31/03/2019: “You’re Pretty Good Looking” by The White Stripes

This song is a great example of the grungy, satirical style the White Stripes often pursued.

It’s about relationships where the woman loses financial independence from the man, leading to a rather transactional and capitalistic situation.

It’s not a long song, but drives home its point firmly in the time it has (about 10 seconds shy of 2 minutes).

The song, like many other White Stripes songs, is built around a fairly minimal combination of Jack White’s singing, Meg White’s heavy drumming, and Jack White’s distorted guitar chords.

It’s a winning formula, and the melody is very engaging. It’s a raucous song, which counterbalances the almost pop punk-esque brightness of the vocal melody. Not that Jack White has a pop punk voice, but there’s a certain catchy simplicity to the song.

The song was released on De Stijl, the 2000 album. This means “the Style”, which was an art movement in Holland which the couple were fond of.

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