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Jack White — Blunderbuss
Album: Blunderbuss
Avg rating:
6.8

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1311









Released: 2012
Length: 3:01
Plays (last 30 days): 5
I had my dream, I held your hand on that broad avenue
We crossed the road and never spoke to another as we flew
We left your man alone in drag laughing there at us
A romantic bust, a blunder turned, explosive blunderbuss

An ancient grand hotel of Persian thread and ivory
And when your man would turn his head I'd see you look at me
Pools of brown and sea of red and demons in your pocket
That same romance performed a dance inside a silver locket

Da da da da
Da da da da

A corner exit not tall enough to walk out standing straight
Designed by men so ladies would have to lean back in their gait
You grabbed my arm and left with me but you were not allowed to
You took me to a public place to quietly blend into

Such a trick pretending not to be doing what you want to do
But seems like everybody does this every waking moment

I laid you down and touched you like the two of us both needed
Safe to say that others might not approve of this and pleaded
"So selfish them" would be their cry and who would be brave to argue?
Doing what two people need is never on the menu

Da da da da
Da da da da
Comments (96)add comment
 idiot_wind wrote:

You are not allowed to criticize this guy. He was in a documentary with Jimmy page and The Edge, and talked abut guitar playing.    That means he's a great guitar player, and a great musician, and a great song writer.    



lol. Any other rules you'd like to impose on the rest of us listeners?

good tune
Disturbing and arousing in equal measure. 

Musically speaking, of course. 
 idiot_wind wrote:

You are not allowed to criticize this guy. He was in a documentary with Jimmy page and The Edge, and talked abut guitar playing.    That means he's a great guitar player, and a great musician, and a great song writer.    


Saw that.  I am a lifelong, unrepentant U2 fan.  But I have to say: I'm not sure The Edge is quite in the league of the other two.


My dude has been playing the same three chords into the same reverb pedal for the last 40 years.  Love it, but let's be serious.
 idiot_wind wrote:

You are not allowed to criticize this guy. He was in a documentary with Jimmy page and The Edge, and talked abut guitar playing.    That means he's a great guitar player, and a great musician, and a great song writer.    

Agreeing with everything you said, with the exception of not being allowed to criticize him ... evidently for any reason. Here is my legitimate criticism: Jack White needs to write songs for other people to sing. He needs to stop recording himself on records singing. He's a dreadfully bad singer.

 idiot_wind wrote:
You are not allowed to criticize this guy. He was in a documentary with Jimmy page and The Edge, and talked abut guitar playing.    That means he's a great guitar player, and a great musician, and a great song writer.    
 
Oh you're allowed.  You're just liable to be rebutted.
 Steely_D wrote:
So did he marry Isis or what?
 

Isis meets Small Faces
 yagermeister wrote:

"It Might Get Loud"
Crazy good movie.  The beginning shows Jack White make an electric guitar by hand and play it.  What??

 What was so fascinating was while he was exploring music by stripping it away to it's essence (remember the hand clapping blues record he played?)  the Edge was building it up into layers of sonic holography - two completely opposite approaches to making music. I may purchase a copy of "It Might Get Loud" because it was so damn interesting.



So did he marry Isis or what?
 idiot_wind wrote:
You are not allowed to criticize this guy. He was in a documentary with Jimmy page and The Edge, and talked abut guitar playing.    That means he's a great guitar player, and a great musician, and a great song writer.    
 
"It Might Get Loud"
Crazy good movie.  The beginning shows Jack White make an electric guitar by hand and play it.  What??

just saw his Conan interview.... pretty full of himself
 Beanie wrote:
I know a lot of people don't like either his voice or the inherent jangliness (is that a word?) of his music.  But I am consistently intrigued by both.  So there ya go.
 

Yeah, "jangliness", I get that..
You are not allowed to criticize this guy. He was in a documentary with Jimmy page and The Edge, and talked abut guitar playing.    That means he's a great guitar player, and a great musician, and a great song writer.    
I know a lot of people don't like either his voice or the inherent jangliness (is that a word?) of his music.  But I am consistently intrigued by both.  So there ya go.
The Blunder Buss is leaving at platform 4.
Lol  
Mr. White, vs Self Parody. 

Self-Parody wins this one. 
AWFUL 

 Propayne wrote:
Jack White's vocals have always reminded me of Robert Plant's.

 

Jack White has a much better voice and is a far better singer.   (I'll get me tupperware and slink out the back door.)
Couldn't be more awful.
Crazy talented guy.  Love this and most everything he's done.
 Propayne wrote:
Jack White's vocals have always reminded me of Robert Plant's.

