How Pink Floyd Got a Real School Choir to Sing 'Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2'

The inspiration for “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2” came straight from Roger Waters’ own miserable experience at a Cambridgeshire grammar school, where teachers routinely humiliated students. The lyric “We don’t need no education” wasn’t supposed to be a rebellion anthem — it was a bitter, personal memory that Waters turned into the song’s centerpiece after producer Bob Ezrin suggested the whole album could use a more radio-friendly single.

What makes the track unforgettable is the sound of actual schoolchildren singing the chorus. Ezrin got the idea to use a real class instead of adult session singers, so he called his old roommate, who taught music at Islington Green School in London. The band brought in a mobile recording unit, and 23 kids from the choir recorded their parts. The school didn’t get royalties, but the school’s music department got a £1,000 donation — and a slice of rock history that still feels faintly unsettling when you hear those innocent voices chanting about teachers being just another brick in the wall.