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?

Rooster#1

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]