I find it hard to believe I’ve never posted a White Stripes song lyric. The Detroit duo of Meg and Jack White have produced some incredible albums. Their lo-fi garage-rock recordings are simultaneously raw and rich, and their song-writing revelas a deep appreciation for American music forms, particularly blues, punk, country, and post-War pop. (How many alt-rock faves have recorded a Bert Bachrach cover?). Ostensibly brother and sister, it turns out the two were married and divorced in 2000.
Virtually all of the bands lyrics and tabs are available on Broken Bricks. Selecting just one lyric is difficuly, I have many White Stripe favorites but for some perverse reason, today I’m stuck on “I’m Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman.”
Well, I’m finding it harder
To be a gentleman every day
All the manners that I’ve been taught
Have slowly died away
But if I held the door open for you
It wouldn’t make your dayYou think that I care
About me and only me
When every single girl needs help
Climbing up a tree
I know it don’t take much
To satisfy meMaybe it’s whatever’s in my head
That’s distracting me
But if I could find emotion
To stimulate devotion
Well then you’d seeWell, I’m finding it hard to say
That I need you twenty times a day
I feel comfortable so baby
Why don’t you feel the same?
Have a doctor come and visit us
And tell us which one is saneI never said I wouldn’t
Throw my jacket in the mud for you
But my father gave it to me so
Maybe I should carry you
Then you said, “You almost dropped me”
So then I did, and I got mud on my shoes.
Don’t know the White Stripes? Well, their big single was “Seven Nation Army” (here live on Conan) but everyone should be familiar with this ground-breaking Lego video for “Fell In Love With a Girl.” And don’t forget this appearance on The Simpsons.