Another in a long line of artists that I was introduced to by my daughter (she sent me a copy of their album White Blood Cells and after hearing "Fell in Love with a Girl" I fell in love with The White Stripes), The White Stripes are arguably the best band rock and roll has seen in the last twenty years. From their beginning in my adoptive home of Detroit, Michigan in 1997, Jack White and Meg White (they claimed to be siblings but were actually married from 1996-2000) literally set the pop music world on its ear. Though they only released six albums, two of them ended up on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time." They were critical and fan favorites, sold several million records, won six Grammy Awards, and were widely regarded as an exceptional live band. The weight of fame eventually became too much for the very introverted Meg White, and they went their separate ways in 2011--but they had a hell of a ride for fourteen years.
Fun Fact: The White Stripes got their name not only from Meg White's last name (Jack Gills took his wife's name when they got married), but also from the fact that Meg really liked peppermint candies. Fascinating, my God...
Released on what is widely considered their best album, Elephant (and I wouldn't disagree) in 2003, "Ball and Biscuit" is most amazing to me for being the type of song I usually hate: it's long, it has a lot of guitar solos, it's bluesy, and it's about drugs. And yet I adore it--and such is the magic of The White Stripes. Clocking in at a little over seven minutes, "Ball and Biscuit" is an amalgamation of Jack White's otherworldly guitar playing (needless to say, he's one of my all time favorite guitarists), Meg White's understated but evocative drumming, and Jack White's matter of fact yet yearning, cocksure yet vulnerable, vocals. It's the love song of a drug addled man, sung to an unimpressed drug addled woman, and in the hands of The White Stripes, it's a reminder of just how soul ravaging the blues can be.
Lyric Sheet: "It's quite possible that I'm your third man, girl/But it's a fact that I'm the seventh son..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee
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