Rooster Lyrics

[Intro]
Ooh-ooh-ooh-hoo
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh-hoo
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh


[Verse 1: Layne Staley]
Ain't found a way to kill me yet
Eyes burn with stingin' sweat
Seems every path leads me to nowhere, mm-mm
Wife and kids, household pet
Army green was no safe bet
The bullets scream to me from somewhere, mm-mm

[Chorus: Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell]
Here they come to snuff the Rooster, aw, yeah
Yeah, here come the Rooster, yeah
You know he ain't gonna die
No, no, no, you know he ain't gonna die


[Instrumental Break]

[Chorus: Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell]
Here they come to snuff the Rooster, aw, yeah
Yeah, here come the Rooster, yeah
You know he ain't gonna die
No, no, no, you know he ain't gonna die

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About

Genius Annotation

“Rooster” was the fourth single from Dirt. It was the highest-charting from the album in the US, reaching #7 on the rock chart in 1993.

It was written by Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell for his father Jerry Cantrell Sr., who went by the nickname “Rooster” while serving with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Jerry Cantrell has stated that his father had the family nickname “Rooster” since childhood due to the way his hair stood up on end as a youth. Some have stated that the song name refers to the 101st airborne and its patch which is the “screaming eagle” and that the Vietnamese, not familiar with a bald eagle, called all members of the 101st ‘roosters’ or ‘chickens’, but Cantrell has never confirmed this.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What have the artists said about this song?
Genius Answer

During a 1992 interview with Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine, in response to the question “Do you feel you communicated with (your father) with this song?”, Cantrell responded:

Yeah. He’s heard this song. He’s only seen us play once, and I played this song for him when we were in this club opening for Iggy Pop. I’ll never forget it. He was standing in the back and he heard all the words and stuff. Of course, I was never in Vietnam and he won’t talk about it, but when I wrote this it felt right…like these were things he might have felt or thought. And I remember when we played it he was back by the soundboard and I could see him. He was back there with his big gray Stetson and his cowboy boots — he’s a total Oklahoma man — and at the end, he took his hat off and just held it in the air. And he was crying the whole time. This song means a lot to me. A lot.

In the liner notes of 1999’s Music Bank box set collection, Jerry Cantrell said of the song:

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.

When and where was this song recorded?
Genius Answer

March–May 1992 at Eldorado Recording Studios, Burbank, California; London Bridge Studio, Seattle, Washington; One on One Studios, Los Angeles, California

Credits
Written By
Background Vocals
Mastering Engineer
Assistant Engineer
Mixing Engineer
Assistant Mixing Engineer
Phonographic Copyright ℗
Lead Vocals
Recorded At
Eldorado Recording Studios (Burbank, CA); London Bridge Studio (Seattle, WA); and One on One Recording Studios (Los Angeles, CA)
Release Date
September 29, 1992
Songs That Sample Rooster
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