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. anonymous

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   Nov 10th 2015 !⃝

   It was inspired by Keith Richard's gardener, there is secret or deep hidden meaning.
2. anonymous

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   Jul 22nd 2014 !⃝

   I read above about a review referring to a guy who associated the song with his covertable Buic well kiddies I did it on a George Brown special conversion Vincent Black Shadow and back in the day I was Jack too. Now just a crubley old fart but still have the Shadow so can still get that Jack feeling!

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
3. fistofate

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   Aug 9th 2013 !⃝

   Musically, I know this was inspired by "Day Tripper" by the Beatles.
   Lyrically, I read the same story someone wrote above about Keith saying the song is about his gardner.
   It's ironic that sometimes people who don't like to write too much wind up writing the best songs. People who love to write create things many times which are way too deep and don't give the listener enough space to crawl into it and "own it" in their own way.
   I love the Stones songs, but I know they're just excuses to play music.
4. anonymous

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   Nov 19th 2012 !⃝

   Drugs, simple really, Jumping jack flash is a term used to describe free-base cocaine (its a gas gas gas) and the line
   "I was crowned with a spike right thru my head
   "I looked down to my feet and I saw they bled..."
   Refers to a practice if injecting into ones tear duct, your feet aren't bleeding but in ones intoxicated state the fact that you have injected yourself in the eye chances are blood will spill and land on ones feet creating the illusion to the "user"
5. anonymous

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   Nov 18th 2012 !⃝

   Oh one gets by however one is lodged out of the ole' birth canal.
   
   But perhaps the lyric that snuck through, gone unnoticed by perhaps nearly all is-
   
   "I was crowned with a spike right thru my head"-
   is a purely channeled line straight out of Dagobert II's mouth, who has inspired music from Arcadian realms for ages and ages.
   
   All the more perfect since this is considered to be a delta blues motif-the Cajuns were the remnants of Nova Scotian folks (Arcadian/Acadian) who carried little ditties like "Good King Dagobert" with them when they left for the gulf
   
   enjoy
6. anonymous

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   Jun 23rd 2012 !⃝

   You all are so fucking stupid except for the guy who mentioned the Keith's gardner. He was the inspiration for the song. Their was no deep hidden meaning or whatever. Yes it was written coming off of some hard partying but what stones song wasn't written that way back then?
7. RoseCaroline

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   Oct 26th 2011 !⃝

   I think you are all way off base... the real question to ask is what does "Jumping Jack Flash" mean, and why is it a "gas"? What are jumping jacks, and what do they do? We used to play a game called Jacks, where there were 5 little plastic knuckle-shaped "jacks", that you would toss onto the floor... I can't remember the aim of this game. Why would a jumping jack "flash"?
   
   I do not believe the song is about Jesus Christ; if anything, it is about Lucifer, falling down from heaven. This would tie in with some of the lyrics in Don MaCleans "American Pie", in the lyrics "... Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack Flash sat on a candle stick, cos Fire is the Devil's only friend/And while I watched him on the stage, My hands were clenched in fists of rage/No Angel born in Hell, could break that Satan's spell..."
   
   If MaClean was talking about the demise of Buddy Holly in the song "American Pie", then to me it sounds like he is referring to Mick Jagger, and the incoming flux of "new" rock and roll, which maybe he didn't like...I also hear undertones in the song suggesting that perhaps the Rolling Stones were engaged in the black arts. At the end of American Pie, he talks about the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost, who caught the last train for the coast (perhaps cos they didn't like the Rolling Stones).
8. David Puma

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   Sep 29th 2011 !⃝

   You are missing the point. The meaning of jumping jack flash? my first car was a 74 buick convertable. with the top down leaving town on the highway . . . . you can physically feel the song. and then it just shoots forward. jumping jack flash say the words. music at its best isn't an analogy, or symbolism that only the educated can decode. anyone can understand it. its simple. if you are debating what the words mean, you don't understand MUSIC. and you'll never get it.
9. anonymous

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   Jun 11th 2011 !⃝

   Way I see it, it's about the coolest guy to ever walk this planet. Plain & simple.
10. anonymous

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    May 11th 2011 !⃝

    This song has really nothing to do with Jesus, but anyways... Drowned might be in beer, vomit, or any other such thing after he had been hit with his "spike" our old friend the hangover. What he is saying is that optimism is the best thing possible especially when you've been beaten over the head with switches and words like he did when he was born in his parent's hurricane crossfire of words.
11. anonymous

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    Apr 22nd 2011 !⃝

    Jumpin jack flash refers to Amyl Nitrate poppers,...a gas used to heighten sexual pleasure.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
12. anonymous

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    Apr 21st 2011 !⃝

    I hate to say this (and before I do, I'm not a hyper-Christian), but I've researched this song and many resources state that this song is pretty much Mick Jagger comparing himself to Christ. I can barely pick this out in the first two stanzas, but the third one is quite obvious. "I was drowned-" now I know that Jesus was babtized, which required him to be dunked underwater. But, Jesus was crucified, which is a horrible form of dying. I guess they could have used drowning (which really sucks to experince) rather than blatantly saying crucified. "I was washed up and left for dead." After his death, Jesus was technically "forgotten" by most people for 3 days. "I fell down to my feet and saw that they bled." Again, the lyrics were changed in such a way that the public wouldn't easily pick up on the Christ Comparison. But as Christ hung on the cross, it's obvious that he would be "falling" (He is hanging on a cross in the air with no base support, therefore the forces of gravity are pulling on him as if though he were falling). But in this state, Jesus was likely looking down the majority of the time due to the extreme amount of fatigue. His feet were nailed to the cross, so his feet would be bleeding. Thus Christ would see that his feet were bleeding. "I was crowned with spike straight thru my head". This one is rather obvious. Christ was crowned with a crown made of thorns(again, they used 'spike' to try and avert one's attention). And then he says that this was okay "Because he's jumpin' Jack Flash". Again, the concept of a horrible death by Crucifixtion didn't matter to Christ due to the fact that he was God. Again, I'm not saying the sole purpose of this song is for Mick Jagger to compare himself to Christ. But this is what you call; "a meaning behind a meaning."

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
13. StickDriver

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    Dec 31st 2008 !⃝

    They wrote the song on getting up after a hard night at Keith's house, looked out the window and saw Keith's Japanese gardener running around outside like "Jumpin Jack"
14. anonymous

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    Nov 1st 2008 !⃝

    Well, this song is kind of obvios, but some people won't get it.
    
    the song is talking about looking on the bright side, and that no matter how bad you childhood was you can make it better

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