He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask) is a song from American shock rock musician Alice Cooper's 1986 album Constrictor, and the theme song of Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, a slasher film and sixth part of the Friday the 13th film series released in the same year. The song celebrates the return of the Jason Voorhees character, after being killed off in The Final Chapter, the fourth film, and being entirely absent from the fifth installment, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, apart from a few dream sequences. Two other songs from Constrictor, "Teenage Frankenstein" and Cooper's song "Hard Rock Summer", which did not appear outside of the Jason Lives soundtrack, are also featured in the film.
The song features the famous "ki-ki-ki mah-mah-mah" sound effect, a trademark of the Friday the 13th series.
"He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)" was a minor success, popular among fans of Cooper's later work and enthusiasts of slasher films. It has been called "strangely New Wave-ish"and said to "perfectly enscapulate the Friday the 13th films and the era in which they came to prominence."
A demo version of the song, with a slightly rockier and much more upbeat feel, as well as the final release version, were featured in the four-disc retrospective boxed set The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper, which chronicles Cooper's career. The song was also available on a compilation album of songs from his two late-1980s MCA albums, Constrictor and Raise Your Fist and Yell, entitled "Prince of Darkness".
The song has been covered by some other artists. Finnish metal band Children of Bodom recorded a version in 2002, but it was never released, and "He's Back" has been performed live by another Finnish metal band, Lordi. In addition, the song was covered by One Man Army and the Undead Quartet, which was released on the Swedish death metal group's 2007 album Error in Evolution.
A reference to the song is made in the 2005 Friday the 13th tie-in novel Hate-Kill-Repeat; while attending a party, a character notices that the song being played is by Alice Cooper and that the premise of it involves "something about a man behind a mask".
Lyrics[]
You're with your baby
And you're parked alone
On a summer night
You're deep in love
But you're deeper in the woods
You think you're doing alright
Did you hear that voice
Did you see that face
Or was it just a dream
This can't be real
That only happens, babe
On the movie screen
Oh, but he's back
He's the man behind the mask
And he's out of control
He's back
The man behind the mask
And he crawled out of his hole
You're swimming with your girl
Out on lovers' lake
And the wind blows cold
It chills your bones
But you're still on the make
That's a bad mistake
Ah, but the moon was full
And you had a chance
To be all alone
But you're not alone
This is your last dance
And your last romance
Yeah, cause he's back
He's the man behind the mask
And he's out of control
He's back
The man behind the mask
And he crawled out of his hole
Oh, if you see him coming
Get away if you can
Just keep on running
Run as fast as you can
He's a dangerous, dangerous man
And he's out tonight
And he's watching you
And he knows your house
No, don't turn out the lights
Yeah, cause he's back
He's the man behind the mask
And he's out of control
He's back
The man behind the mask
And he's after your soul
He's back
He's the man behind the mask
And he's out of control
He's back
The man behind the mask
And he's after your soul
He's back
He's the man behind the mask
And he's out of control
He's back
The man behind the mask
And he's after your soul
He's back
He's the man behind the mask...
External links[]
- He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask) on Wikipedia
- He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask) on Amazon
- He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask) on Apple Music
- He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask) on Spotify
Video[]
He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask)