Ball and Biscuit

"Ball and Biscuit" is the eighth track on the album Elephant by American alternative rock band The White Stripes. Noteworthy are its use of Blues, extreme dynamic contrasts and guitar solos. At 7:19, it is the longest studio track recorded by the band. It was never released as a single, but has since become a favorite of fans.

"Ball and Biscuit"
Song by The White Stripes
from the album Elephant
RecordedToe Rag Studios, London
April 2002
Genre
Length7:19
LabelXL Recordings
Songwriter(s)Jack White
Producer(s)Jack White

Composition and lyrics

Blues theme

The song commits to the structure of traditional 12-Bar Blues. After singing the chorus, Jack White breaks into solos.

Lyrics

The lyrics follow the perspective of a self-purported seventh son as he apparently courts a woman. He mentions that he is the girl's "third man" and that the girl is ambivalent towards him, but he insistently tries to impress her with his claim to be a seventh son.

The ball (cocaine) and biscuit (amphetamine) may refer to serious drugs. "We'll get clean together/And I'll find me a soapbox where I can shout it" suggests this couple will quit; however, the future-tense gives the line a sense of fatalism. It is likely this character is making optimistic propositions while high (a common theme in blues lyrics). The title could also refer to the STC Coles 4021 "Ball and Biscuit" microphone that was used at Toe Rag Studios during the Elephant recording sessions. [1]

The Seventh Son is based on the American folk legend version of the belief that the seventh son of a seventh son would be granted supernatural powers, which the character of the song claims to possess in the form of superhuman strength. A recollection of similar folklore is frequently found in the Blues and derivatives; notably, Willie Dixon sang a blues song entitled "The Seventh Son". The use of the Seventh Son may have been inspired by Jack White's own family situation; he was the seventh and final son in a family of nine children.[2]

Reception

As "Ball and Biscuit" was never released as a single, it was not evaluated by professional critics. However it was voted in a Rolling Stone magazine Reader's Poll to be the greatest Jack White song "by a landslide".[3] In her review of Elephant, Kitty Empire described the song as "...astonishing, with Jack White playing on his knees, his sexual promises punctuated by liquid guitar emissions."[4] In 2011, the Washington Post's David Malitz described the song as "perhaps the White Stripes' definitive statement."[5]

It has also been used numerous times in popular culture. It was featured in as the background music for the Captain Morgan advertisement "Glass"[6] and was heard at the beginning of the 2010 film The Social Network.[7]

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References
  1. "Toe Rag Studios".
  2. "The Seventh Son". Archived from the original on 2011-09-23.
  3. "Rolling Stone Readers Poll: The Best Jack White Songs of All Time".
  4. Empire, Kitty (2003-04-13). "Reds, Whites and blues". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2017-12-09.
  5. Malitz, David (2011-02-03). "'The White Stripes belong to you now': Jack and Meg White break up the band". ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2017-12-09.
  6. "Captain Morgan: "Glass"".
  7. "The Social Network: Opening Scene".
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