Member-only story
Not Another Brick
The Wall, The Friend, The Teacher, and Me
Pink Floyd, Memories, and the Power of Music
Vinyl, Rebellion, and Childhood Nostalgia
On the Pink Floyd fan page, “The Wall” popped up for its 45th anniversary. That tractor-beamed me to 1979 — fifth grade. Osage Elementary. Voorhees, NJ. We had a teacher — jeez — what was her name? Something like Ms. Emily Prudence Etiquette. Prudee for short. She must have been no square, though, to play music for Show and Tell.
Or was it Listen and Rage?
This kid, Brian K — tall, artistic was kinda goofy with shaggy hair. He had bright blue eyes, and he seemed older. Cooler, too. He brought in “The Wall.”
The teacher, Ms. Vera Eleanor Goodmanners, asked, “What song?” and he said, “Mother.” She should have considered the two — Brian and Mother — and predicted the consequence. “Mother” is mellow — plaintive — full of angst and sadness — and those rhetorical questions — like when Roger Waters sings, “Mother, do you think they’ll try to break my balls?”
The class laughed. Brian knew exactly what he was doing — he was a real mixer. The teacher did not handle it well. How could anyone handle that well? She could’ve laughed. I would have said, now —…