Track Take: "Why Can't You Be Nicer To Me?" (The White Stripes)

In light of the fact that The White Stripes officially will no longer come out with new music (as opposed to us waiting pathetically for Jack White to stop with this side project nonsense) I think that it's fitting to examine one of their lesser known tracks from De Stijl.

Driven by the strong and steady beat provided by Meg, "Why Can't You Be Nicer To Me?" brilliantly depicts the depression and suicide of it's narrator. Through the hypnotic blues guitar riff repeating, we as the listener get trapped in the hypnotic distortion without truly listening to the lyrics of the song. The musical innovation combined with "Why can't you be nicer to me?" being the only line repeated only reiterates the incredibly depressing meaning behind the song.

Highlights of Jack White's song writing genius comes from his ability to make incredibly simple lines truly affect the listener: "Nobody's sharing / so I stop caring". Who among us hasn't felt this sense of helplessness with the people that they know. It breaks our hearts to hear him give up on humanity because we have all been there in our minds before.

The true genius of this deceptively easy song comes from the last five seconds of the song. After being driven completely by the rough garage sound of Jack and Meg, the last guitar chord reveals itself to be a G chord. Compared to the complex minors and sharps throughout the song, this G chord comes off as incredibly bright, even peaceful to the listener's ears.

How do we read this? Just as a nice way to end the song?

I give Jack White more credit than this explanation, and believe that he is making a statement on the peace that the narrator finally receives once he no longer had to deal with the pain in his life. A clean cut yet resonant musical chord of the afterlife?

Why not, he did almost become a priest instead of a musician.