Jack White
“Over and Over and Over”
limited edition one-sided tri-color, 200 something copies pressed, complete with custom picture sleeve that will be slightly different from the standard released version
Do you guys know how pumped I am?
For the record, I first heard this monster riff in 2005 at Jack’s house while he and Meg were recording “Get Behind Me Satan.”
I am pretty sure that the “Blue Orchid” riff pre-dates this one by a few days, but in my mind, they exist hand-in-hand. While “Blue Orchid” smashed that recording process wide open and gave Jack the inspiration to make that album as bad ass as possible, THIS riff, inarguably, is ten times stronger. I feel like Jack was originally calling it “Thermonuclear Counter-Thrust” but maybe I’m just imagining that. I can find no contemporaneous documentation of that name.
There are two takes of demo recordings of this song from 2005 (with the riff played solely on fuzz bass). There are demo recordings from 2007 with the White Stripes trying it in rehearsal leading up to the tracking of the “Icky Thump” album. Imagine the guitar profile more in line with the octave-pedaled presence of the song “Icky Thump” and that’s a good start for understanding the 2007 version. I guess the Raconteurs tried it but I never heard any evidence, same with the Dead Weather. It was apparently the main track that Jack and Jay-Z worked on together in 2009, under the title “Ray Bans” or “Behind My Ray Bans” and although I’ve never heard that working, I’m told to imagine the phrase “Behind my Ray Bans” to coincide with the last five notes of the riff.
As Jack has already said, this had been his white whale. We sincerely considered including the ’07 demo as part of the “Icky Thump X” Vault package last year. I have no recollection of Jack ever previously giving me such an impassioned plea…”I just really think we shouldn’t put this on the Vault” he said. My response was pretty matter-of-factly, “Well, it’s your label, so please don’t feel like you have to convince me.” Maybe he was trying to convince himself?
Regardless, at the end of 2017 when Jack finally had played me this version you hear now, upon the end of the song, I looked at him and said “I’ve been waiting twelve years to hear this song with lyrics.”
The final version of this song is everything I’d ever dreamed it would be. It is my favorite moment on the album, with the coda to “Humoresque” being a close second. I cannot wait to see this monster unleashed unto a sell-out crowd at Little Caesar’s Arena, a stone’s throw away from the Gold Dollar where this whole mess got started.
I’ve got an extra copy of this limited tri-color to give away here. AUTOGRAPHED by Jack White, today, explicitly for this purpose. Don’t use my give-away here as an excuse to miss going to any number of the listening parties we’re throwing at record stores worldwide though. Even though we’re giving away tri-colors at the listening parties, none of those will be autographed. Man we spoil you kids.
As for the giveaway, post a comment, can be about whatever, but maybe talk about a significant wait you’ve endured in life. Can be funny, pithy, in iambic pentameter, whatever. The “best” comment will be solely determined by me. Please chime in by noon central time on Tuesday, March 13th.
***WINNER HAS BEEN CONTACTED***
I waited to write this comment. I was waiting to find out about grad school. Creative writing – I’m committing to my dream. Yesterday, I heard back from my favorite program. Now I’m waiting for things to get better. Dreams and applications and waiting. Rejections and rallying and writing. Over and over and over. But when I wake up tomorrow, there will be a new page, and new ideas, and I’ll keep trying – and that’s the whole point.
I think the biggest wait i have to endure regularly is that between the vault package announcement/reveal, and the date it actually arrives. The wait between the shipping date and the arrival only adds to the anticipation.
Once there was a man who wanted to win a contest just once in his life….. that man was me.
The waiting is the hard part.
It is the Schrodinger’s cat of the human experience. Will she go out with me? Will my plane land safely? Will the sun rise tomorrow? In the interim she has said, “Yes!” and “No.”; the plane has both touched down safely and simultaneously burned to ash; the day has broken, and the day has been broken, shattered, extinguished. Holding the weight of the wait builds our strength, our resolve, our experience. My experience today was that yes, the sun rose, my plane landed, and I endured the seemingly endless moment before she said, “Yes!”
My biggest wait so far was for a Carpenters bootleg vinyl my grandma had since the 70’s and we danced to it when I was a child (late 90’s), I always loved that damn thing and she said it was going to be mine when she passed away. 10 years ago she actually passed away and her sister took it with her and after some constant begging, over and over and over (hehe), she gave it to me last year. Now it lives over my bed in a frame.
I remember watching Ducktales as a kid. There was this invention Gyro Gearloose created called the “time teaser”. It could “freeze” time. Huey, Dewey, and Louie got a hold of it and they didn’t have to wait for anything. Just freeze time and do whatever they want. They made time wait for them.
On Consoler of the Lonley the opening track a child says “daddy can you tell me the story about the chicken.” I’ve always wondered what that story was.
This may be sappy, but I’m ok with that. I met my amazing girlfriend shorty after the last time I seen Jack White live, Chicago Theater 2014. Since that day I’ve waited to take her to see him live. She’s become a bigger fan as each Vault package has arrived and we’ve opened and listened. Last year we were blessed with being able to visit TMR in Nashville and see a show in the Blue Room. But the biggest wait has been the wedding proposal, which will happen at her first Jack White show in Omaha this coming April. Thanks for all you do, I look forward to the proposal, Jack White live in Omaha and Jack White live in KC the following night. Until then, cheers.
Hey I’m 17 and I absolutely love collecting vinyl, jack white has been my favourite artist for some time now and I think his music is stunning. I think one of the coolest things about him is his commitment, this is clearly evident by the fact that he got rid off his bed as a teanager so he could fit two drum kits in his room. I know it is unlikely that I win this but it would mean the world to me. And I would also like to thank all the staff at third man for all there hard work.
One of the worst waits of my life was the lead up to Jack White’s show at Madison Square Garden. I immediately got wrapped up in most of White’s music upon first listen because it is unique, strange and amazing, similar to how I view myself. Anyway, I was able to get the tickets with a friend as soon as they went on sale and the months leading up to the concert was excruciating. I couldn’t stop vibrating with excitement. It was like I was a 10-year-old who ate as much sugar as they can stomach who couldn’t stop shaking and bouncing off the walls from the massive sugar high. It was both terrifying and exhilarating.
And the best part was, the massive hype I had was not met with disappointment.
Just keep in mind, I am a massive movie nerd and Star Wars waits couldn’t even come close to waiting for Jack White.
Also, please don’t think I’m using a Jack White occurrence to butter you up or something, that’s unethical and immoral. This moment just stands out the most in my 16 year long lifetime.