The Rolling Stones: Jumpin' Jack Flash Meaning

Song Released: 1968

Jumpin' Jack Flash Lyrics

I was born in a cross-fire hurricane
And I howled at my ma in the driving rain,
But its all right now, in fact, its a gas!
But its all right. Im jumpin jack flash,
Its a gas! gas! gas!

I was raised by a toothless, bearded hag,
I was...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Dec 15th 2015 !⃝

   It's actually about my friend's grandad, Jack Dyer who was the gardner at Redlands.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Aug 2nd 2018 !⃝

   It's interesting that both Mick and Keith were born in 1943 in Dartford, Kent. 1943 was at the heart of WWII, when, even though the Germans were no longer bombing London, there were still almost daily air raids by German fighters on the far east of England. Exactly where Dartford, Kent is located.
   
   In some ways they WERE both literally "born in a crossfire hurricane" of WWII. Probably not important but the British Hawker Hurricane aircraft was doing a lot of the defense of Kent as the more powerful Spitfires were running raids of their own on German positions in northwestern France.
   
   I think that "Jack" has been through hell and has come out the other side, different but wiser, maybe more carefree, more content that he has survived what most would't have. He has nothing left to prove, his manhood, even, is "secure." "It was hell but I survived and now everything is gravy." When you have lived with nothing for so long, faced terrible hardship, then a beater car that gives you independence is like a limo. A box of macaroni is a banquet, A simple cot to lay your head is like a luxury bed. Perhaps "Jack" is both Keith and Mick and the lives they led and what they had to and will survive. "Jack" to me is a kind of musical "Cool Hand Luke," "Sometimes "nothing" can be a real cool hand."

3. 3TOP RATED

   #3 top rated interpretation:
   SainterSan

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Oct 27th 2015 !⃝

   I think it's pretty straight forward. Jagger (who wrote most of the lyrics) was rebelling against the "wholesome" self righteousness of Christianity by writing with sympathy about the fallen angel, Satan, with a typical attitude. He's saying Satan has suffered more than Jesus, he is the rejected one, washed up and left for dead, declining the crumbs of bread from the last supper, but that's ok, in fact it's a gas to be free and unchained from the grasp of pious religion.
4. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   May 24th 2022 !⃝

   https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jan/19/the-real-life-jumpin-jack-flash-how-david-litvinoff-shook-the-60s
5. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Apr 1st 2022 !⃝

   WHY DO SOME NARROW MINDED PEOPLE THINK THEY KNOW THAT EVERY SONG THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND IS ABOUT HEROIN AND SHOOTING UP.actyally listen to a song and try to get where the band was at the moment. and open your ears people
6. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Apr 25th 2021 !⃝

   shooting heroin, the flash is the blood in the nettle the gas is the injection With a spike through is when the heroin gets to the brain. It now alright and it the rush is the thrill gas gas gas, Jumping Jack Flash is pulling back the heroin the flash is the blood, hip for what's in the tub needles glass, swirling red, in rush gas gas gas,
7. Old_Hippie

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Feb 23rd 2021 !⃝

   It's quite simple really...
   
   It's a story about a person named "Jack" (who could be anyone of us really) who has overcome unusual burden and hardships in life. "Jack" was born into the world under very unusual harsh conditions into a less than ideal dysfunctional family situation in the past.
   
   "Jack" is telling us it's all right now, but it wasn't always that way for him in the past.
   
   After Jack was born he talks about how he was raised. Jack lived in a broken home where he often thought of his mother as a bearded, toothless hag. This is because Jack was a troubled individual during his youth and he rebelled against his family. (Like many youth of the day who associated with the message of rock and roll music.)
   
   It was a situation of an individual during their youth who felt like everything at home was hopeless. He was never getting any help with anything. He was always feeling "drowned, washed up, and left for dead." Sure, sometimes they would throw him a few bread crumbs here and there to pretend they cared about him, but it never really did any good. It only made Jack angry because he knew better and always frowned on this. He felt like it was just an insult and they might as well have driven a spike right through his head because he knew they didn't truly care about him.
   
   This situation at home means he also did poorly in school. He was often punished with a strap because of his bad grades.
   
   But Jack is doing much better now since he grew up and left his dysfunctional family situation. He's now experiencing freedom because he escaped, bailed, or "jumped" out of this undesirable situation.
   
   The moral of Jumping Jack's story is no matter how bad, or what kind of dire situation, or background you came from, you have the power to change things for the better in the future.
   
8. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Dec 7th 2020 !⃝

   I think of Jesus being cruelly treated...horrible. But, it’s alright now! even those who cruelly did the bad beatings can be forgiven because Jesus knew it was satan, not them and it’s alright now!! scripture is fulfilled and heaven through lord Jesus is going to be a blast!!
9. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Sep 14th 2020 !⃝

   Do you really think we will know the truth. Hell most people can't even understand the lyrics that Jagger is spitting out. C'mon, It could be about anything or everything. But you have to think about all the drugs they were doing at the time it is probable drug related. But I do like the one about JFK it was pretty cool!
10. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Jul 30th 2020 !⃝

    Major artists aren't generally inspired to write songs about gardeners as much as songs with hidden references to persons with more historical relevance, such as presidents and prime ministers. Or, in this case, about JFK. Jumpin Jack Flash is a brief bio of the 35th president of the US. Beginning with the second verse, Jack's mother Rose Kennedy was a strict Catholic (the "strap"). The third verse deals with JFK's training and then service as PT Boat Captain during WW Two when he "dove into cold water to unfoul a propeller" (Wikipedia), injuring himself, and later during war manuevers, sustained injuries to his back after rescuing a crewman and swimming for miles to safety. ("I was drowned. I was washed up and left for dead.") And finally there's the verse about the assassination. ("I was crowned, with a spike right thru my head,")
    The chorus alludes to the gas and the flash, of gun fire, the phosphorus spent
    and the small plume of smoke. It also refers to the "gas" as the limo sped away from the danger too late, alas, too late--too late.
11. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Jun 6th 2020 !⃝

    When you take a morphine based drug, you vomit. This is known as “flashing”. I’ll let you draw your conclusions to the meaning of the words to the song given this piece of information.
    
    Bad stuff happened to me
    But it’s alright now
    
    Jumpin’ Jack Flash - it’s a gas
12. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Jun 14th 2019 !⃝

    What are the first 2 words Mick says? One two? Watch it? Dying to know!!
13. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Feb 7th 2019 !⃝

    What does mick sayin the song before the lyrics 1 2 or watch out or something like that?
14. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Oct 29th 2018 !⃝

    This is about someone's hard life and after death is enjoying his stay in hell because he says its better than life doing the Jumping Jack Flash (Jack Flash a euphemism for the devil) and "The Jumping Jack Flash" is a dance done in hell jumping around to keep ones feet from being burned by the hot coals.
15. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Nov 21st 2017 !⃝

    The gardener may have inspired the Jack part of the title, but the lyrics have nothing to do with gardening! They're all primal, visceral and exaggerated. It's the soundtrack to Beowulf.
16. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Aug 22nd 2017 !⃝

    This song is about a man who gives himself the nickname Jumping Jack Flash. He is celebrating the fact that he is making fun of the hardships of his life. Overcoming the problems - Life is a Gas,Gas,Gas.
17. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Mar 14th 2016 !⃝

    I was always lead to believe that a "Jumpin Jack Flash" was the practice of administering liquid L.S.D via an eyedropper to the tear duct.
18. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Nov 16th 2015 !⃝

    This song is about war. In the lyrics "I was born in a crossfire hurricane" they allude to a destructive force with a path and direction, as well as a crossfire which is a danger to innocents while two sides fight."But its alright I'm jumping jack flash its a gas gas gas" Jumpin Jack Flash creates an image of a man, ready to jump into action at a moments notice ex a soldier, while saying its a gas gas gas represents how the conflict is a fuel, something that is consumed for progress/movement. "I was drowned, I was washed up and left for dead" "I fell down to my feet and saw they bled" Both images of the aftermath of a conflict , falling down to your feet means they were coming from the sky, and may be referencing paratroopers landing to see fallen men. "I was crowned with a spike right through my head" is a reference to Jesus. Jesus, representing a sacrifice for the good of mankind, can be related to the sacrifices that soldiers make every day. This is my personal conclusion, taking into consideration that peace and war were a popular topic in the 60/70s.

Latest Articles

• 
  A new era for Millennial favorite, Linkin Park
• 
  Anime to watch for the soundtracks… and other reasons you’re undateable
• 
  Dolly, we need you
• 
  The Stranger Things Effect: How new media is drawing Gen Z and Alpha's attention to aging media
• 
  The most underrated soundtrack of the early 2000s
• 
  Buy the Soundtrack, Skip the Movie: Brainscan (1994)