The song is one of the few Aerosmith songs to deal with a heavy social issue. The lyrics are about a girl named Janie who takes revenge on her father after years of being sexually abused by him.
"Janie's Got a Gun" is preceded by a 10-second instrumental called "Water Song", which features the work of instrumentalist Randy Raine-Reusch, who uses a glass harmonica, wind gong, and bull-roarers to produce the special effects heard at the start of the song.
In the 2001 comedy film Not Another Teen Movie, main character Jake is told that in order to seduce a classmate, Janie Briggs, he should sing her a song that features her name. Unfortunately, he chooses to sing "Janie's Got a Gun", which gets Janie tasered and arrested by campus police for suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon.
The song reached number two in Canada, number 12 in Sweden, and number 13 in New Zealand.
The song was parodied as "Elmo's Got a Gun" by Tommy & Rumble, about Sesame Street character Elmo going on a gruesome killing spree.