The penultimate song on the album is, you guessed it, another ballad!
'Jackknife Johnny' is about a Vietnam Vet, ignored by the country he was fighting for, hated by the other Vets because he fell in love with a 'gook'.
Again, it's not a bad song, but c'mon - 4 ballads on an album with 10 songs is a bit much!
09/10 Jackknife Johnny (Cooper, Taupin, Wagner)
"From his army confessions of his military days
You still carry the shrapnel, you're shell-shocked and dazed
Dear Johnny (oh Johnny) have you just lost your way
Or like denim and leather are you faded and frayed
Institute lackies with hot bourbon breath
White coats and needles Johnny like to scare you to death
Dear Johnny (Johnny) do you feel your best
When you're strung out at night on your morphine and meth
Jackknife Johnny you're a floor moppin' flunkie
Tool of a dagger's drawn world
Jackknife Johnny them old vets gotta hate you
For bringing home that V.C. girl
Jackknife Johnny welcome to our world
From the tone deaf hearing of the draft board game
You were washing cars down in Dallas when the holocaust came
Dear Johnny (Johnny) your excuse was lame
All your friends sleep in boxes while you sleep in chains
Jackknife Johnny you're a floor moppin' flunkie
Tool of a dagger's drawn world (tool of a dagger's drawn world)
Jackknife Johnny them old vets gotta hate you
For bringing home that V.C. girl
Jackknife Johnny welcome to our world
Jackknife Johnny you're a bad jungle monkey
Tool of a dagger's drawn world (tool of a dagger's drawn world)
Jackknife Johnny them old vets gotta hate you
For bringing home that V.C. girl
Jackknife Johnny Welcome to our world"
The final song on the album,
'Inmates (We're All Crazy)' is classic, old-school bad taste Alice. It's a very dark song, that uses a dramatic string arrangement that wouldn't have been out of place on the final Beatles album! The use of nursery-rhymes also gives the song a twisted feel
Lizzy Borden, mentioned in the song, was an American woman who was tried (and acquitted) for the axe murders of her father and her stepmother in 1892. She died in 1927. [As a side bar, there is an American band called
'Lizzy Borden' who have a male singer who's name is Lizzy Borden. Their songs are based around death and murder, and they have a very theatrical stage show. Sound familiar?]
10/10 Inmates (We're All Crazy) (Cooper, Taupin, Wagner)
"Not like we did something wrong
We just burned down the church
While the choir within sang religious songs
And it's not like we thought we was right
We just played with the wheels of a passenger train
That cracked on the tracks one night
It's not like we ain't on the ball
We just talk to our shrinks
Huh they talk to their shrinks
No wonder we're up the wall
We're not stupid or dumb
We're the lunatic fringe who rusted the hinge
On Uncle Sam's daughters and sons
Good old boys and girls
Congregating waiting in another world
With roller coaster brains
Imagine playing with trains
Good old boys and girls
Congregating waiting in some other world
We're all crazy, we're all crazy, we're all crazy
Lizzy Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks
And don't think we're trying to be bad (no!)
All the innocent crime seemed alright at the time (Not neccesarily mad)
Not necessarily mad not necessarily mad
We watch every day for the bus
And the driver would say
"That's where lunatics stay"
I wonder if he's talking about us
It's not like we're vicious or gone (no!)
We just dug up the graves where your relatives lay In old forest lawn
And it's not like we don't know the score
We're the fragile elite they dragged off the street
I guess they just couldn't take us no more
Good old boys and girls
Congregating waiting in another world
With roller coaster brains
Imagine digging up graves
Good old boys and girls
Congregating waiting in some other world
We're all crazy, we're all crazy, we're all crazy,
We're all crazy, we're all crazy, we're all crazy
We're all crazy crazy crazy crazy, we're all crazy
We`re all crazy, we're all crazy, we're all crazy"
The tour to promote the album was called 'The Mad House Rocks' tour
Three nights were booked at the Wembley Arena on May 29th-31st 1979, but these were ultimately cancelled
The touring band, known as the 'Ultra Latex Band', consisted of:
Davey Johnstone - guitar
Steve Hunter - guitar
Prakash John ("Johhny Stilletto") - bass
Penti 'Whitey' Glan - drums
Fred Mandel - keyboards
Sheryl Cooper - dancer
Rosa Aragon - dancer
Uchi Sugiyami - dancer
Eugene Montoya (Martin Luther Queen) - dancer
Clifford Allen - dancer
Wendy Haas - background singer
Joe Pizzulo - background singer
A sample setlist consisted of:
- Instrumental Intro
- From The Inside
- Serious
- Nurse Rozetta
- The Quiet Room
- I Never Cry
- Devil's Food intro-Welcome To My Nightmare
- Billion Dollar Babies
- Only Women Bleed
- No More Mr. Nice Guy
- I'm Eighteen
- The Black Widow-instrumental
- Wish I Was Born In Beverly Hills
- Dead Babies
- Ballad of Dwight Fry
- All Strapped Up
- It's Hot Tonight-instrumental
- Go To Hell-Wish You Were Here
- How You Gonna See Me Now
- Inmates (We're All Crazy)
- School's Out
A DVD entitled '
The Strange Case Of Alice Cooper' is available, filmed in San Diego on April 9th 1979, but sadly it has only been released as a Region 1 (American) version