The AE Song of the Week

I'm gonna fight 'em off
A seven nation army couldn't hold me back
They're gonna rip it off
Takin' their time right behind my back
And I'm talkin' to myself at night
Because I can't forget
Back and forth through my mind
Behind a cigarette

And the message comin' from my eyes
Says, "Leave it alone"

Don't wanna hear about it
Every single one's got a story to tell
Everyone knows about it
From the Queen of England to the Hounds of Hell
And if I catch it comin' back my way
I'm gonna serve it to you
And that ain't what you want to hear
But that's what I'll do

And the feelin' comin' from my bones
Says, "Find a home"

I'm goin' to Wichita
Far from this opera forevermore
I'm gonna work the straw
Make the sweat drip out of every pore
And I'm bleedin', and I'm bleedin', and I'm bleedin'
Right before the Lord
All the words are gonna bleed from me
And I will think no more

And the stains comin' from my blood
Tell me, "Go back home"

"Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes from the album "Elephant" (2003).* Written by John Anthony White. Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group. Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind. Watch the Official Music Video here.

*When Jack White was a kid, he misheard "Salvation Army" as "Seven Nation Army," which is how he got the title for this song. White will often take a distinctive phrase he finds interesting and use it as a song title. "Rag And Bone" is another good example of this. This song deals with The White Stripes' rising popularity and the negatives that came with it. After White came up with the riff, he devised a storyline in which a protagonist comes into town and all his friends are gossiping about him. "He feels so bad he has to leave town, but you get so lonely you come back," said White. "The song's about gossip. It's about me, Meg and the people we're dating." "Seven Nation Army" has one of the most famous basslines in music, but it wasn't created with a bass. The White Stripes didn't have a bass player, so Jack White played the riff using a guitar with an octave effect to sound like a bass. The music video was directed by the team of Alex Courtes and Martin Fougerol, who went on to make U2's "Vertigo." It uses lots of clever compositing, with each shot emerging from the background framed by a triangle in constant forward progression. It picked up the MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing but also gained a reputation as one of the most effective motion-sickness-inducing devices since the invention of spinning carnival rides. Jack White devised the riff at a soundcheck before a show at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne, Australia, on January 29, 2002. Jack White recalled to Rolling Stone: "There's an employee here at Third Man named Ben Swank, and he was with us on tour in Australia when I wrote that song at soundcheck. I was playing it for Meg and he was walking by and I said, 'Swank, check this riff out.' And he said, 'It's OK.' [Laughs] He added: "I didn't have lyrics for it until later on and I was just calling it 'Seven Nation Army' - that's what I called the Salvation Army when I was a kid. So that was just a way for me to remember which one I was talking about, but it took on a new meaning with the lyrics." 

The White Stripes were the duo of Jack and Meg White, who formed the band in 1997 a year after they got married. By 1998, Jack had two other bands that were getting more attention in the Detroit area (The Go and Two Star Tabernacle) but he fell out with both groups and set his focus on The White Stripes. By the time they released their debut album in 1999, Jack and Meg were separated. When they released their second album in 2000, their divorce was finalized. None of this hurt their musical chemistry. Meg was happy to let Jack set the musical direction - he did the songwriting and played most of the instruments while Meg held down the drums (he started out as a drummer and taught Meg how to play). Her unrefined drumming style became a hallmark of their sound and complemented Jack's unruly guitar and vocals very well.

Unlike most musical couples who have gone through a breakup (we're talking about you, Fleetwood Mac!), there's no trace of their relationship tribulations in their songs. In fact, they claimed to be brother and sister until an enterprising reporter found their marriage certificate in 2001. The group released their sixth and final album, Icky Thump, in 2007 and played their last concert that year. By the time they announced their breakup in 2011, Jack had two other bands going: the Raconteurs and The Dead Weather. Meg retreated from the public eye. (Knowledge courtesy of Songfacts.com)