High Voltage Heartache: The Lyrical Gut Punch of AC/DC's "Gone Shootin'"
Image credit: Joe Daly
Across AC/DC’s explosive, riff-powered catalog, there lingers a poignant, unpolished gem appreciated only by the band’s most wild-eyed faithful – Gone Shootin', the smoldering seventh track on the band’s 1978 masterpiece, Powerage. Far from a raucous anthem from the high priests of hard rock, Gone Shootin’ is a haunting blues rock elegy, a stark deviation from their usual vein-popping, boogie rock bangers. Penned by the late, inimitable Bon Scott, the track delivers a visceral journey into the bleak underbelly of addiction, set against the backdrop of a relationship teetering on the edge of oblivion.
Gone Shootin’ cuts miles deeper than the typical AC/DC fare. Through sharp, uncluttered couplets, Scott peels back layers of his soul, revealing a jagged vulnerability seldom seen in the high-octane world of 70s rock. The song is a whiskey-soaked requiem, not just for a love lost to the needle's allure but also for the innocence devoured by addiction’s relentless jaws. The opening riff, a slow, pulsating throb, sets the tone – this is not a joyride, but a funeral march.
Scott’s lyrics in Gone Shootin’ are a masterclass in raw simplicity. There’s no grandiose metaphor, no cryptic allegory – just the naked truth, as bitter as it is. Feel the pressure rise / Hear the whistle blow / Found a ticket of her own accord / To I don't know – these lines, delivered with Scott’s world-weary drawl, paint a bleak picture of a woman embroiled in her own tragic saga, leaving the narrator (and perhaps Scott himself) a mere spectator to her self-destruction.
What sets Gone Shootin’ apart is not just its thematic gravity but its musical restraint. AC/DC, known for their thunderous, foot-stomping beats, pull the throttle all the way back, allowing Scott’s narrative to drive the song. The guitars, usually roaring beasts in their speaker-blowing anthems, trade simple licks, both mournful and reflective. This is the sound of a band stripped of its armor, laying bare the human condition in its authentic, unguarded state.
Scott, often celebrated for his roguish off-stage antics and larger-than-life persona, reveals an entirely different facet of his artistry in Gone Shootin’. He's not just a hard-charging outlaw, leading the fist-pumping masses in a frenzied dance of defiance; he's a poet, a soothsayer, whispering truths about the human experience often swept into the margins of mainstream consciousness. In the grand tapestry of rock and roll, Gone Shootin’ is a somber thread — a footnote in a storied cannon — and a reminder of the genre’s potential to transcend mere entertainment and venture into the realms of introspection and social commentary. It stands as a poignant epitaph for Scott himself, whose life, much like the song, was a brilliant flash of genius extinguished too soon.
Listening to Powerage two nights ago, thumping along on my Fender P-bass, I found myself laying the instrument down and sitting back to feel the innate power, sadness and truth of this song. I stirred my coffee with the same spoon… Eight words that paint an evocative portrait of two people teetering on the brink of existential annihilation. Today, kids across the globe are making the fatal transition from painkillers to heroin; $60 a pill versus $10 for a bit of black tar and a needle. For most of them, their futures will be permanently erased. A lucky, precious few will survive, though hardly unscathed. Nobody plans on succumbing to addiction and Bon Scott never set out to save anybody but he sure did tell their story.
Gone Shootin’ has always ranked highly among my favorite AC/DC tracks. It resonates with the pain of loss, the helplessness of watching a loved one succumb to their demons. And it’s a stark reminder that beneath the veneer of rock and roll’s decadent, reckless abandon lies a world rife with real, biting truths – truths that Bon Scott, in his all-too-brief tenure on this mad, spinning rock, dared to confront.