Adult Education (song)

"Adult Education"
Single by Hall & Oates
from the album Rock 'n Soul Part 1
B-side Maneater (7" US 12")
"I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" (UK 12")
Released February 18, 1984
Format 7", 12", CD
Recorded 1983
Genre Pop rock
Length 3:59 (single version)
5:23 (album version)
Label RCA
Writer(s) Daryl Hall, John Oates, Sara Allen
Producer(s) Daryl Hall, John Oates, Bob Clearmountain
Hall & Oates singles chronology
"Say It Isn't So"
(1983)
"Adult Education"
(1984)
"Out of Touch"
(1984)

"Adult Education" is a top-ten single from the American musicians Hall & Oates and was released in 1984. The track is featured on the duo's second compilation album, Rock 'n Soul Part 1. It was one of two new tracks that were recorded specifically for the compilation release and hit number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. This song was featured in 2013 video game, Grand Theft Auto V.

Lyrics

The song centers on the plight of a teenage girl in high school. Her girlfriends only "care about what she wears" and the narrator assures her "there's life after high school." The lyrics suggest she is wiser than her years and, in fact, is receiving an education to the behavior of adults in high school.[1]

Music video

The music video to "Adult Education", directed by Tim Pope, takes place in what appears to be a torchlit stone temple or tomb. As Hall & Oates and their band sing, dance and play with modified instruments and ceremonial objects, a middle-aged man in a baseball cap organizes and wields several idols, while chanting. A teenage boy wearing a loincloth and a teenage girl draped in a white sheet cross a platform illuminated with modern lights and ascend a staircase to meet the man, who appears to bless them with an animal idol. The girl removes the sheet from her head and part of her body and the ritual continues. Eventually, both teenagers are placed on stone slabs; the boy acts terrified and appears to be restrained, while the girl lies motionless, her body draped in the white sheet. The video ends with the boy standing behind the idols' altar and the girl sitting on the stone slab in front of it, as Hall & Oates and their band continue to sing, dance and play instruments in the background. The final shots of the video are of hieroglyphs and ceremonial items scattered around the structure.

Chart positions

Charts (1984) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[2] 9
Canada Top Singles (RPM) 18
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[3] 7
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company) 63
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 8
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play 21

See also

References

  1. Sexism and Cultural Lag: The Rise of the Jailbait Song, 1955‐1985.JR Huffman. The Journal of Popular Culture 1987.Wiley Online Library
  2. "Ultratop.be – Daryl Hall / John Oates – Adult Education" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  3. "Dutchcharts.nl – Daryl Hall / John Oates – Adult Education" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.