Jack White Pens Poem for Detroit

Following comments he made to Rolling Stone about Detroit's "super-negative" music scene, the White Stripes/Raconteurs' Jack White has penned an ode about his hometown so that his feelings about Detroit aren't misinterpreted. White moved to Nashville in 2006, feeling he "couldn't breathe" anymore in the Motor City music scene and not because of the city itself or its citizens. "The following poem is the Detroit from my mind. The Detroit that is in my heart. The home that encapsulates and envelops those who are truly blessed with the experience of living within its boundaries," White says in the introduction. Check out the ode, which White wrote for the Detroit Free Press, here.

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Song Stories

“Time to Pretend”

MGMT | 2008

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”

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