Richard Linklater - School of Rock: "Building a Band" lyrics

DEWEY: Have a good music cla**. MICHELLE: Mr. S, what's going on? DEWEY: I heard you in music cla**. You guys can really play. Why didn't anyone tell me? You. What's your name? ZACK: Zack. DEWEY: You play the guitar? ZACK: Yeah. DEWEY: OK, come here. Ever play electric guitar? ZACK: My dad won't let me. He thinks it's a waste of time. DEWEY: A waste of..? Try this one. OK, here's a guitar pick. You pluck along with me, OK? If you can. [Dewey plays in succession "Iron Man", "Smoke on the Water" and "Highway to Hell". Zack copies him perfectly.] DEWEY: Yes. Yes! OK, you stay right there. Don't move. Piano man, front and center. What's your name? LAWRENCE: Lawrence. DEWEY: Lawrence, you ever played keyboards? Any techno? LAWRENCE: No, I only play piano. DEWEY: OK. All right, fair enough. Try this out for me, OK? Just give this a try on my count. One, two, three, four. Yes. Come on, come on, Come on, come on, Now touch me, babe, Can't you see, That I am not afraid, Lawrence is good at piano, He shall be rocking In my show Stop. That's perfect. You're perfect. Stay right there, OK? You. Could you come up here, please? What was your name? KATIE: Katie. DEWEY: What was that big thing you were playing today? KATIE: Cello. DEWEY: This is a ba** guitar. It's exactly the same, but instead of playing like this, you tip it on the side, "chello", you've got a ba**. Try it on. OK, now play this note right here. That's a G. OK, but let your fingers do the rocking. Keep that G coming all day long. G, G, G, G, G, G Good. Stop. Are there any drummers in the house? FREDDY: I play percussion. FRANKIE: That's because you couldn't play anything else. FREDDY: Shut up! DEWEY: Come here, dude. Just see if you can do what I do. Just give it a try. OK? Give that a try. OK! That's really good. Just stay right here. All right, OK. Lawrence, give me a G note. With the fifth above it. And the middle one. No middle one, I changed my mind. Now go an octave below. Now give me some rhythm. And keep that same rhythm. Go. Katie, remember that note, the G? Play it, but also keep it rocking. Good. OK, give me like a... Like a: That's bad. That's like George of the Jungle. Play it up here on the cymbal, but really light. Oh, that's it! OK, keep going with that. You remember this thing I taught you a minute ago? Yes! Yes! All right, let's go! [Band plays 'Smoke on the Water"] DEWEY: Stop. You guys, stop messing around. We've got a lot of work to do. OK, people, pay attention, because I do not want to have to fail you. SUMMER: I thought you didn't believe in grades. DEWEY: Of course I believe in grades I was testing you. You pa**ed. Good work, Summer. Four-and-a-half stars for you. Now, listen, normal kids would have been stoked to slack off, but not you guys, because you're not normal. You're special. Because you guys have the right attitude, I think it's time we started our new cla** project. LAWRENCE: A science project? DEWEY: No. It's called..."Rock Band". MARTA: Is this a school project? DEWEY: Yes. And it's a requirement. It may sound easy, but nothing could be harder. It will test your head and your mind and your brain too. SUMMER: Will other schools be competing? DEWEY: You could say that. You could say that every school in the state will be competing for the top prize. BILLY: What's the prize? DEWEY: A win will go on your permanent record. Hello, Harvard, yo. We're not supposed to get started until next quarter, but I think we should get a leg up on the competition, don't you? SUMMER: I do. DEWEY: Who else wants to go for the gold? CLASS: I do. DEWEY: All right. But if anyone finds out what we're doing in here, we'll be disqualified. So let's just keep it on the down low, shall we? KATIE: Can we tell our parents? DEWEY: No! Just trust me. They don't want to know anything about this. Keep it zipped. All right, you guys, let's kick it into overdrive. FRANKIE: What are the rest of us supposed to do? DEWEY: You just sit back and enjoy the magic of rock. LEONARD: You mean we're not in the band? DEWEY: Now, hold up now.