  Totally agree. In the first moment I thought it was Led Zeppelin.


His voice is fine. I get why some don't like it, but whatever. The songwriting is very strong and the songs are the real stars.

LOVE the steel guitar on this one.  
I like this and JW's other recent output. True, his voice isn't the most pleasant, but we cut Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, et al., a lot of slack in that regard. This to me is tuneful, memorable, etc. It's "good" in most ways.
 stegokitty wrote:

As much as I like Jack White and White Stripes music, I must agree with you — I'm thinking JW needs to write songs for other people to sing.

 
Maybe he should get Josh Groban, or Michael Buble, or maybe some contestants from American Idol sing his tunes.
I can't help myself: it reminds me on a seventies band called Bed 'n Breakfast
 OHMish wrote:
Can't stand his voice
And no, it doesn't sound anything like Robert Plant (whom I love)

 
Yes it does in a way. But it's still a "1" on my chart. 
Can't stand his voice
And no, it doesn't sound anything like Robert Plant (whom I love)
Ya think?

 
Propayne wrote:
Jack White's vocals have always reminded me of Robert Plant's.

 


 snap_dragon wrote:
You go Jack - solid 8
French Bluderbuss





 
A pocket-able blunderbuss, yes that's the thing.

You go Jack - solid 8
French Bluderbuss




Jack White's vocals have always reminded me of Robert Plant's.
 pigtail wrote:
ugh.....I think he should find another person to sing it.

 
As much as I like Jack White and White Stripes music, I must agree with you -- I'm thinking JW needs to write songs for other people to sing.
This dude is soo white...yet his music makes me feel in colour.
A talented fellow!
Didn't like this at first, 
 sort of grows on ya.

  like a herpes sore.  
say what you want about his vocal styling (admittedly not for everyone), but jack white is one of the few musicians out there doing anything creative in rock 'n roll.
ugh.....I think he should find another person to sing it.
Jack's a real talent.....
This song is a solid 8, but I give it a 10 to balance out the ridiculousness.
Brilliant - even better live.
Pretty awful stuff.
he definitely ad-libed these lyrics
Can't help it but I find this guys voice and music really annoying. Excuse me while I PSD....
Very nice. And yes, it's reminiscent of Led Zeppelin - which is NOT A BAD THING.
Thrown under the buss...
 sthilaire wrote:
Robert Plant should be so proud!
 
Maybe.  More here than just Robert Plant.
Robert Plant should be so proud!
 ziggytrix wrote:

I'm not so sure about that.  I do know I'd pay to hear that at least once though. {#Eek}
 
{#Rolleyes} It's the song sung, not the singing sang, that is important.  Get it? {#Confused}
What a set!!
 rdo wrote:


Amen brother.  That's one thing that just bothers me to no end.  Like, this isn't Opera.  Would Pavarotti singing this song sound very good?  Of course not. 

 
I'm not so sure about that.  I do know I'd pay to hear that at least once though. {#Eek}
The track is growing on me, as is much of this album.

(How do I scrape it off?) 
The distinct vocal styling of Jack White. He's taken that trick about far enough. But hey, he's a rock star. Everything dialed up to 11.
 WonderLizard wrote:
I view Jack White cautiously—so much of him seems to be bluster and bluff. Nonetheless, Blunderbuss is a masterpiece. It is as complex and challenging an album I've heard in some time. There's no filler, no ear candy, no polite balladeering recess; just densely packed, dazzling, difficult, majestic rock'n'roll. It's like reading Virginia Woolf or James Joyce: tough slogging, but in the end exhausting and rewarding.
 
The New York Times did a great piece on him and put it a little more bluntly: "(he's) notoriously bendy with the truth..." The article gives you the impression that he's very creative but always on stage. 
Led Zeppelin alive!
I'm lovin this song!  {#Umbrella}
I view Jack White cautiously—so much of him seems to be bluster and bluff. Nonetheless, Blunderbuss is a masterpiece. It is as complex and challenging an album I've heard in some time. There's no filler, no ear candy, no polite balladeering recess; just densely packed, dazzling, difficult, majestic rock'n'roll. It's like reading Virginia Woolf or James Joyce: tough slogging, but in the end exhausting and rewarding.
no matter what, it is clear Jack HAS to write/compose/play. anyone this prolific is clearly driven by something innate. amazing talent.
 spigolli wrote:
I hear shades of Steve Forbert, I thought he had a great voice.
 
