My Favorite Song with the Word “fuck” in the Title
The Replacements “Fuck School”
Curse word, swear, foul language. Fuck is not a word I often use. Maybe it is because as an adolescent my parents didn’t make a big deal when we cursed. It was a clever ploy. We didn’t see the shock value our friend’s parents usually did. According to the Oxford English dictionary the word’s origin is early 16th century German or Dutch meaning “strike”. Hence, I now understand why it such a versatile word. It is a word overused. There may not be a day go by without hearing it uttered, for a variety of reasons. There are some instances when the use of the word still makes me grin like a kid hearing it said aloud.
A song released during my youth I didn’t hear until I was in my twenties, struck a chord immediately. It wasn’t so much the use of fuck in the song title or the chorus, it was the context. The song, “Fuck School” by the Replacements summed up my overall schooling experience. I wasn’t a very astute lad in high school. I did manage to do just enough to graduate with a C average, which doesn’t take much effort. I am not necessarily proud of my academic (lack of) effort, yet I learned to accept it was a tumultuous time for me. It is a familiar story. The all too common emotion was memorialized by the Minnesota alt-punkers. “Fuck School” is not so much a contempt for the education I received, more so a commentary on the overall experience not just homework and classroom lessons. The song is an anthem for those of us who didn’t feel it was the best time in our lives.
It is easy to say it’s a fun song because the chorus repeatedly belts out “fuck” eighteen times in less than ninety seconds. Anyone can be vulgar for effect. The song transcends the oft perceived nastiness of fowl language. The song is a reaction to the ridged rules imposed on many kids who may be lost emotionally or distracted by other happenings in their young lives. It’s not easy being a teacher however; there is a middle ground between the high achiever and the underperformer. School is not black and white, it is thankfully a broad array of characters despite how each of us individually assess our compulsory school days. The song was a blunt force trauma to the education system. Whether one buys completely into the message of the song or interprets it differently, there in lies the beauty of the song, it is as harsh or sophomoric as we want.
“Fuck School” is a track on the “Replacements Stink” EP released in 1982. I don’t recall much about the politics or social events of the early 80s. I do recall more than a decade later when I first heard the gritty, sincere lyrics it was an instant hit in my “greatest tracks of all time” list.
