Rock and roll rhetoric: School’s Out

“Well we got no class
And we got no principles
And we got no innocence
We can’t even think of a word that rhymes”

School’s Out, Alice Cooper (Bruce, Buxton, Cooper, Dunaway, Smith)

This bears a moment’s thought, and then another moment beyond that.

On first hearing it’s simply a great song with a raucous energy that absolutely captures the feeling of the title.

And then there’s those puns that nearly pass you by (especially if you’re British and more familiar with Head Masters): we got no class, we got no principles / principals.

But I just love the delicious irony of the last line: “We can’t even think of a word that rhymes.”

Here in all its Top Of The Pops glory…

From the 1972 album of the same name…