Be True to Your School explained
"Be True to Your School" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1963 album Little Deuce Coupe. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, it was issued as a single on October 28, 1963. There are two versions of this song: the album version, and the single version, which added cheerleader yells by the girl group The Honeys in between verses.[1] The song features the melody of the University of Wisconsin's fight song, "On, Wisconsin!", although it is a tribute to Hawthorne High School, which the Wilson brothers attended. Hawthorne High School's fight song uses the same melody as "On, Wisconsin!".[2]
The cover photo for this single (and for the associated album Little Deuce Coupe) included member David Marks but not Al Jardine, though Jardine had returned to create a six-member band for the recording sessions for this single and album. This single, with its B-side "In My Room", were the last two of eight charting Beach Boys songs to include Marks in the 1960s.[3]
Chart history
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Covers and later versions
See also: List of cover versions of Beach Boys songs.
- 1964 – The Knights, Hot Rod High
- 1985 – Jan & Dean, Silver Summer.
In popular culture
- The song is featured in an episode of Gilmore Girls, where the town troubadour (portrayed by Grant-Lee Phillips) is playing it during a pep rally.
- DTV, in 1984, set the original Beach Boys version of the song to a collection of Disney shorts including some featuring schools like Teachers Are People, Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
- The song is played during the title sequence of the 1988 dark comedy Mortuary Academy.
- The song's title is parodied by heavy metal band Twisted Sister in the song "Be Crool to Your Scuel".
- Mike Love performed the song on a telethon on the Full House episode "Our Very First Telethon"; while the title of a later episode, "Be True to Your Preschool", is a reference to the song.
- The song is featured in the 1980s TV series Riptide. The song is also the title of the episode (season 2, episode 7).
- The song inspired the Ripped Pants song from the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Ripped Pants”.
- The song was part of an oldies melody in the 2005 Tokyo Disneyland parade/show "Disney's Rock Around the Mouse".
- The song is featured in the end credits of the HBO series Vice Principals, season 1, episode 1.
- Grace Vanderwaal sings the song in the 2020 Disney+ movie Stargirl. It is also included on the soundtrack for the movie.
- The song was featured on a 1993 Sony Kids' Music album called Camp California, Where the Music Never Ends.
- The song was used in a Macy's contest and commercial in 2014.
Notes and References
- Badman, Keith. The Beach Boys. The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band: On Stage and in the Studio Backbeat Books, San Francisco, California, 2004. p. 42
- Jenny Price. "Fight on for Her Fame", On Wisconsin Magazine, Winter 2009.
- Book: Stebbins, Jon . David Marks . The Lost Beach Boy . Virgin Books . London . 2007 . 104 . 978-1-85227-391-0.
- Web site: CHUM Tribute Charts, December 16, 1963 . Collectionscanada.gc.ca . 1963-12-16 . 2020-06-22.
- Web site: flavour of new zealand - search lever. Flavourofnz.co.nz. 15 September 2021.
- Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 -
- Book: Downey . Pat . Albert . George . Hoffman . Frank . Cash box pop singles charts, 1950-1993 . 1994 . Libraries Unlimited Inc. . Englewood, Colorado . 1563083167 . 19 . March 5, 2023.
- Web site: Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 26, 1964 . December 29, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150601014249/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/1964YESP.html . June 1, 2015 . dead .
