Quicklet on The Best The White Stripes Songs: Lyrics and Analysis

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ABOUT THE BOOK

When country music legend Loretta Lynn first heard The White Stripes, she said the duo of Jack White and Meg White “sounded like someone was breaking into a bank.”

She was describing the aggressive, loud and original sounds of the Detroit band that was changing rock ‘n’ roll with its fusion of garage-style rock and blues arrangements. Once thought to be brother and sister, Jack White and Meg White came crashing into the music scene circa 2002 with their megahit, “Fell In Love With A Girl.”

When they left the music scene for good on Feb. 2, 2011, they left the world with rock ‘n’ roll hits that will survive beyond their creators.

Even after it was discovered the Whites were actually ex-husband and ex-wife, no one stopped listening. Critics were too busy hailing The White Stripes as saviors of rock ‘n’ roll with hits such as “Seven Nation Army” and “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground.”

Via Creative Commons

For years, the band was a bit of a rock enigma, even to each other. They went on hiatus for a few years before reuniting for 2007’s Icky Thump, a commercial and critical success. But in the fall of 2007, the band cancelled the rest of their U.S. tour due to Meg White’s “acute anxiety.”

Jack White was the talkative, lead figure of the band, while Meg White was the introverted one no one seemed to understand. In a 2009 interview with The Guardian, Jack White explained how he too tries to get past the enigma of Meg White.

“My ears prick up when she actually mentions something about what we've done. I'm so interested to hear what her take on it is. But it quickly dissolves into: ‘I don't know what she's taking from that... I'm just so happy that she knew that we played that one show!"’

Meg White’s distinctive primitive drumming style made The White Stripes different from any other rock band at the time, and Jack White’s virtuoso guitar skills made them superior. Despite only two members, the band filled arenas and festivals with their ground-shaking sound.

EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK

However, The Stripes gave fans one last studio album, carried by the aggressive, politically-charged “Icky Thump” and its ridiculous guitar solo by Jack White.

Icky thump

Who'da thunk?

Sittin' drunk on a wagon to Mexico.

Ah well,

What a chump

Well my head got a bump

When I hit it on the radio.

Redhead señorita

Looking dead

Came and said

"need a bed?"

En Español.

I said

"gimme a drink a water,

I'm gonna 'sing around the collar'

And I don't need a microphone."

Icky thump

with a lump in my throat

Grabbed my coat

And I was freaking

I was ready to go!

And I swear

Besides the hair

She had one white eye,

One black(nk) stare

Lookin' up

Lyin' there.

On the stand

near her hand

Was a candy cane

Black rum, sugar cane,

Dry ice (and) something strange.

La la, la la la la la la la la la laaa laaa laaa

White Americans, what?

Nothing better to do?

Why don't you kick yourself out?

You're an immigrant too?

Who's usin' who?

What should we do?

Well you can't be a pimp

And a prostitute too

Icky thump, handcuffed to a bunk

Robbed blind

Looked around

And there was nobody else

Left alone

I hit myself with a stone

Went home

And learned how to clean up after myself

Near the release of “Icky Thump”, The Stripes explained the inspiration behind the name, which was a play on the English phrase, “Ecky Thump!” The phrase, “Ecky Thump!” is an old British saying, or exclamation of surprise, and is also in reference to an episode from The Goodies, a BBC sketch show from the ‘70s. The band wrote on their website,

“Though some residents of Northern England might almost recognize the title, The Stripes stress they are spelling it wrong intentionally just for ‘kicks’ and ‘metaphors,’ and to avoid a possible lawsuit from the estate of Billy Eckstine.”

Although the song’s phrase was borrowed from an episode of British comedy series, The Goodies, it is best known for its social-political comments on immigration reform, an always pervasive, yet hot button topic, at the time.

White told  MTV News in 2007,

“The theme is 'Who's using who?' ... People think (immigration is) a thing that's come up in the last year or something, but it's been a ridiculous thing that's bothered people throughout U.S. history. I think when things get crazy in America's history, people turn to issues like immigration to throw people off the scent a little bit."

In “Icky Thump,” Jack White tells of a story about a man traveling across the Mexican border with a prostitute, who asks him, “need a bed?” He becomes engrossed with the woman, drinks a little too much alcohol and gets in over his head, before he heads back to his home country to learn “how to clean up after myself.”

As much analysis can be drawn from the “Icky Thump” music video as the song itself.

The video, as well as the narrative lyrics, depicts the border to Mexico as secure as the ticket line at the dollar theater. In the video, Jack White’s character has no problem crossing through as he simply walks around a crossing arm and gives a nod to the border patrol officer, who greets him back with a tip of a hat.

If the border to gain entrance to the U.S. is so secure, yet the chances of getting to Mexico are not, then “Who’s using who? You can’t be a pimp and a prostitute, too,” Jack White asks. He also brings up a common sentiment in the immigration debate with the lyrics, “White Americans, what?/ Nothing better to do?/ Why don’t you kick yourself out?/ You’re an immigrant too.”

Although the chances of Jack White’s wish for a select group of Americans to escort themselves out of the country is slim, Jack White’s point is clear in, “Icky Thump.”

2. “Ball and Biscuit” from the album, Elephant

“Ball and Biscuit” from The White Stripes’ fifth album, Elephant, has the distinction as the band’s longest recorded song at over seven minutes. The blues-driven song is layered with White’s guitar solos, sexual innuendo and a tip of the hat to fellow bluesman Willie Nelson’s “The Seventh Son.”

It's quite possible that I'm your third man girl

But it's a fact that I'm the seventh son

And right now you could care less about me

But soon enough you will care, by the time I'm done

Let's have a ball and a biscuit sugar

And take our sweet little time about it

Let's have a ball and a biscuit sugar

And take our sweet little time about it

Tell everyone in the place just to get out

We'll get clean together

And I'll find a soapbox where I can shout it

Read it in the newspaper

Ask your girlfriends and see if they know

That my strength is ten fold woman

And I'll let you see if you want to before you go

It's quite possible that I'm your third man girl

But it's a fact that I'm the seventh son

It was the other two which made me your third

But it was my mother who made me the seventh son

And right now you could care less about me

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