Sound
What to listen for
- Sunny indie pop at 122 BPM with an upbeat bounce and handclaps.
- Bright female pop vocal with stacked harmonies on the hook.
- Glockenspiel, a clean guitar riff and driving floor tom, with a half-time bridge.
Ask the Next Question
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Indie Pop sample
Ask the Next Question
Indie Pop
An original example about a thank-you song from a fifth-grade teacher to Mr. Okafor, her eighth-grade science teacher twenty years ago, who still teaches at her old school. His class named the bearded dragon Professor Toast, his "mistake of the week" board started with his own mistakes (like the elephant-toothpaste demo that hit the ceiling tiles), and in the year her parents split he let her eat lunch in his room without asking why. His line, "Ask the next question," is now painted over her own classroom door.
The people and story in this song are fictional.
TeacherThank You
The sound of this song
Sunny indie pop at 122 BPM with an upbeat bounce and handclaps. Bright female pop vocal with stacked harmonies on the hook. Glockenspiel, a clean guitar riff and driving floor tom, with a half-time bridge.
“An original example of a thank-you song from a former student, now a teacher herself, to her eighth-grade science teacher.”
Lyrics
Lyrics from Ask the Next Question
Eighth-grade science, twenty years ago Mister Okafor, you handed us the vote Name the bearded dragon anything we chose And we crowned him Professor Toast A lizard with a doctorate, more or less Looking like he'd graded all our tests We swore he knew the answers best And you never said we got it wrong
Ask the next question And the next one, that's the lesson
Now I've got fifth graders of my own A room that hums with a hundred whys Your favorite line is painted over my door They read it every time they walk inside And you're still teaching at my old school Still lighting up another eighth-grade class Someday one of yours might paint it too And the question keeps on getting passed
Ask the next question And the next one, that's the lesson
You kept a mistake of the week board And your own mistakes went up there first Like the Friday the elephant toothpaste Hit the ceiling tiles in a foamy burst So nobody hid a wrong answer Nobody shrank down in their seat If the teacher could miss by a ceiling We could stumble and stay on our feet
Ask the next question And the next one, that's the lesson
I was quiet and shy the year my parents split You let me eat my lunch inside your room You never once asked why, you let me sit Like an open door that didn't need a reason to
So here's my thank-you, twenty years on From one classroom to another Mister Okafor, every day I'm still Raising my hand for one more answer And when my quiet kids look up at me I know exactly what to say
Ask the next question And the next one, that's the lesson
Ask the next question (the next question)
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