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Meaning Of The Song 'Rooster' By Alice In Chains

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The text that I will be studying today is the song, “Rooster” by Alice In Chains. This is a grunge song written in the early 90’s. This song has a very deep meaning behind it and I will discuss not only how it will affect the listener, but also how it affected me. The song is about the lead singer Jerry Cantrell’s father and the obstacles that he faced in the Vietnam War. The song depicts how his father experiences the troubles with his friends being killed, homesickness, and fighting to survive. This is evident through the song and the chorus sings, “They’ve come to snuff the rooster, oh yeah, yeah here come the rooster, yeah, you know he ain’t gonna die” (Alice In Chains, 1992). This is the chorus because it explains Cantrell’s father’s resilience …show more content…

This made it even more difficult for soldiers because they had experienced intense hardship and came home to people who didn’t appreciate it. Many soldiers who come back from war had to deal with PTSD, and ultimately couldn’t return to the life that they desperately wanted to back home. This was the case for the Cantrell family. Jerry Cantrell wrote this song because he was in the lowest point of his life and his music career was failing. He knew he had to come up with a new album that would boost his groups success. His thought gravitated towards his father and his childhood. He was in a low place just like him and his family were when he was younger. Cantrell explains this in an interview, “He didn’t walk out on us. We left him. It was an environment that wasn’t good for anyone, so we took off to live with my grandmother in Washington, and that’s where I went to school. I didn’t have a lot of my father around, but I started thinking about him a lot during that period.” (Henry, 2016). Jerry knew what his father had gone through and it didn’t come to a shock when his life was changed when he came home. He was able to harness a very vivid and deep song about his father because of his childhood. The song seems very self-explanatory, but there is more behind the lyrics than people can understand. This was a very unique war for the soldiers and the country as a whole. The in depth look …show more content…

After war time, soldiers are usually greeted with joy and happiness that they had served their country and made it home safely. This was not the case for this particular war. I had heard this song and it really made me feel for the soldiers who had to endure this battle. They had to go over and fight in Vietnam and come back to face more battles back home. I have never served in war, but I have a great amount of respect for our military, and the men and women who risk their lives for this country. It makes me sick to think that these soldiers had to come home to people who hated them. I have met with Vietnam veterans and it is still a subject that bothers them. They still are hesitant to talk about both their times in battle and how they were treated when they returned home. Most of these soldiers want to forget about that time in their life and act as if it never happened. Soldiers of any other war are proud that they served their country, and that they made it back home safely. After listening to this song and taking a deeper look into the meaning behind the song, I have an even greater respect for these men than I did

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