Life, 1924-11-13 · page 7 of 42
Life — November 13, 1924 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical poem presented as a mock college fight song, combining traditional collegiate cheer formats with absurdist humor. The page pairs repetitive "Rah! Rah! Rah!" chants with surreal, increasingly nonsensical lyrics—shifting from recognizable college references (buttermilk, talcum powder, soup) to the bizarre (purple gold taupe, spud tin, crocodiles and gee-strings). The satire targets the emptiness of collegiate enthusiasm and school spirit, suggesting that college yells are performative noise masking meaninglessness. Small cartoon panels between stanzas provide visual absurdism reinforcing this critique. The joke is that if you replace standard cheer content with random words while maintaining the loud, enthusiastic format, the essential structure remains—implying college spirit itself is hollow performance rather than genuine sentiment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
* LIFE = BALLAD IN THE COLLEGE YELL MANNER So frank and helen were wed at last and lived happily ever after almost up to the time of the divorce Rah! Rah! Rah! Buttermilk and bones! Rattle up the back fence! Look at Willie Jones! my loved my loved bellowed kathleen my soul my life my all my entirety my it € or what have you Rah! Rah! Rah! Chickadees and sneers! gels every seven feet! Darling, dry your tears! Q pS OA it Sently the passionate maiden broomed his trashy remains down &=Sha the front steps and so} @) 43 on into the twilight Roh! Rah! Rah! Sock-a-noodle-doo! Talcum on a tadpole! Who the heck are you? came the dawn and if the orb of day didnt paint the awakenin, | hills with purple gold [taupe and spud tan Rah! Rah! Rah! Applesauce and socks! 1 cker shirts and soup seeds! Hems and haws and hocks! looks to me like some dirty work were afoo Said the scavenger as he stepped out of one bucket into another Rah! Rah! Rah! Whiskers on a clam! Ankles on a slip-horn! We should care a slam! | A “A back you bi henry a2 $ shrilled bertha the veautfel blacksmith sigereets as She loosed the ragiog| RS 7 8nimal vpon him "| Rah! Rah! Rah! WhiMetrees and sand! Mama, Gracie’s gonna sing! Ain't the gravy grand! Oh, said the janitress with a slighe catch in her voice as she gathered up the smooth green young worms Rah! Rah! Rah! Coming ‘round the bend! Caviar and battleboats! Try the other end! 3, milton milton cried little nell clinging to his Comparstively manly, five feet two and 2 half | c whats the big idea hh! Rah! Rah! Bums and alphabets! Wedding bells and bad words! Sleet and cigarets! |boooo0om rang out an awfully good explosion somewhere og to the sov’sou’west J 3 Rah! Rah! Rah! Gadgets on a goose! Sip a_sack of sCapeuast Let that woman loose! Sir I'd have you know I'm not that kind of 2 |} wallaby said the wal: | 44. laby looking him right | I= straight in the eye _ Rah! Rah! Rah! Boil a bale of bats! Crocodiles and gee-strings! Kick ‘em in the slats! watch his cigar wheezed mildred | to the pursuers just as the dang I thing exploded | Rah! Rah! Rah! Wrinkles on a wren! Roses on a gnat’s hat! ut where men are men! "Not another word purred the proud beauty clutching her to him fiercely not another ‘word shut up Rah! Rah! Rah! Radio and rust! Isn’t she the. fat — My God! The dam has bust! comicbooks.com