The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Dry drunk on a corner
Wet waste of a girl
Theme for a jackal
Play you death-song
You probably listen
Stand idly by as they rape your children
Like you do now
In fact you showed them how
All thoughts are in place
All deeds are complete
Play, theme for a jackal play
Die sweet prince
Meat tastes like mince
The jackal's eaten enough for today
Die sweet prince
Meat tastes like shit
Enough to make that jackal spit
Spit jackal spit
Spit and choke on the lives you've taken
You can't shake them loose
All morsels are gone, they're too small
Accessible from a source so tall
Little sister all of my love
Bitch
Bitch, she is
Cut her from the inside out
Dead daughter in the river
Entrance gained by her liver
Play, theme for a jackal play
They play you a death-song
You probably listen
Stand idly by as they rape your children
Like you do now
In fact you showed them how
Play, theme for a jackal play
Play, theme for a jackal play
Wet waste of a girl
Theme for a jackal
Play you death-song
You probably listen
Stand idly by as they rape your children
Like you do now
In fact you showed them how
All thoughts are in place
All deeds are complete
Play, theme for a jackal play
Die sweet prince
Meat tastes like mince
The jackal's eaten enough for today
Die sweet prince
Meat tastes like shit
Enough to make that jackal spit
Spit jackal spit
Spit and choke on the lives you've taken
You can't shake them loose
All morsels are gone, they're too small
Accessible from a source so tall
Little sister all of my love
Bitch
Bitch, she is
Cut her from the inside out
Dead daughter in the river
Entrance gained by her liver
Play, theme for a jackal play
They play you a death-song
You probably listen
Stand idly by as they rape your children
Like you do now
In fact you showed them how
Play, theme for a jackal play
Play, theme for a jackal play
Lyrics submitted by HoldURBreath
Theme For a Jackal Lyrics as written by Glen Danzig
Lyrics © REACH MUSIC PUBLISHING
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This song is about the Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick incident.
"dead daughter in the river"
Dry drunk on a corner Wet waste of a girl Theme for a jackal -Teddy (jackal) drunk off his ass driving off a bridge with a girl.
All thoughts are in place All deeds are too -kennedy waited several hours to report the incident
The rest is pretty self explanatory
@bluejacket lol it's about the movie Day of the Jackal you dork
There are references to Hamlet it seems.
Wet waste of a girl/Dead daughter in the river - Ophelia
Die sweet prince - "Good night sweet prince"
Meat tastes like mince - Reminds me of how Hamlet described how a dead king's remains may go through the guts of a beggar.
I think it would go with the opinions of you guys who think the song is about people who use their children to their own advantage, because that's what Polonius did to his daughter. And death was a huge theme in Hamlet, and I think the Jackal is a representative of death and how eventually it will consume you.
this song rules for only having one chord in it with some feedback. great piano solo at the end too, lol perhaps my favorite Misfits song, the Misfits kick ass
one of the few punk songs i can smoke weed to. i fuckin love it
I really love this song...it gets stuck in my head...all the time.
I always liked this one. Lyrically, it's one of the most interesting Misfits songs. It seems to me a cross between the more typical horror inspired theme of the band and a brutal social critque.
god danzig really is poetic at times.. morbid, sexual, satanic, but beautiful. to me its about hypocrisy of parents who train their daughters to be sex objects and reep what they sow when they are raped or send young boys to catholic school.. sad but true
@nogojourn this comment is old as hell and mostly on point but i gotta say, while i agree that this song could be interpreted as blaming parents for having shitty/archaic attitudes on sex that create an ignorance in their daughters that makes it easier for men to take advantage of them, this comment borders on a dangerous attitude that implies the daughters, in some way thru their behavior or w/e, have attracted men to rape them. that is a big run-on sentence, but we gotta be careful not to fall into the trap of blaming girls for the inwardly-formed attitudes of rapists.<br /> <br /> and those who still somehow think people are more or less likely to be raped based on the way they act or dress probably dont know just how many of the people they know have been (or will be) sexually assaulted.<br /> <br /> sorry for sort of creating a tangential PSA, typically i avoid doing so but this is important stuff
It's hard to discern what Glenn was getting at when he wrote this, but it's an awesome tune; musically and lyrically.
To me, it's unlike any other Misfits song and as odd as it may be of me to state, I was reminded of the Scarborough Rapist when I first heard it. Glenn couldn't have written this in recognition of such things, though, as the SR incidents happened long after the Static Age sessions.
In any case, an awesome song.
this song and halloween got me into them didnt lik it as much when danzig left... but stil, this is great [especialy wit the piano n stuf, good add]
"Stand idly by as they rape your children Like you do now In fact you showed them how"
Society created the bloodthirsty, child-raping monster that is the Jackal.