Music / White Blood Cells

"You fell down of course/And then you got up of course/And started over./Forgot my name of course/And then you started to remember."

White Blood Cells is the third album by Detroit Alternative Indie duo The White Stripes, released in 2001. Driven by the singles "Fell in Love with a Girl" and "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground", the album was their popular breakthrough, taking them from local prominence in the Upper Midwest to international celebrity. It also helped fuel the Turn of the Millennium trend toward back-to-basics "garage punk" rock.

Tracklist:

1. "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" - 3:04
2. "Hotel Yorba" - 2:10
3. "I'm Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman" - 2:54
4. "Fell in Love with a Girl" - 1:50
5. "Expecting" - 2:03
6. "Little Room" - 0:50
7. "The Union Forever" - 3:26
8. "Same Boy You've Always Known" - 3:09
9. "We're Going to Be Friends" - 2:22
10. "Offend in Every Way" - 3:06
11. "I Think I Smell a Rat" - 2:04
12. "Aluminum" - 2:19
13. "I Can't Wait" - 3:38
14. "Now Mary" - 1:47
15. "I Can Learn" - 3:31
16. "This Protector" - 2:12

Personnel

• Jack White: Lead vocals, guitar, piano, organ
• Meg White: Drums, percussion, backing vocals

Fell in love with a trope:

• A Cappella: A section of "The Union Forever" is just vocals and handclaps.
• Break-Up Song: "I Can't Wait"
  I can't wait till you try to come back girl
  When things they don't work out for you
  Who do you think you're messing with girl
  What do you think you're trying to do?
• Face on the Cover: Jack and Meg surrounded by menacing figures in black.
• Friendship Song: "We're Going to Be Friends" is a song about friendship starting on the first day of school.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: The last verse of "Same Boy You've Always Known":
  Everyone who's in the know, says
  That's exactly how it goes
  And if there's anything good about me
  I'm the only one who knows.
• Let's Duet: Jack and Meg sing together at the piano in "This Protector".
• Miniscule Rocking: "Fell in Love with a Girl" and "Now Mary" are both under two minutes, the former very short for a single. "Little Room" lasts less than one minute.
• One-Woman Song: "Now Mary"
• One-Word Title: "Expecting", "Aluminum"
• Paparazzi: The figures surrounding Jack and Meg on the cover carry cameras and video equipment.
• Puddle-Covering Chivalry: Raised and just averted in the last verse of "I'm Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman":
  I never said I wouldn't
  Throw my jacket in the mud for you
  But my father gave it to me so
  Maybe I should carry you
  Then you said
  "You almost dropped me"
  So then I did
  And I got mud on my shoes.
• Shout-Out: Nearly all the lyrics of "The Union Forever" come from Citizen Kane. As Jack White would later learn, this is the kind of shout-out that can land you in legal hot water.
• Teens Are Monsters: "I Think I Smell a Rat":
  All you little kids
  Seem to think you know
  Just where it's at
  Oh I think I smell a rat.

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