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***
Way back in 1981 I was 10 years old and obsessed with Space Lego. The one thing I wanted more than anything else was the LL928 Space Cruiser. At $52 it was the largest space kit Lego made, and well beyond my price bracket. My parents told me that if I really wanted it that badly, I should save my pocket money and buy it myself. At $1 per week, it was going to take me forever to save enough, so I endeavoured to accelerate my income whatever way I could think of. I washed the neighbours car (another buck!) and offered to do odd jobs for friends and family. Slowly – one dollar at a time –my savings increased and the hand drawn graph stuck up next to my bed started to rise.
That year for my birthday I got more Lego, but not the massive Space Cruiser I so desperately wanted. My Grandparents gave me $20 cash for my birthday (an absolute small fortune for a 10 year old back then!) which immediately went into my piggy bank and put the prize well within sight.
After what seemed like an eternity, I finally saved the $52 I needed and asked my Dad to drive me to the store so I could buy the kit. My excitement soon turned to devastation when I discovered that the elusive Space Cruiser had gone up by $2 – now $53.99.
I begged my Father to “advance” me 2 weeks pocket money so I could get it but he refused. I guess he was trying to teach me something about life but the lesson was lost on me and I cried all the way home.
An agonising 2 weeks later we returned to the store and I finally got to buy the Holy Grail of Space Lego – the Space Cruiser. It was the most fantastic thing I had ever owned, and made all the sweeter by huge wait I had endured, and the fact that I had earned it myself.
Some 37 years later and I still have the Space Cruiser – displayed proudly in my lounge room – proving that some things really are worth waiting for!!!
Waiting an eternity for the love of my life to say yes. And it really just lasted a few seconds.
…and because we didn’t have listening parties here in South America
Like every person who lives / The only thing waiting for me / It’s exactly the unexpected / Jack has all my respect / But if I still have to wait / Put this tri-color in my way
Like every person who lives
The only thing waiting for me
It’s exactly the unexpected
Jack has all my respect
But if I still have to wait
Put this tri-color in my way
I was lucky enough to attend the 2012 3rd Anniversary of Third Man party where Jack performed. I was so nervous to be in the same room as my favorite musicians that I took far too much advantage of the open bar. Waiting those two hours was a wonderful drunken intimidating experience for me. Jack walked by me on his way to talk to Vance Powell and I just stared wishing to have the courage to walk up and tell him how much his music means to me. That night I settled for conversing with Patrick Keeler and Jack Lawrence in the crowd during the show. I was too shy to even talk to them but luckily my friend broke the ice for me. Alison? Smoking a cigarette standing behind me? I regret not sparking up that conversation. What a wait! What a show!
We wait
We wait for the first time(s)
We wait for the serious time
We wait for the big time
We solely wait for the future
While holding on to the past time
We wait
Retrieve
For that we all wait
Until then
We will wait
Well now I know what Iambic Pentameter is.
To wait. What an interesting thing to contemplate. A story of waiting. To wait to hear the words cease coming from your mother’s mouth. To wait for your brain to catch up to what just came out of a mouth and into ears. To wait for emotions to settle into themselves. To wait for the blinding brightness of the day to settle back into its normal levels. A young man fresh out of the military sits on a bed looking down at a cocked gun in his hand, waiting for the courage to come, to take the next step. To wait. A phone rings and a step father gets a call that the step son posted a note on FB and may be up stairs with his gun now. Click. To wait. The mother waits on the now dead line. Nerves and emotions don’t wait. Step father does not wait. Young man hears the phone and muffled words, then running foot steps. Holding the gun he waits but courage runs at the sound of steps and fear takes it place. To wait. The door opens and step father runs behind the son and asks for the gun, and waits. The step father reaches out as the son releases the gun. Oh, to wait. To wait for the racing heart to climb back down from the ears and back into its proper place in the chest. To wait as the police sirens approach due to a scared and concerned out of state friend responding in the only way they felt they could help by calling the local police. Hang up and wait. To wait to hear as the mother and sister drive, never fast enough. Speeding up to wait behind the next car in front of them, wanting nothing more than to get back home unsure of what to hear, as they wait, and wait, then wait to wait. To wait for everything to settle, after finally reaching home, as you see your son still standing, still here. To wait for belief to catch up with reality. To wait as police finish interviewing. To wait as son is placed in a care facility. To wait to see if feelings have changed. To wait to ask questions. To wait for answer. To now having to wait to see if this is a one time or will there be another. To wait. To always wait. Oh, to live. Don’t wait to live. Don’t wait to love. Don’t wait to share your feelings.
I just found out Saturday morning that my brother who just became a civilian on February 23rd, from serving in the Army for 6 years, posted a farewell note on FB March 9th and then attempted to commit suicide with one of his step father’s guns, but luckly to the quick response of friends and family and the unflenching bravery of the step father, and my brother waiting for the courage to come never doing so, the end never came for that lucky young man. But, now he is in a care facility and we all, friends and family, must now wait to see what comes next. Only time will tell.
Love to you all