He could have saved himself some time and reprinted “Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!),” but White went ahead and penned his own verses to prove he bears no ill-will for the Motor City, even though he relocated to Nashville a couple years ago, has criticized the music scene in interviews (“I couldn’t breathe anymore in that scene,” last month in Rolling Stone). He told the Detroit Free Press he hoped his versification would show “my feelings about the city itself, and how strong I believe it to be,” adding that “those expressions of mine [about the scene] have never been a representation of my feelings about Detroit the city, a town that I have strong feelings about … nor were they expressions about its citizens.” Grab yourself a latte and dig into “Courageous Dream’s Concern” by Jack “Whitman” White.
“Courageous Dream’s Concern”
I have driven slow,
three miles an hour or so,
through Highland Park, Heidelberg, and the
Cass Corridor.
I’ve hopped on the Michigan,
and transferred to the Woodward,
and heard the good word blaring from an
a.m. radio.
I love the worn-through tracks of trolley
trains breaking through their
concrete vaults,
As I ride the Fort Street or the Baker,
just making my way home.I sneak through an iron gate, and fish
rock bass out of the strait,
watching the mail boat with
its tugboat gait,
hauling words I’ll never know.
The water letter carrier,
bringing prose to lonely sailors,
treading the big lakes with their trailers,
floats in blue green chopping waters,
above long-lost sunken failures,
awaiting exhumation iron whalers,
holding gold we’ll never know.I’ve slid on Belle Isle,
and rowed inside of it for miles.
Seeing white deer running alongside
While I glide, in a canoe.
I’ve walked down Caniff holding a glass
Atlas root beer bottle in my hands
And I’ve entered closets of coney islands
early in the morning too.
I’ve taken malt from Stroh’s and Sanders,
felt the black powder of abandoned
embers,
And smelled the sawdust from wood cut
to rehabilitate the fallen edifice.
I’ve walked to the rhythm of mariachis,
down junctions and back alleys,
Breathing fresh-baked fumes of culture
nurtured of the Latin and the
Middle East.
I’ve fallen down on public ice,
and skated in my own delight,
and slid again on metal crutches
into trafficked avenues.Three motors moved us forward,
Leaving smaller engines to wither,
the aluminum, and torpedo,
Monuments to unclaimed dreaming.
Foundry’s piston tempest captured,
Forward pushing workers raptured,
Frescoed families strife fractured,
Encased by factory’s glass ceiling.Detroit, you hold what one’s been seeking,
Holding off the coward-armies weakling,
Always rising from the ashes
not returning to the earth.I so love your heart that burns
That in your people’s body yearns
To perpetuate,
and permeate,
the lonely dream that does encapsulate,
Your spirit, that God insulates,
With courageous dream’s concern.
Did you make it straight through to the end? If so, congrats. How’s Detroit taking it? The first commenter over at Free Press notes: “[T]he poem seems to only be able to glorify movements, people, and achievements of previous eras. Afraid of and unable to understand contemporary culture, he can only look back and glorify simpler times.”
[Photo from the Raconteurs @ Bonnaroo 2008]
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oh free press. good god.
“the simpler times” white is referring to may be as short as 10 years ago. the contemporary culture in detroit has become kwame banging broads and our news anchors becoming involved in illicit scandals, kid rock showing up to the PGA tour looking like a piece of trash, having to sell OUR TUNNEL, OUR TUNNEL to canada in order to pay a multi-billion dollar deficit…. what contemporary culture is there to glorify? belle isle is the pits now. our city council and government is embarrassing. and what about the reference to heidelberg? anyone who is familiar with the area should be able to point out the idiocy of that free press review. jack white, I have had problems with things you’ve said in regard to our city before, but I have to say.. taken in context, this is a beautiful portrayal of the way things were, and how they still could be.
Is that a recent picture? Who the hell stole Jack White’s hotness? It’s like he aged 30 years in a few months.
I can see his point about the music scene. Up until, maybe, the past two years, it was hard to breath without a strong whiff of “garage rock”, probably in a big part due to The White Stripes. And whatever charm the city may have: it’s a managerial disaster and needs some fundamental changes to be a good contemporary city and, as far as I can see, that’s 5 years off.
