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***
OMFG! I’m cumming through my ears!!!
Bad Waiting:
Waiting and waiting to see a doctor when having one of those pesky sinus infections. Hoping that my body might fight it on it’s own; only to finally give in so daily functioning can commence in a more enjoyable fashion.
Good Waiting:
That 25 years we waited for the return of Agent Cooper. Nothing quite like that feeling when your favorite story (that is never meant to conclude) comes back to visit and gives you more morsels to chew on for awhile.
i’m so very excited for this album… this is the Jack White solo album i’ve always wanted. this song & riff have taken over my brain since this single was released.
I’m an avid waiter when it comes to concert-going. I get there as early as I possibly can and I line up if my tickets are GA so I can have the best experience possible in the front of the crowd. This has amounted to many, many 12+ hour days waiting for the Raconteurs, Dead Weather, and now Jack White concerts. I’ll be doing it again in Milwaukee and Minneapolis later in the year. In 2004, when I was 13 (I’m now 28), I waited many hours for the White Stripes to play double shows at Stubb’s BBQ. My mom and I were in the process of moving from LA to Tampa, and I was just missing the band in both places. I was pretty gutted, so my mom surprised me by flying me out to Austin, where my brother lived, with tickets to see TWS at a double show. This was pretty special as my family wasn’t well off, and it was ultimately an amazing first concert experience (and especially special to have seen Whirlwind Heat too). I had to work so hard to convince my (cool, 21 year old) brother to wait in line with me during the day. It was so hot in Texas at the time. I actually wore red pants and a white shirt (and was surprised that I was the only one doing so) and I blacked out on and off all night from the heat and the dancing. I can look back on the experience with happiness and a little embarrassment – both at my outfit and at asking the set-up folks between shows to have the band play Isis for my birthday. Ah, to be 13. I still regret not getting my hands on the poster (which my brother guaranteed me would still be available after the show, I should not have listened). ]Ultimately it was an amazing night I’ll never forget. Thanks for the chance to reflect, Ben!
Here I sit.
I sit and stare.
I sit upon a worn out chair.
I do not wish.
I do not care
If i am here or i am there.
For move my bod i do not dare.
Then not only the chair would the floor then share.
It would also share my derriere.
Yeah Tim, I have to agree with you. My wife was in labor for 38 hours before my son was born. Longest, scariest wait of my life… now turning into a continuous, ever evolving best experience of my life. Ben, you actually met my son briefly at 3rd man Nashviille just before close one night.
Anyway, best and longest wait of my life!
I love this quote I just found in Jack’s latest Rolling Stone interview: He once joked that he’d never achieve his “dream of being a black man in the 1930s.”
I always felt he was like a black man in a white man’s body. Like an old Blues man reincarnated.
I’ll go movie related instead of music (but obviously seeing JW tour Blunderbus was such a great experience – had to fly cross country to see the show with an old friend).
For some reason I’m the biggest fan of the movie Twister. People who know me know that, and more specifically, people who know me know (and join in with me on this) that I only refer to that movie as “1996 cinema masterpiece Twister.” Its weird, but its pure.
I was six when it came out, and couldn’t see it in the theater, but as I’ve said, the VHS tape was in HEAVY rotation. I remember the first copy I had included this goofy Looney Toons vingette that featured Taz chasing Bugs that was a riot. I ruined that tape watching it so much. My brother & I reenacted scenes from that movie in between playing with Legos & Star Wars.
Fast forward to 2016 – 1996 cinema masterpiece Twister’s 20th anniversary. A local theater shows nostalgia movies on Fridays sometimes, and (I think it was April) one weekend, 1996 cinema masterpiece Twister was the feature. I didn’t realize how badly I wanted to have the joy of seeing that movie in the theater, with popcorn, a big Icee, and the growl of the tornadoes (and that sweet Van Halen song “Humans Being”). I’d waited my whole life for that moment and boy did it DELIVER.
Sadly, there’s a tragic coda to this story. Last year (right around right now, actually) Bill Paxton passed away. That same theater did a screening as tribute to the 80s & 90s most reliable character man. Going into the movie, I knew how awesome 1996 cinema masterpiece Twister ran on the big screen, but was sad to see peak-era Bill Paxton, recently and tragically passed away, looking to the clouds (and running away from them).
This is all to say that there are some pop culture things I love deeply (Jack White, White Stripes included – duh!) and I can’t or won’t ever let anybody put out my shine. I watch 1996 cinema masterpiece Twister quite often, but I know while I’ll love it forever, and with each passing year the meaning the film has for me will change and continue to become more complex, it is the sadness of its participating artists (Phil Hoffman was a big loss) passing away that will become the continuing legacy of the film.
Again, that’s all to say – never let anybody tell you something isn’t cool enough for you to love. Love what you love. Love it all the way. Watch it, listen to it, go out of your way to spend time with it.
Looking forward to reading your “its”. Hope some of you spend a little time with mine, which is, say it with me folks:
1996 cinema masterpiece Twister.
over and over and over again I keep missing out on incredible stuff like this. Thank God I signed up for the Vault subscription and took the time to really look around on the site to have a change at this one!
Wait3d 7 hours in lin3 for tick3ts to s33 th3 Whit3 Strip3s at Irving Plaza th3 w33k Icky Thump cam3 out. Worth 3v3ry minut3. Of th3 12 time I saw th3 Whit3 Strip3s it was by far th3 b3st! And scor3d an aw3some post3r to boot.