Allwright traveled to France in the early 1950's and married Catherine Dasté. His son Christophe Allwright, is a French comedian.
In the early '60s, Allwright sang at a number of clubs in Paris, folk music that was very big in the 60s. He wrote his own music, and created the French language versions of many songs by US and Canadian artists like Tom Paxton ("Sacrée Bouteille" "Qu'as tu appris à l'école?"), Leonard Cohen ("Suzanne") and Pete Seeger ("Jusqu' à la ceinture").
His earlier music focused more on social protest songs. As he matured as an artist, his songs became more personal, and his choice in material included more funny songs, songs with a mystical bent ("Garder le Souvenir", "Lumière"), and songs about the complexities of relationships ("No Man's Land"). Some of his songs are in English, but the vast majority are in French.
He has travelled extensively, to the Himalayas, Réunion Island, and Madascar, among other places. He was strongly influenced by the Indian master and teacher Sri Aurobino, which is reflected in the mystical qualities of some of his songs.
In 2005, he wrote new lyrics for the French National Anthem, "La Marseillaise".
The School Mistress
Graeme Allwright Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
La maitresse d'école
Traduction Andrew Kelly
At the school where we learned our letters, A B C,
Our mistress used the latest methodology.
What happy times those school-days, all too short, alas,
When our dear guardian angel came and taught our class
Until that most happy day when she was put in charge
We all had been such dreamers, idiots, fools at large.
Because they had to work so hard for us poor louts
The rich suppliers of dunces' caps where quite worn out
Yes they were quite worn out.
The teaching methods mistress followed came to this:
She promised to the one who got first prize, a kiss —
A real kiss warm and tender on the mouth, quite hard,
A most abandoned kiss where there were no holds barred,
Where there were no holds barred.
In our class-room the change was startling, wonderful,
Not one of us played truant or missed a day at school
The poor suppliers of dunces' caps were driven first
To bankruptcy, then ruin and liquidation, bust,
And liquidation, bust.
When he read the examination marks that year,
The Principal's astonished smile stretched ear to ear;
Our mistress turned from pink to scarlet, how she blushed:
For every pupil scored First Equal, Grade A Plus,
First Equal Grade A Plus.
And at playtime our guardian angel kept her word,
Got ready and fulfilled her promise to each lad.
Since out of forty, forty pupils won the right,
Imagine, can't you, why the session took all night
The session took all night.
But there was disapproval from that man, that fool
The Regional Director placed in charge of schools;
In spite of her (his) remarkable results and fame,
She was dismissed and sent away in deepest shame,
Away in deepest shame.
Following her departure once again the dunce
Made a come-back replaced the former excellence.
The school-year after put us quite beyond the pale:
For all of us scored Last Equal, Double F Minus, Failed,
Double F Minus Failed.
At the school where we learned our letters, A B C,
Our mistress used the latest methodology.
What happy times those school-days, all too short I vow
When our dear guardian angel came and taught us how
She came and taught us how.
The School Mistress, or La maitresse d'école in French, by Graeme Allwright speaks about the impact a good teacher or a "guardian angel" can have on a student's life. Allwright reminisces about his school days when his class had a teacher who used modern teaching methodologies and promised the top student a kiss. This teacher, according to the song, was responsible for transforming a group of students who were “dreamers, idiots, fools at large” into motivated learners.
The first paragraph of the song speaks about the transformation that the teacher brought about in the students. Allwright praises the methodology used by his teacher that was so effective in making her students love learning. The second paragraph speaks of the transformation in their grades when the students were committed to attending class and learning. The performance of the students in exams was so exceptional that the regional director of schools had to remove the teacher from her position. The song’s last paragraph speaks of the decline that followed in the school after the teacher's departure. The students who were once “First Equal Grade A Plus” students were now “Double F Minus Failed.”
The song dramatizes the power that a good teacher holds to inspire students to love learning, and how the lack of such a teacher can lead to failure. Allwright's use of humor and irony makes the song more poignant as he speaks of the decline in the school after the departure of the teacher.
Line by Line Meaning
At the school where we learned our letters, A B C,
At the school, where we started our learning journey with knowing alphabets A B C,
Our mistress used the latest methodology.
