Blue Orchid

Single infobox
Name = Blue Orchid


Artist = The White Stripes
from Album = Get Behind Me Satan
Released = May 30, 2005
Format = CD, 7"
Recorded = March 2005
Length = 2:37
Label = XL Recordings
Producer = Jack White
Reviews =
Last single = "Jolene (Live Under Blackpool Lights)"
(2004)
This single = "Blue Orchid"
(2005)
Next single = "My Doorbell"
(2005)

"Blue Orchid" is the first track by The White Stripes from their album Get Behind Me Satan, and the first single to be released from the album.

The recorded sound is produced by two guitars playing almost in unison, and each digitally combined with their own signal an octave lower [ [http://www.brokenbricks.com/cgi-bin/tab.cgi?/tabs/Get%20Behind%20Me%20Satan/Blue%20Orchid.txt "Blue Orchid" tablature and notes on instrumentation and effects] ] . Live, the sound is produced by a bass-rich guitar tone, used in combination with a whammy pedal to create the heavily metallic sounding breaks of the song ("How dare you, how old are you now anyway" and "get behind me, get behind me now anyway".)

The single comes in three editions, each with different additional tracks. All three covers feature two people dressed up as The White Stripes, but are noticeably different people. The first CD and the 7" feature the couple in the same order as "Get Behind Me Satan," with 'Jack' on the right. The second CD version features 'Jack' on the left.

In an NPR interview, Jack White referred to "Blue Orchid" as the song that saved the album. [ [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4696110 NPR interview with "The White Stripes"] ] He has denied that the song relates to the ending of his relationship with Renée Zellweger.

The video for "Blue Orchid" was on Yahoo!'s Top Twenty Scariest Music Videos of all Time, charting at number 13. It features Karen Elson, a model who would marry Jack White soon after the shoot. The video, which was directed by Floria Sigismondi, ends with a horse, its hooves raised in the air, about to stomp on Elson, but just before the hooves land on her, the video quickly goes black, ending.

"Blue Orchid" has been remixed by High Contrast on the album Fabric Live 25, and is the first track on disc 2 of the album. It features the main guitar riff accompanied by a much more Drum and Bass inspired backing drum beat. The vocals from the song, "You took a white orchid, you took a white orchid and turned it blue" repeated at various points throughout the track.

The song is used as the theme song for the Australian Radio Show Wil & Lehmo on Triple M

Track listing

CD Version

# "Blue Orchid
# "Who's a Big Baby?"
# "Though I Hear You Calling, I Will Not Answer"
# "You've Got Her In Your Pocket" (live)

7" Version

# "Blue Orchid"
# "The Nurse"

References