Jumpin Jack Flash

Song Meaning of Jumpin' Jack Flash by The Rolling Stones

Keith Richards was coming up with some of his most dynamic riffs in the late 1960s.

He overheard an organ tune that bassist Bill Wyman was playing with in a London studio and turned it into the pulse of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”

The lyric was inspired by Richards’ gardener, Jack Dyer, as the guitarist and Mick Jagger were coming to the end of an all-night session. “Who’s that?” Jagger asked. “Jumpin’ Jack,” Richards answered.

The Stones first performed it at their final show with Brian Jones.

"Jumpin' Jack Flash" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released as a non-album single in 1968. The song was perceived by some as the band's return to their blues roots after the baroque pop and psychedelia heard on their preceding albums.

Jagger said in a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone that the song arose "out of all the acid of Satanic Majesties. It's about having a hard time and getting out. Just a metaphor for getting out of all the acid things."

And in a 1968 interview, Brian Jones described it as "getting back to ... the funky, essential essence" following the psychedelia of Their Satanic Majesties Request.

In his autobiography Stone Alone, Bill Wyman has said that he came up with the song's distinctive main guitar riff, working on it with Brian Jones and Charlie Watts before it was ultimately credited to Jagger and Richards

According to the book Keith Richards: The Biography by Victor Bockris, the line "I was born in a crossfire hurricane", was written by Richards, and refers to his being born amid the bombing and air raid sirens of Dartford, England, in 1943 during World War II

The song reached number one in the UK, Australia and Germany, and number three in the USA.

Song lyrics of Jumpin' Jack Flash by The Rolling Stones

I was born in a crossfire hurricane

And I howled at my ma in the driving rain

But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas

But it's all right, I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash

It's a gas, gas, gas

I was raised by a toothless, bearded hag

I was schooled with a strap right across my back

But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas

But it's all right, I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash

It's a gas, gas, gas

I was drowned, I was washed up and left for dead

I fell down to my feet and I saw they bled, yeah yeah

I frowned at the crumbs of a crust of bread, yeah yeah yeah

I was crowned with a spike right through my head, fuck my head

But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas

But it's all right, I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash

It's a gas, gas, gas

Jumpin' Jack Flash, it's a gas

Jumpin' Jack Flash, it's a gas

Jumpin' Jack Flash, it's a gas

Jumpin' Jack Flash, it's a gas

Jumpin' Jack Flash, it's a gas

Jumpin' Jack Flash, it's a gas