Our teacher used modern and advanced methods of teaching.
What happy times those school-days, all too short, alas,
The school days were blissful and joyful, but they were short-lived.
When our dear guardian angel came and taught our class
Our beloved teacher, who was like a guardian angel to us, taught our class.
Until that most happy day when she was put in charge
Till the day she was given the responsibility of teaching our class, we were unfocused and clueless.
We all had been such dreamers, idiots, fools at large.
We were all naive, foolish and lacked direction before our teacher took over.
Because they had to work so hard for us poor louts
The suppliers of items like dunce caps had to work harder before our teacher started teaching us.
The rich suppliers of dunces' caps where quite worn out
The makers of dunce caps (symbol of punishment for underperformance) were overworked because none of us were failing anymore.
The teaching methods mistress followed came to this:
Here's what the teaching approach of our teacher was all about:
She promised to the one who got first prize, a kiss —
Our teacher promised a warm, passionate kiss on the mouth to the student who secured the first rank.
A real kiss warm and tender on the mouth, quite hard,
It wasn't just a casual peck, but a deep, affectionate and intimate one.
A most abandoned kiss where there were no holds barred,
It was an uninhibited, passionate kiss with no restrictions or limitations.
Where there were no holds barred.
The kiss was anything but restrained.
In our class-room the change was startling, wonderful,
The transformation that our teacher brought about in our classroom was amazing and remarkable.
Not one of us played truant or missed a day at school
None of us skipped school or were absent anymore.
The poor suppliers of dunces' caps were driven first
The makers of dunce caps were the first to feel the effects of our teacher's teaching methods.
To bankruptcy, then ruin and liquidation, bust,
They first went bankrupt, followed by ruin, and eventually shut down their business.
When he read the examination marks that year,
The year-end outcome was evaluated by the Principal.
The Principal's astonished smile stretched ear to ear;
The result he evaluated was so impressive that he couldn't help but smile from ear to ear in amazement.
Our mistress turned from pink to scarlet, how she blushed:
Our teacher turned red in the face, overwhelmed by the surprise and happiness of the achievement.
For every pupil scored First Equal, Grade A Plus,
Every student in the class earned the first rank and received a perfect A+ rating.
And at playtime our guardian angel kept her word,
During recess, our teacher kept her promise to the first rank holder.
Got ready and fulfilled her promise to each lad.
She prepared herself and kissed each student who had performed exceptionally well, one by one.
Since out of forty, forty pupils won the right,
All forty students in the class were eligible for the prize.
Imagine, can't you, why the session took all night
Can't you visualize how long it must have taken if she had to kiss forty students in a row?
But there was disapproval from that man, that fool
There was criticism and opposition from the Regional Director who was a stupid and foolish person.
The Regional Director placed in charge of schools;
The person in charge of all schools in the region.
In spite of her (his) remarkable results and fame,
Despite her teacher's extraordinary achievements and recognition,
She was dismissed and sent away in deepest shame,
She was fired and sent away in disgrace.
Away in deepest shame.
She left with the feeling of extreme humiliation.
Following her departure once again the dunce
After she left, the underachievers became prominent again.
Made a come-back replaced the former excellence.
The new teacher was unable to replicate the performance of our former teacher, and the class lost its excellence.
The school-year after put us quite beyond the pale:
The next year was an utter disaster for us.
For all of us scored Last Equal, Double F Minus, Failed,
All of us failed miserably, scoring the lowest marks possible.
Double F Minus Failed.
We scored so low that we couldn't even get a single 'F' and were downgraded to 'Double F Minus Failed'.
At the school where we learned our letters, A B C,
This is the school where we learned our basics, i.e., alphabets A B C.
Our mistress used the latest methodology.
Our teacher followed the latest approach to teaching and education.
What happy times those school-days, all too short I vow
Those were happy school days, but unfortunately, they didn't last long enough.
When our dear guardian angel came and taught us how
When our beloved teacher, who was like a guardian angel, imparted her knowledge on us.
She came and taught us how.
And she did that exceptionally well.
Writer(s): georges brassens
Contributed by Cole W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.