Help! Deftones school assignment.

[deftuner]

I'm supposed to analyze "Back To School" lyrics and explain if it reinforces, resists, or reconstructs beliefs or values. Anything such as repetition ("we are the leaders of it all") or specific statements ("run right back to school") can help analyze this. My idea was that this song resists the organized school system and that the rebel students are the leaders of it all since they cause the school to do something about his rebellion. Any other ideas? Thanks for any help.

[Penicks]

    

BACK TO SCHOOL

Being someone in life is the kind of advice Chino gives on "Back to School", and the solution is school So why don't you run back to school! If we want to be someone in this life we gotta have brains and school is the place Now grab a notebook and a pen Start taking notes But remember to study and not to play with it Behind the walls Smoking' cigarettes and sipping' vodka Don't waste your life, every second is more important than you think it is Who ruined it? You did! If you got brains you'll dispense a lot of irrelevant people on your future life Not that you need them - cause you don't Everyone could be the coolest guy in the world!!! We are the leaders of it all So cool we could even appear in the news All you are, Now I'm on the next page But for all this we gotta accurate our personality Transpose...Or stop your lies It's a hard way to perfection
- BY NUNO ROLINHO

Back to schools about everyone in highskool thinking there the shit no matter what "class" (jock,nerd,pot head) and how if you imagine your the shit and strive for it and make decisions that people respect you will be the shit and will lead people and he's just looking back on school and telling everyone try to do your best while your in the positions your in and make the best of em and strive to be the leader
- BY TAP750@aol.com

Back to school isn't about school at all. The whole taking notes thing is just a metaphor. It's a f**k you to all the bands that stole their sound. The song itself is a return to the rap-metal genre that they helped create and then surpassed. It's like they're saying see, we still do this better than all of you, hense "We are the leaders..."
- BY Nathan Adams

Nathan, you're a smart guy. I always hoped the Deftones made this one typical nu-metal song to show they can make such songs too but they just don't want it. In a way, I never made the link between the music and the lyrics, although it is really obvious. Chino says to all these copycats: 'Go back to school and learn how to make their own music a second time' "Stop that, quit! - All that, quit! Who ruined it? You did!" -> Chino created a new genre, but they made rubbish of it "Now grab a notebook and a pen Start taking notes, I'm being everyone who's on the top" -> "I'll show you once more how to do it" You think we're on the same page - but, oh we're not! -> "You think you're doing the same as we're doing, but that's a big mistake"
- BY tomas_vandoorne@hotmail.com

Let's start with the heavy tone of the song. it sounds angry. i don't think these guys liked school very much. there is some angst involved there. it seems they never wanted to be like the people that they went to school with. the line that sticks out to me in the song besides the title is "transpose, or stop your lies, is what you do". the line to me means "change or stop being a fake and phony". an anthem of non-conformity, if you will.akes me believe it is cyber in some way. and the longing is love. maybe? it is a surreal song none the less.
- BY gdog2000@peoplepc.com

source: deftonesworld.com

[buddyboy101]

A couple things-

First, Chino has always pointed out that his lyrics are open to interpretation and do not have one definite meaning.  There's always a lot of metaphor and imagery uses to represent allusions to other things.  This is a good thing for your assignment b/c it means you can't go wrong as long as you back up your explanation with lyrics that suggest your interpretation.

Second, and with "Back to School" in mind, I don't think the song is about pedagogy per se.  I see two plausible interpretations.  (1): that you do not need a formal education to be successful in life (or that real education comes from living life) or (2) I think a broader approach is more probable and safe - a story of retribution and reclamation - those who once ran things in school have been dethroned by the little guy.  It's a song about hope for the marginalized.  (For example, just like how all the nerds from high school are now the most powerful people in the world as they run Silicon Valley.)