“Bullet” by The Misfits

From a naïve standpoint, the lyrics of the Misfits’ “Bullet” are about the tragic assassination of one of America’s most loved presidents, John F. Kennedy.

However, this is actually isn’t the case. While the lyrics touch heavily on Kennedy’s assassination, they also touch on something very disturbing and very disrespectful to Kennedy’s widow and the entire Kennedy family.

And what’s this? You see after Kennedy was killed in 1963, his widow (Jacqueline Kennedy) moved on and remarried years later. Jackie (as she was fondly referred to) remarried about 5 years after President Kennedy’s assassination. She married one of the world’s richest men – a Greek businessman named Aristotle Onassis.

Now, in the lyrics of “Bullet”, the Misfits appear to be referring to Jackie as a lose woman due to her marriage to Onassis. Apparently the narrator feels that Jackie’s primary goal was to amass wealth. He feels that she moved on to Onassis primarily because of his wealth.

In the narrator’s eyes, love wasn’t the reason for her remarriage but MONEY. Owing to this, he sees her as nothing short of a working girl. He therefore spends a significant part of the lyrics fantasizing about sleeping with her.

“Bullet” Details

Artist(s): The Misfits
Album/EP: “Static Age”
Release: June of 1978

Was “Bullet” a single release?

Yes. It was released as a single from the band’s “Static Age” album.

Credits

“Bullet” was solely composed by Glenn Danzig (founder of The Misfits). The production was later handled by one Dave Achelis.

Cover Versions of “Bullet”

Since The Misfits released this tune as far back in the late 1970s, it has been covered by many musical acts. Some of them include:

• Boneyard Skullbong (2014)
• Refused (1997)
• Smoke in Sunshine (1999)
• The Gregg (2012)
• The Hellacopters (2000)

The Incident that Inspired The Misfits’ “Bullet”

On Friday, November 22, 1963, America received the shocking news that has left a negatively profound impact on its political history. They lost the first man of their country, John F. Kennedy, through a gunshot assassination.

In the afternoon of November 22, 1963, Kennedy visited Dallas for a campaign visit in the presidential motorcade. He was in a vehicle alongside his wife Jacqueline, John Connally (former Texas Governor), and Nellie, Connally’s wife. The presidential motorcade was passing through Dealey Pizza with crowds walking on the streets to see the president when gunshots were fired at the motorcade. The president was shot in the neck and head. The driver of the motorcade raced to Parkland Memorial Hospital. Hospital authorities pronounced Kennedy dead at 1 pm.

Police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, a former US marine and an employee at the Texas School Book Depository, at 2:15 pm. He was arrested for murdering Kennedy and the shooting of police officer J. D. Trippit, which occurred at 1:15 pm. Two days later, while Oswald was being transferred from the city to the country jail under live TV coverage, police informant and nightclub owner, Jack Ruby, shot him. Oswald died shortly after, and Ruby was jailed for his murder.

About 5 years after this tragic incident, Jackie remarried.