School Love

"School Love" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue,^[1] which was recorded by Blue and released as his third single on Bell Records in 1974.^[2] It reached No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart,^[3] No. 3 on the Danish charts^[4] (his biggest hit there), No. 9 on the Rhodesian charts^[5] No. 17 on the Swedish Tio I Topp chart,^[6] No. 24 on the Australian GoSet chart,^[7] and No. 31 in the Australian Kent Music Report chart,^[8] making it Blue's last international hit, although he would go on to have another two UK hit singles later that year. It also reached No. 4 on the Radio Northsea Toppers 20 on 15 March 1974^[9] and No. 5 on the Hessische Rundfunk Hitparade International chart.^[10]

Chart performance

Chart (1972/3)	Peak position
Denmark	3
Rhodesia	9
Sweden	17
Australia	24
UK	11

Blue performed the song twice on Top of the Pops, on 7^[11] and 21 March 1974.^[12] He also performed the song on the Spanish RTVE television show ¡Señoras y señores! on 19 October 1974.^[13] According to the NME, it was one of the top 150 UK singles of 1974.^[14] It was also listed as 84th best single of 1974 in Australia according to Sydney 2SM as listed in Billboard.^[15] "School Love" was also listed as the 53rd best single of 1974 on the German "Hessenchart - Hitparade International".^[16]

Cover versions of the song was released by vocal group The Hiltonaires on their album Made In England 9,^[17] and Brazilian artist Paul Lynsey on the album Super Sucessos 74.^[18] It was also released as a single by Italian group Moto Perpetuo^[19] and this was often played on Italian radio,^[20] as well as an album track by another Italian group, La Quinta Faccia, on their self-titled album with Italian lyrics by Ermanno Capelli.^[21] Argentinean rock and roll pioneer, Nicky Jones, also released a Spanish language version "Amor De Estudiante" on the 1974 album "Hot 12".^[22]

More recently, Blue's version was one of the tracks on his compilation CD albums, The Singles Collection.^[23] and Dancin' (On A Saturday Night)... Best Of.^[24] It was also included on the 2000 compilation CD Jackie Love Songs, which made No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart that year.^[25] Blue's version of the song was featured in the 2014 film, Northern Soul.^[26][27] The song is also mentioned in the book, The Rough Guide to Cult Pop by Paul Simpson.^[28]