I'm gonna buy me a airplane...

September 13, 2011 7:56 AM

Good morning little schoolgirl, good morning little schoolgirl, can I go home with you? Tell your mama and your papa, I'm a little schoolboy too.
posted by flapjax at midnite (44 comments total)

Needs a version with a woman singing "I'm a little schoolgirl, too."
posted by pracowity at 8:12 AM on September 13, 2011

A classic though it may be, this song is pretty creepy.
posted by wabbittwax at 8:12 AM on September 13, 2011 [5 favorites]

Wow, thanks.

Couple o' those UMG links are blocked here in the USA.

My favorite here is Mississippi Fred McDowell's (second "little schoolgirl"). For contrast, follow that one up with Johnny Winter's, maybe too polished, Texas blues version ("Tell your mama and your papa").
posted by notyou at 8:14 AM on September 13, 2011

2nd and 5th links don't work for me--I assume one is John Lee Hooker.
posted by MrMoonPie at 8:18 AM on September 13, 2011

Needs a version with a woman singing "I'm a little schoolgirl, too."

Rory Block has done the song in concert.
posted by Trurl at 8:22 AM on September 13, 2011

Ah, hell, sorry to hear some of these links aren't working for folks, that's a bummer.

Yes indeedy, MrMoonPie, one of 'em is John Lee. Sooo good.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:22 AM on September 13, 2011

The 2nd link is Muddy Waters' classic interpretation, and I've got a feeling there may be another YouTube link for that that's not blocked, maybe. I'd try to dig one up, but it's bedtime for flapjax. (oh, and the 5th link is the JLH).
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:29 AM on September 13, 2011

The Fred MCdowell is KILLING me! What a badass.
posted by TheCoug at 8:30 AM on September 13, 2011

I can't seem to find the Gary Glitter version.
posted by orme at 8:43 AM on September 13, 2011 [3 favorites]

Muddy Waters version that works in the U.S.
posted by longsleeves at 8:51 AM on September 13, 2011

Smokey Hogg (1950)
Derek Trucks Band (1998)
 
posted by Herodios at 8:54 AM on September 13, 2011

Paul Butterfield Blues Band
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:58 AM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Allman Brothers Band

And for the sake of completeness, here's the Yardbirds version which just doesn't even compare to the versions linked above. They really were schoolboys and sounded like it.
posted by wabbittwax at 9:00 AM on September 13, 2011

Oh and here's one from Uncle Chuck, who could really sing it like he meant it.
posted by wabbittwax at 9:05 AM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

here's the Yardbirds version

Technically, that's a different song:

In 1961, Don Level and Bob Love, as the R&B duo "Don & Bob", recorded a different version of "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" for Argo Records, a Chess subsidiary. Although it uses the phrase "good morning little schoolgirl", the song has different chord changes and lyrics, including references to popular dance styles of the time. The Yardbirds with Eric Clapton later covered this version of "Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl" for their second UK single in 1964.

posted by Herodios at 9:08 AM on September 13, 2011

I love little girls.
posted by Nomyte at 9:13 AM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Man, the blues sometimes really creeps me out. I just don't see what people like about this song. It's "gritty," but gritty ain't so wonderful when it reaches up and grabs your 12-year-old daughter's butt, is it?
posted by koeselitz at 9:13 AM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Debbie Reynolds' "Good Mornin"
posted by longsleeves at 9:15 AM on September 13, 2011

Very nice, flapjax.

I used to sing this in a cover band and it's a great example of how slower tempos can be much harder to pull off with the proper feel or groove.
posted by stinkycheese at 9:22 AM on September 13, 2011

Were any of the people in these youtube clips actually pedophiles, or did they just sing sentimental songs about the joys of pedophilia for the hell of it?
posted by koeselitz at 9:32 AM on September 13, 2011

No, every single one of those artists is a pedophile.
posted by NationalKato at 10:00 AM on September 13, 2011

Jeez, koeselitz, you must be fun at parties. Pedophile parties.
posted by pracowity at 10:24 AM on September 13, 2011

Well, isn't it creepy?
posted by koeselitz at 10:43 AM on September 13, 2011

Is one of the Utoob links the Grateful Dead? (Can't tell by mouseover, and I don't think I want to click on Good Morning Little Schoolgirl at work.) There was a version on the very first GD album of seventeen thousand or so.


> Were any of the people in these youtube clips actually pedophiles, or did they just sing
> sentimental songs about the joys of pedophilia for the hell of it?

Always wondered about Maurice Chevalier, myself.
posted by jfuller at 10:45 AM on September 13, 2011

Other, non-Blues songs with similar sentiments:

Jefferson Airplane - Come Up the Years

Lovin' Spoonful - Younger Girl
posted by Kirth Gerson at 10:48 AM on September 13, 2011

Well, isn't it creepy?

I guess it depends on what age you think the 'schoolgirl' is in the song. Twelve or younger? Sixteen or older? It's a blues standard written in 1937. I don't think performing it means you're a pedophile.
posted by NationalKato at 10:50 AM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

This doesn't quite set off my creep-o-meter, but then I think I may have lost the ability to be creeped out by popular music after an unfortunate karaoke incident forced me to read the lyrics to "Girl Watcher".
posted by EvaDestruction at 10:58 AM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I have tried to suspend my creepy filter because I love Fred Mcdowell so much, but last week I was out with my 14 year old daughter and she suddenly scooted right up against me after she had been staying teenage-aloof. Some dude, at least 20 years older than her had been hitting on her pretty strong and she was very scared and creeped out.

