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”
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 the principles / principals pun (paronomasia) that nearly passes you by (especially if you’re British and more familiar with Head Masters).
But I just love the delicious irony of the last line: “We can’t even think of a word that rhymes.”
School’s Out, Alice Cooper (Bruce, Buxton, Cooper, Dunaway, Smith)
Here in all its Top Of The Pops glory…
From the 1972 album of the same name.