The only way to make a snow day announcement better is to sing it -- or so believes Bob Magnuson, the singing school principal at Oxford Central elementary school in Oxford.
Magnuson has sung snow day parodies of more than 30 different tunes over the past five years, much to the delight of his students and their parents.
Magnuson says he was primed for snow this year, already having planned his version of Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill." (Listen to it in the video, above.)
The tunes all started five years ago, when Magnuson, 57, says he got bored repeating the same snow day speech after 11 snow days that school year.
He instead sung a snow day ditty to Black Sabbath's "Crazy Train," with the chorus "We're going off the rails in a snow day train."
And so began a tradition.
Among Magnuson's biggest hits were Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence" (Hello Oxford, my old friend...), the Beatles "Revolution" (You say you want to have a snow day...) and last year's rendition of Billy Joel's "Piano Man" ("There's an old man on your telephone, singing songs that will make parents dread...").
Magnuson admits he really isn't much of a singer or musician, adding that all he knows how to play is "the radio," but he still gets up at 4 a.m. to record the songs, proof of his dedication to the craft.
The process of making up the lyrics takes only few minutes if he's really inspired, he says. Parents have even made requests, but he never reveals what song is next on his list.
How'd folks like today's tune?
"The Board of Ed president ragged on me for not hitting the high notes," Magnuson says with a laugh.
But his wife, LuAnn, says the reaction to his songs is always positive.
"He takes it very seriously," she says. "And I think anything you can do to make life a little bit more fun is a good thing."
Jessica Remo may be reached at jremo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaRemoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.