If I Had A Rocket Launcher (5:55)
26,132 plays (9,025 listeners)
If I Had A Rocket Launcher is a song by Bruce Cockburn, from his 1984 album Stealing Fire.The song was inspired by Cockburn’s visit, sponsored by OXFAM, to Guatemalan refugee camps in Mexico following the military torture campaign of dictator Efraín Ríos Montt. Although Cockburn had occasionally touched on political themes in his earlier songs, “If I Had a Rocket Launcher” was his first explicitly political song to be released as a single, and earned him a new reputation as an outspoken musical activist.
In the song, Cockburn despairs of waiting for a political solution to the crisis, and expresses the desire to take matters into his own hands. Each verse ends with a line stating what Cockburn would do if he had a rocket launcher: in the first verse, I’d make somebody pay. In the second, I would retaliate. In the third, I would not hesitate.
The fourth and final verse ends with the song’s most famous and controversial lyric: if he had a rocket launcher, some son-of-a-bitch would die.
In a later interview, Cockburn stated that the song “is not a call to arms; this is a cry.”
Chart performance
Although the song received considerable airplay on canadian radio in early 1985, many radio stations played an edited version which faded out before the “son-of-a-bitch” lyric was heard. Consequently, the song failed to reach the national Top 40, peaking at #49 on the Canadian charts in the week of March 9, 1985.
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Added by tarkineWild
Live at Montreal Jazz festival
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Shouts
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DwarfeD_NL wrote:
Great song all the way
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weevilwhey wrote:
ovr and above/ and along w/............so many c/burn's pieces ring out mantra/ long blu and of course the ever present folk meter so complex/perplex /being a drummer having played w/ many a flk per/........sink or swim/ if ya know gro or go/ whtevr/- cockburn is a blessing for the candle lighterz/........ # # ...riks
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FJSPlace wrote:
Awesome track
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Flippypimpstein wrote:
No war but class war.
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timregler wrote:
This is why I LOVE Last FM for playing alternative versions of songs! Magnificent!
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mammaleh wrote:
Such an incredible the evokes sooooo many emotions. "If I had a rocket launcher" in the past "some son of a bitch would die". Too much war, violence, and massive stupidity in this world - or even closer, in Washington. Listen up people! I am so very weary of all the dead souls we have sent into battle under false pretenses, to glorify false ideals. STOP IT.......STOP IT NOW!
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ebjsteve wrote:
Blow 'em away, Bruce.
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properdrainage1 wrote:
Metaphor for oppression
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patricknoonan wrote:
Hmmm. Today I'm getting the original, studio version from Stealing Fire.
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peggynichols wrote:
I've always loved this song.
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hairybottle wrote:
Goosebumps every time. Fantastic song from a brilliant songwriter, not to mention one of the best fingerstyle guitarists on the circuit. When he plays this song solo, it sounds like there's five guitarists on stage.
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teleken wrote:
Anyone know where this version can be found?
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WCDB_DJ80 wrote:
Great song, but this live version is not from Stealing Fire!
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martinhfelix wrote:
So here we are, the US now a stinking torture state..........will we turn back from that road? How many children HAVE we killed?
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MangoBongo wrote:
If I had a rocket launcher, and you were a lady...
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kuckuck24 wrote:
How it reminds me of yesterday
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cassiopex wrote:
Great anger/ protest song. We'll let the right-wing idiots laugh with their Bushonomics to their grave...
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tsw630 wrote:
An incredible songwriter, an incredible performer, too. He has a lot to say through his music.
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macmick wrote:
If I had a rocket launcher, I'd scare myself.
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TimPicard wrote:
Hey — fuck you dickface!
Bruce Cockburn
If I Had A Rocket Launcher
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Recent Activity
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s2pdname, mightyfallen and Madthom8 loved Bruce Cockburn – If I Had A Rocket Launcher. Sunday afternoon
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Madthom8 added If I Had A Rocket Launcher to Madthom8’s library. Friday evening
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DwarfeD_NL added If I Had A Rocket Launcher to his Loved Tracks. Friday evening
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garding added If I Had A Rocket Launcher to the playlist. Friday evening
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garding, thailandjames, LEFT4LYFE and 6 other people loved Bruce Cockburn – If I Had A Rocket Launcher. Friday evening
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