Jack White Makes Directorial Debut With Dead Weather's "I Cut Like a Buffalo" Video

In 2009 alone, Jack White featured in three bands, starred in two documentaries, became a philanthropist and founded his own Third Man record label. What's the next occupation on White's extensive resume? Music video director. White helmed the clip for the Dead Weather's "I Cut Like A Buffalo" and the video, which was filmed at the Third Man headquarters in Nashville, debuted at Spinner earlier today.

White handles himself surprisingly well for his first time out as actor/director, using a bright blue backdrop, a bust of a buffalo and a cadre of masked dancers to convey the song's sinister message. While we hate comparing everything absurdist to the works of David Lynch, the video's noir-like tendencies and bombastic use of color remind us of the trippier moments in Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet, which is about as good of a compliment you can give a novice director.

As for the video's "narrative," there isn't much of one, outside of a brief scene where the media-loving White seems to label a journalist as "Terrorist." The ticket in the journalist's hat initially says "Press," but then a flash of light comes over Jack's eyes and exposes "Press" as "Terrorist," just like those sunglasses in They Live.

"I Cut Like a Buffalo" is the band's second video, following the clip for "Treat Me Like Your Mother." In that clip, White and Alison Mosshart walked the length of a field, machine guns in hand, until the video's final shootout.

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Song Stories

“(We're Not) The Jet Set”

George Jones and Tammy Wynette | 1973

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were still married when they recorded the tongue-in-cheek "(We're Not) The Jet Set." The lyrics, written by Nashville songwriter Bobby Braddock, who also penned Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," make fun of the good life by declaring, "We're not the Jet Set/We're the old Chevrolet set." Braddock recalled that while writing the song, he needed the name of a city that evened out the rhyme he had with "Riviera" and "Missourah." “I got out a Rand McNally atlas," he said. "In the first part are the maps. The last part is an alphabetical listing of cities. I wanted a rustic, small-time sound. I went to the listing for Missouri. And I found 'Festus.' I loved the sound of it."

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