"If I Had a Rocket Launcher" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn, from his 1984 album Stealing Fire. A visit to Central America prompted Cockburn to write the song. Released as a single, "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" reached the national singles chart in both Canada and United States.

Background The song was inspired by Cockburn's visit, sponsored by Oxfam, to Guatemalan refugee camps in Mexico, where he witnessed helicopters attacking refugees. Speaking on the song's subject matter, Cockburn said that "one of the most striking things was seeing the strength of people in incredibly desperate situations." In an interview published in Billboard, Cockburn expressed his belief that politically oriented songs were not incompatible with Top 40 radio programming, citing "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood and "The War Song" by Culture Club as examples of socially conscious music that managed to attain commercial success.

In the song, Cockburn despairs of waiting for a political solution to the crisis, and expresses the desire to take matters into his own hands. Each verse ends with a line stating what Cockburn would do if he had a rocket launcher: in the first verse, "I'd make somebody pay". In the second, "I would retaliate". In the third, "I would not hesitate". The fourth and final verse ends with the lyric: "If I had a rocket launcher, some son-of-a-bitch would die".

In 2009, Cockburn performed the song for Canadian troops in Afghanistan; he was subsequently presented (temporarily) with a rocket launcher.

Critical reception Cashbox characterized "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" as "an impassioned song about the need for humanity in South America". Reviewing a live performance of the song that Cockburn did in November 1984 at Park West, Moira McCormick wrote in Billboard that "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" was "the most effective portion of his performance", adding that it was "powerful stuff, yet not oppressive–but certainly provocative and eminently musical."

Chart performance The song received considerable airplay on Canadian radio in early 1985, with many radio stations played an edited version which faded out before the "son-of-a-bitch" lyric was heard. The song peaked at No. 49 on the Canadian charts in the week of March 2, 1985. It reached the Top 40 in some individual markets – for example, it peaked at No. 24 on the CHUM Chart in Toronto.

In the United States, "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" was released in January 1985. It first entered at No. 103 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart during the week ending February 2, 1985. The song reached No. 88 on the Billboard Hot 100 the following month, spending a total of three weeks on the listing. It was Cockburn's only single besides "Wondering Where the Lions Are" to reach the Top 100 in that country. "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" received a music video that was launched on MTV, where it received some rotation. The music video featured photographs of refugee camps.

Commenting on the single's commercial success, Cockburn said that "Of all the songs I'd put out that I thought would have had radio possibilities, that wasn't one. A lot of people who didn't even know that it was about Guatemala responded to the sense of outrage in it, and that made it popular. It was a very interesting phenomenon because I never would have imagined in a million years that anybody would play that on the radio, and yet they did. And people ask for it to this day."

Personnel Bruce Cockburn – guitars and vocals Jon Goldsmith – keyboards Fergus Marsh – bass Miche Pouliot – drums Chi Sharpe – percussion

Charts Chart (1985) Peakposition

References