It's back-to-school time, and a great way to start the academic year is with songs about school.

Millions of American children will pile into classrooms for the first time in 12 weeks. Teachers will stand before them, brimming with confidence and optimism. High school football teams will be ready for action and marching bands will iron away wrinkles in their on-field fight song routines.

And in the back of the room, some young poet will be sitting in a desk and scratching country music song lyrics onto the paper.

Country music is life with a melody, and few life moments are as iconic as the first day of school. To celebrate this tradition, KWKH has come up with 5 songs that either bring back teenage memories, or describe some of the extracurricular fun happening away from the classroom.


  • 5

    Brad Paisley

    Letter to Me

    Brad Paisley's song makes our list of the Top 10 Songs About School, and it shows that aside from a few details, just about everyone's high school experience is the same. There's no one who wouldn't have benefited from a note from our future selves. It's the lessons learned that make the moment and days spent in school so valuable.

  • 4

    Jennie C. Riley

    Harper Valley P.T.A.

    Jennie C. Riley's 1968 hit that makes our list of school songs turned into a movie by the same name one decade later. Squabbles with administration usually aren't the proudest moments in a parent's life, but this one became a rallying call for everyone who'd ever grown tired of stuffy bureaucracy.

  • 3

    Toby Keith

    How Do You Like Me Now

    Everyone has one person, a bully, who makes them feel like dirt through high school. Toby Keith gets the ultimate revenge on that girl in this song. Few amongst us can't put a face from our personal past under the brunette hair of that cheerleader in the video. Success is the ultimate comeback.

  • 2

    George Strait

    Check Yes or No

    Is there a better school love song than 'Check Yes or No'? George Strait captures the innocence of an elementary school crush in this classic song and fan favorite. Somehow it gets more complicated later in life, but Strait's song reminds that it doesn't have to.

  • 1

    Kenny Chesney

    The Boys of Fall

    High school football is the great unifier. Towns come together to cheer on their hometown team. There's something oddly poetic about helmets and shoulder pads crashing in to each other again, and again, and again. Chesney captures that emotion in this, the ultimate track on any back-to-school soundtrack.

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