This song finds it way into every play I have and it has been a constant since it dropped in 1992. I was a sophomore in high school, a little less than 20 years ago, and I can remember hearing it for the first time. It was written for guitarist Jerry Cantrell’s father, who served in the Vietnam War. The music video featured brutality and violence visually reminiscent of Apocalypse Now. Cantrell’s father was a member of the 101st Airborne, who wore patches on their arms featuring a bald eagle. There are no bald eagles in Vietnam, so the Vietnamese referred to them as roosters.
Jerry Cantrell was quoted as saying “It was the start of the healing process between my Dad and I from all that damage that Vietnam caused. This was all my perception of his experiences out there. The first time I ever heard him talk about it was when we made the video and he did a 45 minute interview with Mark Pellington and I was amazed he did it. He was totally cool, totally calm, accepted it all and had a good time doing it. It even brought him to the point of tears. It was beautiful. He said it was a weird experience, a sad experience and he hoped that nobody else had to go through it.”
But do you know what the Rooster stands for?
Ain’t found a way to kill me yet
Eyes burn with stinging sweat
Seems every path leads me to nowhere
Wife and kids household pet
Army green was no safe bet
The bullets scream to me from somewhere
Here they come to snuff the rooster, aww yeah, hey yeah
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
You know he ain’t gonna die
No, no, no, ya know he ain’t gonna die (x2)
Walkin’ tall machine gun man
They spit on me in my home land
Gloria sent me pictures of my boy
Got my pills ‘gainst mosquito death
My Buddy’s breathin’ his dyin’ breath
Oh god please won’t you help me make it through
Here they come to snuff the rooster, aww yeah
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
You know he ain’t gonna die
No, no, no ya know he ain’t gonna die
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAE6Il6OTcs[/youtube]
One of the first concerts I ever went had this little known act called Alice n chains opening for Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth. This was right when Man in the box was getting a bit of play on headbangers ball. Wasn’t too long after that I saw them when they headlined Lolapalooza. To this day they get more play on my ipod than anything else from the grunge days (badmotorfinger getting a close second). Too bad Layne Staley had to be so self-destructive. Their newish album was kinda meh.
I used to have this song as my alarm clock when I woke up…..first opening line is a classic to roll out of bed to when you are deployed in the sand box. “ain’t found a way to kill me yet”
[…] Rooster – TTMJ […]
I have been an Alice In Chains fan for quite awhile. Rooster was one of those songs I thought seemed pretty straight forward.
Then when you go live it, your friends die, and you send your men home in body bags your world changes. You walk around wondering who is going to be the last person killed, and is it going to be you… Then you make it out, then home, and you get left with the survivors guilt and unanswerable questions that you get to try to answer the rest of your life.
I tried to watch the video and I couldn’t make it all the way threw. In short I get it.
Travis, thanks for sharing. I appreciate the job and sacrifice. Big part of the reason we never miss a day of programming is our friends using the training in shit holes around the world, can’t be let down. It is least I can do.
Any thoughts on what is the rooster?
John
Alice in Chains, Tool and Soundgarden; what else is there?
I saw them headline a concert called Lollapalooza and they played video Rooster on the BIG screen while they played.
Killa shizza no doubt!
John thanks for your comments and letting me share on your website, every little bit helps. I was at your Bellvue WA cert last fall.
The Rooster… As I am sitting here pondering this and not wanting to look like a fool but I have already exposed myself so here goes…
Courage, locking and loading going outside the wire, into the unknown, or into the known which is sometimes worse. Rooster the cock, there can be only one, he fears no one. We (I) are/am the baddest men on this planet, fear us (me).
I put my body and soul in God’s hands everyday, as I attempt to feel nothing.
Travis
I like that. I did some research and 2 found plausible answer.
The first one I mentioned in the write up about his Dad being in the 101st Airborne and the VC had no bald eagles so they called them Roosters.
The second was more interesting…
“from the machine gun nests in vietnam the US soldiers would lay down fire with M60s. The rooster was commonly known as the tracer trail from the M60. When the M-60 was fired at the cyclic rate the tracer rounds look as if they are one orangish line. At 700 meters the round will travel straight with no dip or rise. Around this time the tracer will start to dip, creating the arc like tail of a Rooster. At 900 meters the tracer will burn out and that will end the rooster tail. In a Fire Fight the machine gun is the most feared weapon. This is based solely on the fact that you can put an extreme amount of lead down range and with lead flying down range the enemy cant fight back as effectively.”
To snuff the rooster would mean to crush the machine gun nests with M60s.
Both good answers.
Anyone else?
“Would” has always been my anthem as “Into the flood again” resonates with what I do(CG helo pilot). Everytime I launch that song hits my head. The Bass line is a killer and helps me go the right place/calm me down when we have to bring our “A” game.
I always thought the song was about heroin. I heard that when they first tap the vein with the needle, they draw a bit of blood into the syringe to make sure they’re in the vein. The blood makes a shape similar to a rooster tail.
Guess that was wrong!
My favorite AIC song: “Damn that River”; Dirt, track 2.
the vietcong thought the eagle patch on the sleeve of the 101st airborne was a rooster….they didn’t know it was a bald eagle.
http://strategyandwar.com/support/airborne_eagles_patch.jpg
John, thanks for the website. I read an article years ago with Jerry Cantrell and Layne Staley in a guitar mag explaining the origin of the song. Jerry’s father had this nickname from childhood. It had something to do with his hair, it was red or it stood up funny or maybe both. I read this around the same time the song was popular so I can’t remember all of the specifics. Anyway, Alice in Chains is probably my favorite band from this era.
Actually, I read in an interview somewhere that Rooster was his dad’s nickname in ‘Nam. I know I’m really late on this one, but I was gangsta’ trollin old posts.
Thanks for finally writing about >Rooster – John Welbourn <Loved it!