Lyrics - Timing & Analysis

Ancillary Text Lyrics

We don't need no education

We don't need no thought control

No dark sarcasm in the classroom

Teacher leave them kids alone

Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!

All in all it's just another brick in the wall

(All in all you're just) another brick in the wall

(Repeated x4)

Analysis of Chosen Song Lyrics

The song which I have chosen for my ancillary text is a remix of an original song by Pink Floyd 'Another Brick in the Wall' (the lyrics are unchanged). The original was made quite famous for its lyrics, even being banned in South Africa in 1980 due to its use by supporters of a nationwide school boycott protesting racial inequality under the apartheid regime.
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Roger Waters (Pink Floyd co-founder) spray painting "No thought control" on a section of Israel's separation barrier in Bethlehem, 2006

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It could be argued that the lyrics indicate a strong marxist view on education, expressing that it suppresses creativity and individuality in pupils. Education is used as an ideological state apparatus to pass on ruling class ideology in a capitalist society; in other words, children go to school in order to learn the beliefs, values and skills that will make them good workers, therefore allowing them to get jobs which will generate money for the bourgeoise. This is where the title of the song, 'Another Brick in the Wall' comes from as it metaphorically suggests that working class children attend school just so that they can become another worker in society, or another 'brick in the wall'. The suppression of individuality is reiterated in this line, as well as the promotional video taken from the 1982 film 'Pink Floyd - The Wall' shows many visual metaphors that support this point of view.
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Chosen Song Lyrics

I don't need no (no) - 0:13
No no no no (no) - 0:16
I don't need no ghost - 0:22

Everybody has a past - 0:28
But I'm hoping that my past was not bad - 0:32
I don't need to justify - 0:36
Myself but I must try and clarify - 0:40

If I wanted to be there, I could - 0:44
If I wanted to still care, I would - 0:48
But that is old news, I'm not entertaining - 0:51
That's it, that is old news, I'm not entertaining that, baby! - 0:55

I don't need no ghost from my past tryna claim me - 1:00
I see, you left me willingly (I see) - 1:04
Uuuh, I-I-I don't hear, I don't see - 1:07
Uuuh, I-I-I don't feel your ghost around me! - 1:11


See I, I don't need no ghost (no) - 1:23
I don't need no (no) - 1:30
No no no no (no) - 1:33
Ghost - 1:39

Everybody likes attention - 1:47
But not when it seemed in the wrong direction - 1:51
Giving me the evil eye - 1:55
Like I'm trying yet he's no longer my guy - 1:58

If I wanted to be there I could - 2:02
If I wanted to still care I would - 2:06
But that is old news, I'm not entertaining - 2:10
That's it, that is old news, I'm not entertaining that, baby! - 2:13

I don't need no ghost from my past tryna claim me (tryna claim) - 2:18
I see, you left me willingly (I see) - 2:22
Uuuh, I-I-I don't hear, I don't see - 2:26
Uuuh, I-I-I don't feel your ghost around me! - 2:30
Uuuh, I-I-I don't hear, I don't see - 2:34 
Uuuh, I-I (no I don't feel!) I don't feel your ghost around me! - 2:38

See I, I don't need no ghost (no) - 2:49
I don't need no (no) - 2:57
No no no no (no) - 2:59
I don't need no ghost - 3:04

Analysis of Chosen Song Lyrics

For the analysis of my chosen song, I contacted the artist via email to ask for an exact copy of the lyrics and input into the meaning of them as the lyrics seemed to have been written wrong and varied across many sites. This initially led to confusion in their meaning however I printed out the lyrics and began making notes on them. My notes started out as vague interpretations until around halfway through, I changed a couple of the lines to what a different website thought they were and the lyrics began to make sense and the meaning of the song became slightly more obvious. Below is an image of that sheet to show the notes which I made and how they developed as I worked through the song.

The song is sang by a woman, and so we can assume that it's also being written from her point of view. She describes a past relationship where the words are seemingly directed at an ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend which is established in the second verse, third and fourth lines, "I don't need to justify myself but I must try and clarify". As the lyrics later indicate that there is some level of jealousy, these lines are an introduction to an explanation of her side of the story. She shouldn't have to justify herself, but she's clarifying her point of view.

In the next two lines (third verse), "If I wanted to be there, I could. If I wanted to still care, I would". These lines tell us she no longer cares, presumably about her ex-boyfriend. "That is old news" tells us she has put that relationship in the past, and "I'm not entertaining that" sounds almost like an unfinished sentence in which she is suggesting she won't entertain the thought of her ex, or won't entertain his new girlfriend with the idea that she is still interested.

In the sixth verse, first and second lines "Everybody likes attention, but not when it seemed in the wrong direction" could either be interpreted as her boyfriend having cheated on her during their relationship, or as a line that sympathises with his new girlfriend's point of view who obviously feels threatened, as supported in the next two lines "Giving me the evil eye, like I'm trying yet he's no longer my guy". His new girlfriend believes she is in competition with his ex, as though his ex is trying to win him back.

The whole song (as indicated in the title) is focused around the theme of a 'ghost', which she repeatedly says she doesn't need nor doesn't feel. This could be interpreted in many ways, however, I believe that the ghost is a metaphor for her ex. Their relationship is 'dead and buried' so to speak, and she doesn't feel as though it burdens her. "I don't need no ghost from my past tryna claim me" likens her ex-boyfriend and their relationship to a ghost who cannot or does not own her because she doesn't let it. She doesn't think about it, doesn't entertain the thought and therefore it doesn't 'follow' or 'shadow' her in life like a ghost.