Rooster

At the start of 1991, Jerry Cantrell was living in the Seattle house of Chris Cornell and Susan Silver, Alice in Chains' manager. Alone late at night, he kept thinking about his father, Jerry Cantrell Sr., whose Vietnam War service had left psychological scars that contributed to the breakdown of the family. Cantrell wrote "Rooster" from his father's point of view. "Rooster" was his father's childhood nickname, given by his great-grandfather for his cocky attitude and hair that stuck up like a comb.

The band cut a demo at Eldorado Studios on Sunset Boulevard during the Singles soundtrack sessions. Cantrell played the finished song for his father once, at a club where the band was opening for Iggy Pop. He saw his father at the back in a gray Stetson, crying, holding his hat in the air at the end. Cantrell later named his publishing company Rooster's Son Publishing.

Columbia sent the song to radio on February 22, 1993, as the fourth single from Dirt. It peaked at number seven on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and spent 20 weeks there. Mark Pellington directed the video. It mixes Vietnam documentary footage with re-enacted combat. Cantrell Sr. appears in it, filmed on the family land in Atoka, Oklahoma.