Revolting Children


"Revolting Children" is a song from the 2010 musical Matilda.

Synopsis

The children stand up and revolt against the cruel principal Miss Trunchbull. FT.com said "in ultimate uprising with chums at school, re-define what it means to be called “revolting children” by Trunchbull".
The New York Times explains:

Composition

"Revolting Children" is a disco-inspired composition that relies on a lyrical double entendre regarding the word "revolting", which can mean either disgusting or revolutionary.

Critical reception

School Live Journal wrote "You can’t help but love songs with double meanings like the oh-so appropriately named “Revolting Children”". The New York Times deemed it a "rousing final number" and "an anthem of liberation", suggesting "which Mr. Darling has choreographed with a wink at Bill T. Jones’s work on “Spring Awakening”". TimeOut wrote "The final number, “Revolting Children,” plays on the notion that minors can be both repugnant and a source of social upheaval: “Revolting children / Living in revolting times / We sing revolting songs / Using revolting rhymes.” There’s a lesson for you tweens: You’ve inherited a lousy culture, so why not make a song and dance about it?". British Theatre Guide deemed the song "memorable", while Chortle called it "triumphant". The Hollywood Reporter wrote the students "reclaim Trunchbull’s scorn as an anthem of rebellion". Entertainment Weekly argued there was slowing down in momentum in the second act "between that growing-up song and the anarchic, Spring Awakening-like final number, Revolting Children". Echoing what many reviewers said about Minchin's witty lyrics being lost due to lack of diction, it said of Revolting Children: "that song is one of several whose tongue-twisting lyrics seem like a mouthful for very young performers less trained in enunciation."

Parodies and covers

In the 2014 version of the theatre spoof Forbidden Broadway, "A cast member playing director Matthew Warchus sings “I love killing children/I love killing shows/I whip their little asses and line them up in rows” to the tune of “Revolting Children”.