I don't know if it's really "lost on most people" - most people probably learned about the use (and misuse) of double negatives in elementary school.  It's use in this tune is a good application of verbal irony, sort of like Carly Simon's lyrics to "You're So Vain".

I absolutely love the fact that Roger purposely penned a double negative in the chorus.  It is probably lost on most people, but the double negative is a very clever way of contradicting the phrase that "we don't need no education"; showing that you actually do need education.

Saw The Wall 2 weeks ago in Orlando.  Second time seeing the show in 2 years.  Words cannot describe how incredible it was. 

Some time in the mid nineties my flat mate at the time asked me if I fancied a road trip to France (from Norfolk) so he could visit his parents and we could have boozy sort of a road trip. As one does when young. I was between jobs and it sounded like fun so off we went.

After an adventurously drunk time in Paris we drove to Mulhouse to visit his parents. We listened to the entire album followed by the "Final Cut". The car was completely silent during the whole thing and the following day we visited a WWII cemetery. My head was still full of Waters' scalpel lyrics, the result was one the few genuinely heart rending moments of my life; all those graves and all that horror. Thinking about it still brings a lump to my throat.

On the same trip, I also had a religious experience while gazing at a stained glass window in Norte Dame, however I suspect that has more to do with the spectacular hangover, hairy dog and many double espressos than any kind of true spiritual awakening.

Fear and Loathing in Alsace Lorraine.

I absolutely love the fact that Roger purposely penned a double negative in the chorus.  It is probably lost on most people, but the double negative is a very clever way of contradicting the phrase that "we don't need no education"; showing that you actually do need education.

Saw The Wall 2 weeks ago in Orlando.  Second time seeing the show in 2 years.  Words cannot describe how incredible it was. 

A simply superb guitar solo...

...Also, of the 26 separate numbers on the album, only 4 would qualify as playable on commercial radio (Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2; Mother; Hey You; and Comfortably Numb)....

A simply superb guitar solo...

This was Pink Floyd's big break into commercial rock.  Up until then, they were an album rock band.  I know that Dark Side was commercially successful, but it was on their terms.  This was a whole lot more geared towards AM and FM pop-rock air play.  Not saying its awful, but it is nowhere as good as earlier efforts.

Hate this song and the whole album. It's so depressing that someone close to me committed suicide listening to it.
Fucking depressing shit.  Please Bill, there are better songs out there.

I absolutely love the fact that Roger purposely penned a double negative in the chorus.  It is probably lost on most people, but the double negative is a very clever way of contradicting the phrase that "we don't need no education"; showing that you actually do need education.

Saw The Wall 2 weeks ago in Orlando.  Second time seeing the show in 2 years.  Words cannot describe how incredible it was. 

this song always makes me take a brake from work :) 

You work at an auto parts store?

this song always makes me take a brake from work :) 

Maybe I'm not getting it but the lyrics have always irritated me.  I understand that the public (is that the right term?) school system in Britain really sucks and has been used to keep the working and poorer classes down.  But children do need a (good!) education otherwise they are easily lead around by the nose by the powers that be... witness the gradual dumbing down of America due to enormous education cuts since the 80's.  And Canada's not much better....On the other hand...:

If ye don't eat yarrr meat, how can ya get any puddin????

this song always makes me take a brake from work :) 

What amused me enormously when this came out was all the reactionary green inkers and pedants banging on about how ungrammatical "We don't need no education" is, which missed the song's point by a country mile and walked straight into its irony.

This reminds me of one fateful year I spent in a cheapissimo boarding school as a kid, when they insisted on feeding me Marmite sandwiches, and told me that if I didn't eat my Marmite I'd not get my sweet. Because they were too feckin' thick to realise that Marmite made (and still makes) me gag, and that I wasn't being wilfully obstinate, I did without my puddings for a whole year.