwriters (Rick Davies was the other), it was a reflection on how childhood gets co-opted by academic and structured pressures, something Hodgson felt was only becoming more acute with time, saying in a 2012 interview:
It’s very basically saying that what they teach us in schools is all very fine, but what about what they don’t teach us in schools that creates so much confusion in our being. I mean, they don’t really prepare us for life in terms of teaching us who we are on the inside. They teach us how to function on the outside and to be very intellectual, but they don’t tell us how to act with our intuition or our heart or really give us a real plausible explanation of what life's about. There’s a huge hole in the education. I remember leaving school at 19, I was totally confused. That song really came out of my confusion, which came down to a basic question: please tell me who I am.
Hodgson often wrote by trying out lyrics while playing piano, a trait he shares with other famous songwriters like Paul McCartney and Billy Joel.
- Another song from 1979 — “Another Brick In the Wall” — also railed against British schooling.
Breakfast In America spawned two other hits — “Goodbye Stranger” and “Take the Long Way Home.” It became Supertramp’s best-selling album (4x Platinum) and was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for six weeks.
Enjoy!