The First Day of School

Album: Somewhere East of Eden (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song was inspired by Joe Grushecky's earliest memories, his first day of school, and follows all the other firsts in his life, like becoming a special education teacher. He told VVN Music: "Actually, I'm in my sixties, so that's one of the first memories I've retained, that first day of school. We started in first grade. There wasn't any kindergarten back then. My best friend and next door neighbor, Jackie, and I were these real rough coal miner kids. His mom and my mom are walking out after meeting us and Jackie had a freakin' meltdown. He started crying and that's where the song got started, with the line 'Jackie started crying, guess he misses his Mom' and I just sort of took it from there. It was always stressful, that first day of school for me. Summers over, get back to the grind."

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