I had heard about his comments, but I never knew exactly what he said. Apparently he pissed a lot of people off. The part about the auto industry obviously paints a picture of a bygone era, but that first freep commenter just zeroed in on that, not taking the whole poem into account. I guess he doesn’t hate us after all. lol.
Maybe if he had mentioned Faygo he would have hit that ‘contemporary culture’ on the head. Just kidding. Of course it’s all in past tense. He doesn’t live there any more. Those are things he used to do, and now does not (or can not). But we all passed LIT 230, so I don’t know why I’m explaining it to you, I’m explaining it to the freep guy who is not going to read this.
Nice job, Jackie
mmm… faygo. i love rock and rye, i was trying to describe its flavor to someone the other nite. i couldnt quite nail it. I miss faygo though and bettermade chips.
BTW, the commenter on the Free Press article is right. You can’t glorify the industrial, automotive past of Detroit with global warming going on, and the price of oil breaking records everyday. The Detroit of the past won’t work in the modern world.
He should spend more time trying to write a good album. He hasn’t done that since “White Blood Cells.”
look guy, if you’re looking for a synth heavy album with warbling whiny vocals, look elsewhere.
Wolf Parade; Xiu Xiu; Sunset Rubdown >>>The Raconteurs
you’re bad at math.
why can’t an album be full of great big rock songs? what’s so wrong with that?
Why do you say I’m bad at math? (Even though I am, having failed Algebra 2 twice in high school.)
And there’s nothing wrong with an album being full of “great big rock songs.” The most recent Dinosaur Jr. and Spoon albums did an outstanding job in that regard. The problem is is that Jack White is no longer capable of writing more than one great song per album these days (in fact, “Icky Thump” had no great songs whatsoever). The Raconteurs are certainly good musicians, but they play boring music.
300 mph torrential outpour blues, conquest, you don’t know what love is (you just do as your told), bone broke, i’m slowly turning into you…
*Yawn* What about them? I’m too busy listening to the whiny vocals of The Unicorns to give a shit.
Good thing you’re so good at name-dropping! Otherwise, I wouldn’t have taken you seriously.
and that is pertinent how?
Spoon?!?! maybe the most overrated band of the last few years! argh!
I guess by last few years you meant last decade. Which would make you atleast 3 or 4 times more wrong. stafoo.
you’re right. vampire weekend, then spoon.
CRIPPLE FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!
Oh you poor souls that can’t appreciate the Raconteurs’ latest album and better yet their live performances. Seriously, Jack White is at the top of his game right now, lyrically and musically. This is of course up for debate, but where Elephant and White Blood Cells excelled in simplicity, innocence and the primal, Jack’s latest efforts show lyrical ambition as shown in 300 mph Torrential Outpour Blues and Carolina Drama.
The poem is a nice gesture aimed not at hipsters (Whom Jack referred to as fickle and soulless creatures jumping from one scene to another without landing on anything firm and sinking one’s teeth into the music). This poem is for his fans living in Detroit who may have been wounded by his renunciation and denunciation of Detroit as an “iron maiden torture device.” I don’t live in Detroit but I can see why he felt the need to correct any misunderstandings.
The poem itself is somewhat archaic, certainly not something you’d read on an open-mike, but then again it is very “Jack White” if there is such a style.
Jack will still be doing amazing creative things and making music thirty years from now. He’s a true artist and will always be interested in tying out new directions. Sometimes that will please his fans sometimes not, but it’s besides the point. I’m pretty sure it’s a personal journey for him. If you don’t like what he’s doing now, listen to the old stuff, but don’t slam him for evolving and experimenting. Also, sorry, but Spoon is awesome. Britt Daniels is one of the most literary lyricists out there and Jim Eno knows his way around a board and a drum set.
i miss detroit.
man, he looks like pre-rehab Tweedy
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-03/37149976.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/photos/la-popstarcameosmar25-pg,0,4735161.photogallery%3Findex%3D8&h=425&w=315&sz=24&hl=en&start=3&sig2=Ua4MEfXyibvRwlvThki5-Q&um=1&tbnid=P7wC7DZB6rngqM:&tbnh=126&tbnw=93&ei=9eNzSJ2pMZCeiwHDxeWEAQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dliza%2Bminelli%2Bdevelopment%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN
I thought everyone hated Detroit and already accepted it, even those in Detroit.
fuck, there is was to much music snobbery going on here