How Pink Floyd recorded the 'Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2' children's choir — and the royalty mess that followed

The choir you hear on the 1979 hit wasn’t a bunch of trained session kids — producer Bob Ezrin brought in twenty-three 13- and 14-year-olds from Islington Green School, a state school near the studio. The band simply paid each kid £5 cash and gave them a copy of the single. No contracts, no residuals, just a fun afternoon singing “We don’t need no education.”

The session itself was surprisingly loose. Roger Waters had written the line as a protest against rigid schooling, so Ezrin figured real students would bring the right attitude. They recorded the kids in two hours at Britannia Row Studios, with Waters directing them to sing with maximum defiance. The result was a number one in the UK and US, and one of the most recognizable choruses in rock.

A decade later, the school’s new head teacher tried to chase the band for royalties on behalf of the former students. Pink Floyd’s management pointed out the kids had been paid cash on the day, no further obligation existed. The school eventually dropped the fight. Most of the choir members never saw another penny — though a few later said they didn’t really care, they just thought it was cool to be on a record.