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***
Can’t wait to win this… :) Or can I?
I didn’t win the tri at the Orlando listening party. But I found a bad ass Motörhead 7 inch while listening to Jack’s new album. The album sounds great! I can’t wait for the Vault package to show up!
One of my favorite times seeing The White Stripes was in 2005 when they played The Masonic Temple 2 nights in a row in October on a Sat and Sun night . I went to both with a broken foot and on crutches . When I arrived I was instantly taken care of by the staff and was put in a handicapped section by the stage :) After the show I waited out back to Give Jack a demo cd and met most of his family ,friends , him ,meg ,Ben and they invited us to a after party at Jacks house . :)
So what you’re really saying is, my turntables not dead?
Wait……wait……..wait..?……………….?……………………………………wait?………………………………………………………………………oknowgo
I didn’t see this post yesterday and couldn’t go to a listening party, because I was celebrating my five year anniversary (3/9/13). Never married before, I was 38 years old when I finally met the right guy…..a very long yet worthwhile wait.
Moved to the metro Detroit area just a couple years ago and have enjoyed getting to love the Motor City to further my career. It’s been an inspiration to grow with Jack White with the powerful music and all that the Third Man enterprises have done. So pumped to hear this mesmerizing hypnotic song rain down live in Detroit and Grand Rapids from the pit. Thanks to Mr. White and Mr. Blackwell and all at Third Man especially those with the Vault and down Cass Corridor. Peace.
Iambic pentameter doesn’t rhyme much. So reading it here won’t fool you. Finally a major in English helps in a clutch, as long as you know you must rhyme two. I am asking the folks at the concerts a plenty, to light your lighters high, when Jack says “Who’s with me?!”. No phones to glow which shows him why, we as fans are present and ready, to Rock n Roll all night long, boogie boogie and rock steady! All in attendance will love his songs! Look for me in line, passing out free lights. And remember “Hi-Fi NOT Wi-Fi” burn your lighters bright!
Over the years, I’ve taken 33 spins around the earth and walked and flown and drove back and forth from Chicago to Jacksonville to Chicago to Jacksonville, over and over and over and over and over and Jack has always been there. White Stripes, Raconteurs, Dead Weather, blue tinged solo time. Decades of leading me to new music and old music. Music I might not have found on my own. Inspiring me to dig through crates and learn from the past. Music became rich wet earth between my fingers, like a sand box full of sounds.
It was a rough 2016. It was a rough 2017. Personal challenges, loss and grief, feeling so alone in my home. Listening to what Third Man was sharing was a way to scramble back to my heart through my ears. Meg and Margo and Lillie and Allison teaching me that, wait, oh man, women make bad-ass music too and look, we should be in the room too and in fact, women are gonna lead this band – a-thank-you-very-much. In a time when I felt rudderless, I felt an artistic home with Third Man, even if it is just as a student of whatever sounds and words were flowing out of the speakers and doors. Picking up the fiddle when I realized it could rock too and making sounds, loud sounds, terrible sounds and bending those sounds into music and finding joy.
And so I’ve been waiting for this tour. I’ve been waiting to see Jack again and scream those songs back at him, because man, I feel like I’ve been on a journey. I’ve been interrupted by love and tried hard to be like the squirrel, girl, I broke those problems into little pieces and reminded myself to keep steady as she goes and counting down those mile markers until we could all just jump up and down and remind ourselves that we’re all connected by love.
Finally, tickets in hand, after battling the bots with the rest of the Vault, ready to rock, I suddenly get that call. I’ve been asked to go on tour and make art in Europe. Tell stories with sounds and music and shadows and collaborate and explore and hell, get paid for it too.
Of course, it conflicts with Jack. So… one must ask one’s self: What would Jack do?
Jack would go make art. Obviously.
so. I have to wait to dance it out with a crowd of my favorite fans and one of my favorite musicians.
I’m hoping to see you in the Fall, Third Man. ‘Cause now I have to wait. And wait. And hope for some sort of miraculous second leg of the tour or Chicago dates or or or or or or or. I’m gonna revel in the sweet agony of waiting.
In the meantime, I’m going to make art and I’ll take Jack’s new album with me. He’s a good travel buddy. I imagine he understands the joy of telling stories to people far away. because there are 300 people sitting out in west virginia…and they have no idea of all these thoughts that lie within ya….but…now…..
Longest wait….
I remember taking my dog, Pam to Petsmart one day against my better judgment. She’s hyper and insane. We pull up to the petsmart and it’s cold and snowing. Pam going insane in the backseat…In a rush to get her straightened up I head inside and we buy her food. I come back outside and I’ve locked my keys inside the car.
We wait two hours in the snow and freezing cold with Pam jumping on people, trying to play….