So, this is creepy. but a product of its times and a damn good song if one can ignore the words.
posted by readery at 11:01 AM on September 13, 2011

If you think this is sketchy, check out Chuck Berry's Memphis, Tennessee.
posted by stinkycheese at 11:04 AM on September 13, 2011

I'll be digging out my Mississipi Fred McDowell tonight. Went looking for a video of the Taj Mahal version and couldn't find a single link. Weird.
posted by Lorin at 11:24 AM on September 13, 2011

Well, isn't it creepy?

Compared to Sweet Little 16? How about You're 16? Really the list is endless... Thing you have to keep in mind is, given the "half your age plus seven" rule, so long as the song writers were under 25, the songs are by definition not creepy.
posted by Chuckles at 11:33 AM on September 13, 2011

Also, that Muddy Waters version is terrible. Get a copy of the track from Folk Singer and it will blow your mind.
This guy used the track from Folk Singer, but he has done all kinds of... stuff to it. Or just listen to the sample on Amazon to get the idea :)
posted by Chuckles at 11:46 AM on September 13, 2011

Sorry, this guy...
posted by Chuckles at 11:47 AM on September 13, 2011

This doesn't quite set off my creep-o-meter, but then I think I may have lost the ability to be creeped out by popular music after an unfortunate karaoke incident forced me to read the lyrics to "Girl Watcher".

Sky rockets in flight... afternoon delight!
posted by FatherDagon at 11:48 AM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you think this is sketchy, check out Chuck Berry's Memphis, Tennessee.

I honestly don't see anything sketchy about Memphis.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 12:03 PM on September 13, 2011

Obviously, you can read the song as saying 'I was with my uncle when my daughter called and she misses me because she is with my estranged wife'. You'd probably have to hear the song a few times before you get there though... from Wikipedia's page on the song --

In the third verse, it is revealed that the speaker was close to this girl, and says that they were pulled apart because "her mom did not agree". From here the listener is led to believe that the girl was his lover, and her mother did not agree with the speaker, for some reason.

So the lyrics are setting Marie up as the narrator's lover, that's not just my interpretation. Finally, it is revealed that, "Marie is only six years old".

That reveal might not seem too sketchy by itself, but when you consider the romantic set-up, and the fact that some of Berry's other lyrics include lines like, "she's too cute to be a minute over seventeen", well...
posted by stinkycheese at 1:31 PM on September 13, 2011

"too many drivers behind your wheel" - grateful dead, good morning little schoolgirl, valentine's day, 1968, carousel ballroom

loose, funky, sloppy and spacey, pretty much how they always did it live
posted by pyramid termite at 5:06 PM on September 13, 2011

Junior Wells (not sure if it's one of the blocked ones).
posted by dobbs at 6:13 PM on September 13, 2011

Junior Wells (not sure if it's one of the blocked ones).

That version, from the album Hoodoo Man Blues is the first link in the FPP, although it's from a different YouTube uploader. So, if the one in my original post isn't working for anyone, glad you posted this one here dobbs.

That one happens to be, I think, pretty much my favorite. It's the first one I ever heard, so it was my introduction to the song, and that whole album is just phenomenal. Also worth noting is that it's one of the rare versions (from a bona fide blues man, anyway) that didn't overtly copy the phrasing of Sonny Boy's original.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:28 PM on September 13, 2011

Man, the blues sometimes really creeps me out. I just don't see what people like about this song. It's "gritty," but gritty ain't so wonderful when it reaches up and grabs your 12-year-old daughter's butt, is it?

Its catchy.

Lots of songs I liked as a kid were a bit skeevy, like Lightnin' Strikes
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 7:18 PM on September 13, 2011

Man, the blues sometimes really creeps me out

There's something about those songs...they depress me.
posted by Hoopo at 8:46 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

kids should listen to this warning by s.mouse
posted by yoHighness at 1:44 PM on September 14, 2011

I think the take-away from Memphis, Tennessee is the caller is implied to be a child. The caller doesn't really know who or where he is calling and describes to the operator where he wants to call in a juvenile manner as a child would.

I was with my sixteen year old niece in Paris last month. A tourist cafe barge named the "Maurice Chevalier" was parked on the Seine. I laughed when I saw the name. She asked who that was. I told her that he was a man famous for singing a song called "Thank Heaven for Little Girls." She was silent for a couple of seconds, then turned and said, "That's creepy."

I pointed out to her that many people might think a sixteen year old girl running around Paris with her "uncle" is a common and creepy trope. After many explanations, she still couldn't understand why. "That's just silly, Uncle Three."
posted by 3.2.3 at 6:59 AM on September 15, 2011

many people might think a sixteen year old girl running around Paris with her "uncle" is a common and creepy trope. After many explanations, she still couldn't understand why. "That's just silly, Uncle Three."

Uncle Three, prolly OK.

But Uncle Ernie or Cousin Dupree (two against nature, indeed), that's another matter, yeah?

Then there's the strange case of Uncle Ray.
 
posted by Herodios at 7:20 AM on September 15, 2011