Shades of Forbert?  I looked to the screen to see what Forbert album this came from wondering how I had missed it.
{#Clap}
 h8rhater wrote:

All of you arm chair vocal critics slay me.  Many, if not most, of the most memorable singers have voices that are "unusual". Whether you like them or not is immaterial, the public has voted and Bill apparently agrees.  If you want to argue about banal lyrics, poor production, or a general lack of musical talent in a band... fine.  But complaining about the voice of the lead singer is fruitless and adds nothing intelligent to the conversation.

In the end, having a great singing voice from a technical standpoint could be more of a negative than a positive.  Give me Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Jack White, John Hiatt, Robert Plant, Mick Jagger, et al anyday over these pitch corrected crooners that make up the middle-of-the-road offerings in popular music.  

Creativity and originality are the key (Jack White has that in spades).  Maybe you need to be patronizing all of those American Idol stars that don't seem to be going anywhere after winning their "singing competition".
 
The fact that my opinion is stated. That's what it merely is...'an opinion'. h8rhater and anyone else for that matter can go on defending the quality of someone's voice until you're blue in the face...it won't change how people feel about his voice positive or negative. Enough goodnight!
I hear shades of Steve Forbert, I thought he had a great voice.
I have to say that I was never a fan of the White Stripes and initially was luke-warm to this CD but I must admit, this is really growing on me.  Up to a 7 so far.
Like Beck (but not at all like Beck), this kid intrigues me with his music.
I agree. The best art of any genre isn't usually "pretty."

rdo wrote:


Amen brother.  That's one thing that just bothers me to no end.  Like, this isn't Opera.  Would Pavarotti singing this song sound very good?  Of course not. 

 


 lkovathana wrote:
RP should play every track on this CD.  Each one is awesome!!
 

Agreed.{#Yes}
RP should play every track on this CD.  Each one is awesome!!
 h8rhater wrote:

All of you arm chair vocal critics slay me.  Many, if not most, of the most memorable singers have voices that are "unusual". Whether you like them or not is immaterial, the public has voted and Bill apparently agrees.  If you want to argue about banal lyrics, poor production, or a general lack of musical talent in a band... fine.  But complaining about the voice of the lead singer is fruitless and adds nothing intelligent to the conversation.

In the end, having a great singing voice from a technical standpoint could be more of a negative than a positive.  Give me Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Jack White, John Hiatt, Robert Plant, Mick Jagger, et al anyday over these pitch corrected crooners that make up the middle-of-the-road offerings in popular music.  

Creativity and originality are the key (Jack White has that in spades).  Maybe you need to be patronizing all of those American Idol stars that don't seem to be going anywhere after winning their "singing competition".
 
And these people make money on their voices.
I'm not.
 h8rhater wrote:

All of you arm chair vocal critics slay me.  Many, if not most, of the most memorable singers have voices that are "unusual". Whether you like them or not is immaterial, the public has voted and Bill apparently agrees.  If you want to argue about banal lyrics, poor production, or a general lack of musical talent in a band... fine.  But complaining about the voice of the lead singer is fruitless and adds nothing intelligent to the conversation.

In the end, having a great singing voice from a technical standpoint could be more of a negative than a positive.  Give me Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Jack White, John Hiatt, Robert Plant, Mick Jagger, et al anyday over these pitch corrected crooners that make up the middle-of-the-road offerings in popular music.  

Creativity and originality are the key (Jack White has that in spades).  Maybe you need to be patronizing all of those American Idol stars that don't seem to be going anywhere after winning their "singing competition".
 

Amen brother.  That's one thing that just bothers me to no end.  Like, this isn't Opera.  Would Pavarotti singing this song sound very good?  Of course not. 

Nice!
 ziakut wrote:
Music is really cool. His voice is borderline annoying beyond belief.
 
All of you arm chair vocal critics slay me.  Many, if not most, of the most memorable singers have voices that are "unusual". Whether you like them or not is immaterial, the public has voted and Bill apparently agrees.  If you want to argue about banal lyrics, poor production, or a general lack of musical talent in a band... fine.  But complaining about the voice of the lead singer is fruitless and adds nothing intelligent to the conversation.

In the end, having a great singing voice from a technical standpoint could be more of a negative than a positive.  Give me Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Jack White, John Hiatt, Robert Plant, Mick Jagger, et al anyday over these pitch corrected crooners that make up the middle-of-the-road offerings in popular music.  

Creativity and originality are the key (Jack White has that in spades).  Maybe you need to be patronizing all of those American Idol stars that don't seem to be going anywhere after winning their "singing competition".
 djengs wrote:


I am not a composer, but have heard many artists saying some great song just came to them. I know likely the majority of music, perhaps the majority of those artist's music, required more contemplation, but I disagree that nothing really good comes without discipline. If Jack wants to just blast away and only hit it once in fifty then fine by me.

