First Impression: “Over and Over and Over” by Jack White

I’ve never been a fan of Jack White the person. After his stupid bar brawl in 2003 with Von Bondies singer Jason Stollsteimer that landed Stollsteimer in the hospital, White just seemed like a thin-skinned asshole who can’t take any kind of criticism. White’s music, however, I do like. Not a lot, but enough that I put aside my opinion of the man to enjoy it.

Jack White’s latest offering is a song that I wasn’t too taken with when I first heard it, but have grown to really like. “Over and Over and Over” isn’t revolutionary in terms of overall song structure, but his background singers do something very clever in the refrains (where they sing “Over and Over”). What makes it interesting, clever, and kind of novel is the way White (I presume) instructed the singers to alter the delivery of that refrain almost every time. White then plays with the vocal mix to accentuate various inflections in the vocal performances — sometimes adding effects, and sometimes pushing one voice higher in the mix for a ghostly quality, and sometimes replacing the “Over and Over” refrain with a soulful and wailing voice.

White is clearly a songwriter/producer who knows how to make things interesting in a song. And there’s a lot that’s interesting in “Over and Over and Over.” I love the propulsive guitar work, the lyrics aren’t standard rock lyrics, and White’s vocals show an effective counterpunch to the refrains. Even the opening line, “The Sisyphean dreamer” is really evocative of an artist’s plight. Unfortunately, the next lyric kind of falls flat with White spitting out lines like “My fibula and femur/Hold the weight of the world.” I’ll give him credit for bringing some basic osteology terms into a rock song, but it’s not as powerful compared to how White starts the tune. Still, “Over and Over and Over” has a haunting, ghoulish quality stitched into standard rock riffs — which makes it stand out by being both familiar and unsettling.

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