The White Stripes (album)
From Stripespedia
The White Stripes
studio album by The White Stripes
- First released: June 15, 1999 on Sympathy (US)
- Recorded: January 1999 at Ghetto Recorders and Third Man Studios
- Reissues: November 26, 2001 (XL); June 11, 2002 (V2); March 19, 2003 (V2 Japan); November 30, 2010 (Third Man)
- Formats: CD, LP
Contents |
Track listing
- 1. "Jimmy the Exploder" - 2:29 (White/White)
- 2. "Stop Breaking Down" - 2:20 (Robert Johnson)
- 3. "The Big Three Killed My Baby" - 2:29 (White/White)
- 4. "Suzy Lee" - 3:21 (White/White)
- 5. "Sugar Never Tasted So Good" - 2:54 (White/White)
- 6. "Wasting My Time" - 2:13 (White/White)
- 7. "Cannon" - 2:30 (White/White)
- 8. "Astro" - 2:42 (White/White)
- 9. "Broken Bricks" - 1:51 (Stephen Gillis/Jack White)
- 10. "When I Hear My Name" - 1:54 (White/White)
- 11. "Do" - 3:05 (White/White)
- 12. "Screwdriver" - 3:14 (White/White)
- 13. "One More Cup of Coffee" - 3:13 (Bob Dylan)
- 14. "Little People" - 2:22 (White/White)
- 15. "Slicker Drips" - 1:30 (White/White)
- 16. "St. James Infirmary Blues" - 2:24 (Joe Primrose)
- 17. "I Fought Piranhas" - 3:07 (White/White)
Essay
you would play and have fun by yourself and then you saw other children playing and you climbed your fence and went to play with them and it was fun then your smiles became dependent on theirs and stories you heard of a monkey that only wants to see red so destroys things that are not red i dream of him exploding my motor so that i wont see red everytime i drive down the street my car starts breaking down on me and i write this down but nothings changed only i change or hope to change. sometimes its hard to tell if you are realy in love or blinded and maybe you should change yourself and stop wasting your time maybe one day it will be the end of the world with shrieks outside your door and it will be too late others do secret things in their space where they live or where they once worked their lives to boredom where a straw boss called their name out and they wished they were invisible and all of the coffee breaks in the world wont help you and social interaction will only fake you there is sometimes nothing that you can do so what are you supposed to think? when people call you, look at you, say they are coming over do you think that they are like little children trying to have fun until someone gets offended or someone talks bad about someone who isnt there or maybe you are happy until someone you love is in the hospital or is far away talking to people you dont know or on a boat under perfect darkened starry skies all alone you wish you could be there with them and you wish that two people could really be happy with each other it was easier when you were a child and everything that is happy and fun now is an attempt at recreating your backyard when you first saw others and dreamt that with them you could be happier than you were alone
Credits
Performers
- Jack White : vocals, guitar, piano
- Meg White : drums, percussion
- Johnny Walker : second slide guitar on "Suzy Lee" and "I Fought Piranhas"
Album
- Produced by Jack White
- Co-produced and engineered by Jim Diamond
- Recorded January '99 at Ghetto Recorders, Cass Corridor, Detroit
- "Screwdriver", "Sugar Never Tasted So Good", "St. James Infirmary Blues", and "Astro" recorded at Third Man Studios, Southwest Detroit
- Cover by Ballistic
- Photography by Ko Melina Zydeko
- Peppermint photo by Heather White
- Dedicated to Son House
- "The White Stripes would like to thank God, Family, Steve Shaw, Ikaboo, Roger Tape Ginger, Reedy Hoy How, Long Gone John, Johnny Walker, Ko Melina Zydeko, Jim Diamond, Andi and Patti, Heather White, Dan Miller for lending us recording equipment, Brian Muldoon for lending us his 18" tom, Stephen Gillis, and Ben Blackwell"
Trivia
- The attic where Jack ended up recording a lot of the first White Stripes stuff -- that was all set up in his parents' house. [1]
- The song Screwdriver, the first song the White Stripes wrote as a band, was inspired by a red screwdriver sitting on a table.
Band Quotes
- Jack White : "Our first album is still my favorite because it sounds like Detroit to me."
- Jack White : " I don't think we'll top it. "Elephant" is a close second. I love "Elephant," but we're never gonna capture that Detroit rock n' roll like we did with the first one. It was good we got that out of the way. If we hadn't, I'd probably still be searching for that. Same with "Let's Shake Hands," the first 45, we'll never top that, but as long as it's there, I can move on."
- Jack White : "I still feel we've never topped our first album. It's the most raw, the most powerful, and the most Detroit-sounding record we've made. I went overboard with the rawness and the reverb though. That was the first time I produced a full album for us, and I definitely learned from the experience."
- Jack White : "The first LP's really angry, you know. This LP [De Stijl] we tried to get a little cleaner. Maybe we changed from anger to bitterness."
- Jack White : "People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I am not a crook."
