Rooster

Cantrell wrote Rooster for his father, Jerry Cantrell Sr., who served in the US Army in Vietnam. Rooster was his father's childhood nickname. Cantrell wrote it at the start of 1991 while living at Chris Cornell and Susan Silver's house in Seattle, and wrote the words from his father's point of view. In the Music Bank liner notes he called it the start of the healing process between them. A demo was recorded at Eldorado Studios during the Singles sessions.

Columbia sent it to radio on 22 February 1993 as the album's fourth single. It spent 20 weeks on the Mainstream Rock chart and peaked at number seven. Mark Pellington directed the video, which combined Vietnam footage and re-enacted combat with an appearance by Cantrell Sr. Pitchfork's Eric Harvey called the song the lone ray of light on an album otherwise obsessed with misery. Cantrell's father joined the band on stage for it at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa on 19 October 2007.