"In the Cold, Cold Night" is a song by American rock duo the White Stripes from their fourth studio album, Elephant (2003). The fifth track on Elephant, it was written and produced by Jack White specifically for Meg White to sing, marking her first time performing as the band's lead vocalist. The song was also composed by the duo. Musically, it features a minimal soundscape and lyrics about a woman awaiting her lover's return.
"In the Cold, Cold Night" was praised by music critics for the composition and vocals. It is considered a highlight of the White Stripes's discography due to Meg's rare lead singing position. Though never released as a single, journalists have suggested that it demonstrated Meg's significance in debates about her role in the band.
Recording
The White Stripes made their recording debut in 1998, and Jack White was established as the duo's guitarist and lead vocalist and Meg White their drummer.[1] She only performed background vocals for the band's second and third studio albums, De Stijl and White Blood Cells respectively,[2] and shared vocal duties with Jack on the Loretta Lynn cover "Rated X" which features as the B-side to their 2001 single "Hotel Yorba".[3] After the band's international breakthrough with White Blood Cells, they began to create material for their fourth studio album, Elephant.[4]
"In the Cold, Cold Night" was one of eleven songs recorded through April and May 2002 at Toe Rag Studios in Hackney, London.[5] It is the first time Meg recorded leading vocals on any work of the band to that point; to gain confidence in her singing abilities, she sang during their live performances and covered the Velvet Underground's "After Hours".[4] Meg would sing lead once more on "Passive Manipulation" in their follow-up album Get Behind Me Satan (2005),[6] and deliver a spoken-word performance on the bagpipe-heavy track "St. Andrew (This Battle Is in the Air)" in Icky Thump (2007).[7]
Jack wrote "In the Cold, Cold Night" specifically for Meg to sing.[4] Though its lyrics have been interpreted ambiguously, the song is about a young—and possibly inexperienced—woman pleading for her lover to return.[11] Critics and audiences have noted its contrast to the rest of the band's songs for both Meg's leading position and its cryptic atmosphere.[12]
Release
The song was never released as a standalone single, but it was a staple of the White Stripes' live performances and was frequently performed by the band from 2003 until their final performances in late 2007.[13] Notable performances of "In the Cold, Cold Night" include those at the Aragon Ballroom in 2003,[14]Madison Square Garden in 2007,[15] and during their 2007 Summer Tour in Canada featured in the documentary Under Great White Northern Lights (2009).[16] A visualizer for the song was created for Elephant's 20th anniversary in 2023.[17]
Reception
Meg White's (pictured in 2005) first time singing lead was praised.
"In the Cold, Cold Night" has received positive reviews from music critics, both at the time and retrospectively. AllMusic's Tom Maginnis and The New York Times's Jon Pareles both likened the song to Little Willie John's "Fever". They praised the atmosphere of the track and Meg's vocals, with the latter calling it memorable and "uncharacteristic".[9][12] Matt Harvey of BBC said that "Meg speaks and (unlike her drumming) comes across all fey and, well, sort of pre-Raphaelite in a down-town Motor City kind of way. [...] it's all so divinely confident, so sexy."[18]Alexis Petridis of The Guardian called her vocals "childlike", praising its "stark, unaffected quality" and its "radical departure" from the band's usual sound.[19] Petridis later ranked it among the band's best songs and called it "her finest moment not as the White Stripes' drummer, but their vocalist".[20] Brent DiCrescenzo likened her voice to "a coy Mo Tucker or Georgia Hubley–more so than take-no-sass Patsy Cline or Dusty in Memphis."[21]
Eric Alper believed the song allowed Meg to prove her worth amidst the contemporary debate regarding her role in the band. He described her vocals as "soft, haunting" and the track as "a vulnerable moment that added emotional depth to the record."[22] Ron Hart of Spin deemed her singing "sweet and tender", and Cat Clyde later wrote for Spin: "I loved that Meg's voice was timid. It felt so real.... I still feel today it's such a perfect recording."[23] Stephen Trageser of Nashville Scene believed the song has an "unsettling, ambiguous sentiment" with a "determined creepiness".[24] Staff at The Quietus wrote: "her (Meg's) clear-voiced invocations of flickering flame carnality exude a shy, eye-of-the-storm poise which contrasts beautifully with the high voltage drama that hallmarks the song's chart-topping parent album (Elephant)".[25] Tom Breihan of Stereogum believed Meg "brings a magnetic remoteness" and called it "beautifully weird".[26]
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Elephant.[27]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
