"Thought I'd write a song about you, and dedicate it to you."
February 3, 2025 3:29 PM   Subscribe

Stay in School is a 1967 PSA album released by Stax Records.

There is some disagreement about whether 4,000 or 5,000 copies were pressed, but it's among the rarest of the original Stax full-length releases.

In addition to songs from Stax/Volt artists Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd, William Bell, Sam & Dave, Booker T & the MGs, and the Mar-Keys, it also includes spoken announcements about the importance of... not being a dropout.

Most of the songs were previously released, though Otis Redding's 'Stay in School' was recorded specifically for this album.

This was part of the President's Committee On Youth Opportunity, a 1966 initiative led by then-VP Hubert Humphrey--a letter from Humphrey is enclosed with the record (it concludes 'Remember, THOSE WHO LEARN MORE...EARN MORE! My young friends, that's where the action is!!!').

The committee also produced two compilations, a mobile record shop run by teenagers, and James Brown's 'Don't Be a Drop-Out.' Richard Nixon continued the program, and it was eventually disbanded by Ronald Reagan in 1982.
posted by box (5 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
As sampled by the great Dillinger Four.
posted by kensington314 at 4:20 PM on February 3 [1 favorite]


Despite a decade of heavy handed childhood propaganda cartoons and daytime TV, hearing "stay in school" always makes me think of Peaches' 'Fuck the Pain Away'.
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:55 PM on February 3


Otis’s ‘Stay in School’ was a rarity for a long time, though it eventually showed up on a CD compilation. The song is a little over a minute—it showed up on a lot of my mix CDs back when that was a thing.
posted by box at 5:50 PM on February 3 [1 favorite]


Any of those artists are worthy of further exploration, but I am always extra happy to see William Bell mentioned because he somehow never quite managed the level of fame many of his label-mates achieved. His album "The Soul of a Bell" (which includes the track linked above) deserves more respect (if not R.E.S.P.E.C.T.) than it generally gets.
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:08 PM on February 3 [1 favorite]


Otis Redding's song is such a mainstay of a couple of relationships of mine, "you really houghta think about it" being the most prominent reference to it.

But possibly my favorite thing is when he starts off by calling himself "the Big O", in a way that vaguely sounds like he gave himself that nickname.
posted by cardioid at 6:40 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]


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