Then again, perhaps he is incredibly disciplined in resisting an urge to retool his music...oh, I am so confused now.
 
Read an article in the latest Electronic Musician about Jack trying to refrain from the "perfect" recordings available with Pro Tools and other modern tools, and use only analog tape machines.  He's definitely old school, but that can be a good thing.
Can't get on with this vocally
I really like this.  His voice is fine, though I'm not sure how many songs I'd want to hear with this particular vocal component.
 Hasan wrote:

Maybe he could do a gig with Yoko Ono. Their voices ... suit each other.
 
and Jethro Tull ...lol
 ziakut wrote:
Music is really cool. His voice is borderline annoying beyond belief.
 
Maybe he could do a gig with Yoko Ono. Their voices ... suit each other.
 black321 wrote:
I love the spontaneity of Jack White, and lord knows rock music today needs more spontaneity. However, you can’t write something really good without some discipline in your composition…and I think he might be capable of writing something really good.

 

I am not a composer, but have heard many artists saying some great song just came to them. I know likely the majority of music, perhaps the majority of those artist's music, required more contemplation, but I disagree that nothing really good comes without discipline. If Jack wants to just blast away and only hit it once in fifty then fine by me.

Then again, perhaps he is incredibly disciplined in resisting an urge to retool his music...oh, I am so confused now.
 fuzzy wrote:

Ditto.
 
Although I understand what you're saying, it's sometimes the "character" in someone's voice that adds the extra to well-written music. I'm thinking Neil Young, Tom Waits, even Robert Plant (see the reference to Led Zepp influence in Jack's music earlier in the string) - all amazing  music that is, despite not being everyone's taste, added to by the character in the voice.

Although I love what Jack does, I couldn't listen to hours of it. The tension would kill me. 
 ziakut wrote:
Music is really cool. His voice is borderline annoying beyond belief.
 
Maybe you can divide music up that way, but I don't.  Either a song works full sum, or it doesn't.  Jack White nails it on this one. 
 ziakut wrote:
Music is really cool. His voice is borderline annoying beyond belief.
 
my feelings as well.
Music is really cool. His voice is borderline annoying beyond belief.
 Magikal1act wrote:

I hear that too! Works in a new way...country rock with sweet melody!
 
Ryan Adamsy.
 matude wrote:
I do belive him. And there is something like led zeppelin in his music..
 
I hear that too! Works in a new way...country rock with sweet melody!
I do belive him. And there is something like led zeppelin in his music..
Tingly with excitement when I hear him. Always a thrill and never a disappointment. 
Ok, had to click the album picture to be sure that it wasn't a bonnet on Jack's head.  He's odd enough to wear one and make it kinda funny, but I think the vulture on his shoulder says a bit more.

It's either there as some kind of metaphysical metaphor or to just look creepy.
ExACTly!

Sorry RP, love ya so much, so good so consistently, I only check in to Comment for Sucko Barfo Make It Stop Make It Stop ... and Godlike. Love you, thank you!
 
johnjconn wrote:

yuk

 


No. No no no no no. No.
 Xstar wrote:
I say it is a (7) no more no less!  And no one else is allowed to vote or comment on my judgment! {#Yell}
 

.....!


 lily34 wrote:
sounds really close to one off of elephant...can't recall the name of it. it's about him wanting a girl's mom to like him...you know the one.

or the one...leave her in your pocket, or something...

one or the other.
 

Silvia's Mother?
I love the spontaneity of Jack White, and lord knows rock music today needs more spontaneity. However, you can’t write something really good without some discipline in your composition
and I think he might be capable of writing something really good.

meh
 Xstar wrote:
I say it is a (7) no more no less!  And no one else is allowed to vote or comment on my judgment! {#Yell}
 
Hey, I agree—so I gave it a 4 to make the average 7.0

EDIT—someone gave it a good score so I had to drop mine to 3.  I'm trying!
Digging this on the first listen. 9'd.
sounds really close to one off of elephant...can't recall the name of it. it's about him wanting a girl's mom to like him...you know the one.

or the one...leave her in your pocket, or something...

one or the other.
Love this already
I can't really like JW, but can't dislike him either. This tune is slightly less intense than some, and quite enjoyable.
Maybe my lad will but it? {#Wink} 
I say it is a (7) no more no less!  And no one else is allowed to vote or comment on my judgment! {#Yell}