Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
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, mhm
Here they come to snuff the rooster, ah yeah
Yeah, here come the rooster, yeah
You know he ain't gonna die
No, no, no, ya know he ain't gonna die
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, you know he ain't gonna die
Walkin' tall machine gun man
They spit on me and my homeland
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, ah yeah, yeah
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
You know he ain't gonna die
No, no, no ya know he ain't gonna die
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
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, mhm
Here they come to snuff the rooster, ah yeah
Yeah, here come the rooster, yeah
You know he ain't gonna die
No, no, no, ya know he ain't gonna die
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, you know he ain't gonna die
Walkin' tall machine gun man
They spit on me and my homeland
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, ah yeah, yeah
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
You know he ain't gonna die
No, no, no ya know he ain't gonna die
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
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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.[1]
Source: Wikipedia
I too was a machinegun man... my nickname was Flash. I'm hyper, or at least use to be... I'm old now.
M-60... I loved that gun... Didn't want it when it was first assigned, but LOVED it after first use... Simply loved it. I did college after the Army and had an English professor who said you can't shoot that gun like Rambo did... I assured him that yes you can!
It does not typically happen as you mentioned but, I sure felt like the badass of the unit when showing off. Just a punk kid at the time. What the heck?
I too had NCO Nam Vets who kept me grounded. I appreciated their knowledge and still have utmost respect for them. I will always remember those guys. Thanks for bringing back the memories...
At the peak of my depression, I would listen to the Unplugged version every night while trying to fall asleep.
To me, Rooster is about isolation, giving up all hope, and wanting to give up; but at the same time knowing that you can't. Sometimes, even when everything is destroying you and you've gotten nowhere, you have no choice but to keep going. It's not necessarily a message of hope, but a realization that sometimes you have no choice but to survive.
It wasn't in his home land.
SGT LOVE 73 RANGER REG