The White Stripes - "Girl You Have No Faith In Medicine" From the CD Elephant

12/09:

Man, I love Meg White's drumming in this song. Given Jack White's prodigious talents, it probably seems somewhat like recommending Ruth's Chris for the mashed potatoes to say so, but damn the torpedoes, you know what I mean? We're used to moving forward here with the truth of things.

I would imagine that Meg doesn't score too many points with the Neil Peart crowd for her stylings, but note well about her this, she sure as hell is enthusiastic.

At first, on "Girl You Have No Faith In Medicine," you don't even notice the percussive lower end, because her high hat/ride cymbal work is so constant. It's like an all-pervasive white noise about things, like Jack's guitar is having to push itself through a snow storm.

But dig deeper and you'll find the heartbeat beneath.

BOOM Bap BOOM BOOM BAP, bass drum, floor tom, having the shit beat out of themselves the whole way through, from when Meg comes in at around :07 til the very end. Except after each one of Jack's lead breaks, like the set of four vocal breaks beginning at :45, or the set of four guitar breaks starting at 1:34. THEN Meg comes in with an extra BOOM a half beat early before the song restarts. And it's that extra BOOM that makes the song so propulsive, that moves the song through its paces so powerfully.

Listen, there are all kinds of fools out there, talking about how shitty a drummer Meg is, how Jack or Jack's songs deserve better. There's even a clown on You Tube all proud of how his drum work on his video complicated the drum part of this song until it no longer even functioned like a heart.

But what Meg does here, what Meg does a LOT of times, actually, is all that anyone playing music ever really needs to do: she plays with fervor, and she plays aggressively, moving the song forward, instead of waiting for it to move her.

Of COURSE Jack is the more talented White Stripe. If you doubt that, just consider that he somehow found a way to rhyme "acetaminophen."

And of course musical talent matters. If it didn't, you would have never heard of a whole lot of bands whose distinction flows out of just that, from King Crimson to Tool to Tortoise.

But if you're gonna play rock and roll, firstly, you've got to rock. You've got to put the right foot forward first. It's why The Ramones were a better band than Gentle Giant, and it's why, caterwauling detractors be damned, Meg White kicks so very much ass as a drummer. . . . .


The White Stripes - Elephant - 13 Girl You Have No Faith In Medicine.mp3


File under: Color Co-ordinated Rock