Classic songs: ‘Fell in Love with a Girl’ by The White Stripes.

The White Stripes strict analogue recordings, lo-fi and DIY spirit of the late 1990s and early 2000s was let’s face it a godsend and throw back to the primitive roots of rock ‘n’ roll many of us love. It was something that was truly aching to be revived again. By 2001 the Detroit rock duo were heralded by a UK publication as “the rebirth of rock’n’roll”. It’s true Jack and Meg White both played a major role in bringing the traditions of blues-rock and Delta blues back into the mainstream.  

I don’t remember Triple J radio for instance, which began as a counterculture voice in my home city of Melbourne, Australia, heavily promoting The White Stripes garage rock in the late 1990s. It’s fair to say The White Stripes were largely invisible in Australia. That said, the rise of The White Stripes was a classic slow burn that required no less than four years of sacrifice, grinding it out in local and underground circles before legendary BBC Radio 1 broadcaster John Peel proclaimed them as “the most exciting thing since Jimi Hendrix.” This of course had a knock-on effect when Triple J finally did something right breaking the band into heavy rotation in 2001. As a Melburnian this is how I found the band later via their breakthrough hits like Hotel Yorda and Fell in Love with a Girl. Interestingly, it was in early November 2000, that The White Stripes made their way to New Zealand and Melbourne, Australia for their first ever International shows. I vaguely remember seeing the promo ad in a local music rag for their Melbourne Corner Hotel show. It piqued my interest but I passed on the idea of seeing an unknown American band. To this day, it is one of my greatest regrets. Incidentally, it’s the same show Jack White composed the riff to Seven Nation Army at sound check. These were the days when The White Stripes played to small crowds (sometimes a few dozen people) cutting their teeth, honing their sound and soaking up the experience, before making it big in the UK in 2001. 

With radio stations like Triple J unable to no longer ignore them, a little bit of word-of-mouth from my go-to record store and a clever colour scheme – strictly red, white and black with everything they did – I bought into the mythology of The White Stripes. As they found commercial success with their acclaimed third album, White Blood Cells (2001), this is where I punched my ticket and boarded The White Stripes train. My fixation with my new favourite band of 2001 wasn’t unique. It seemed like everyone wanted something from them. It was somewhere during this period that the charade Jack and Meg White were siblings was also exposed giving further rise to their new found notoriety. This is somewhat reflected in the title and artwork of the album. Jack White once said, “The name, White Blood Cells, for the album, is this idea of bacteria coming at us – or just foreign things coming at us, or media, or attention on the band.” 

Still on the subject of White Blood Cells, I had in recent days agonised over which song I wanted to feature from this album on this classic song series. Anyway, with Jack’s frantic, abrasive garage punk rock riff unceremoniously crashing into Meg’s urgent, primal smash and grab behind the kit, Fell In Love with a Girl was the obvious no-brainer on the album. It is without a doubt one the defining songs of their career and the so-called garage rock revival of 2001. (It is also best remembered for its famous Lego bricks stop-motion music video.) 

The message (about a messy, fleeting romance) and the emotional punch of the song is defined by Jack’s playful lyrics. The protagonist in the song outlines how he once fell in love and “almost completely” with a free-spirted fiery red head. Honestly, I can’t think of a funnier lyric in the song that describes the emotional tug-of-war your brain might have in trying to work out if a brash new love affair is the right thing to do than “Can’t keep away from the girl/ These two sides of my brain need to have a meeting.” It’s simple, yet says so much. Even simpler is the infectious wordless “Ah-ah-ah-ah, ah-ah!” chant in keeping with song’s frantic energy. Clocking in at just under two minutes it sure packs a punch. If Jack was to ask me if I was alright at the end of listening to this song, I’d throw his words back in his face and say, “I must be fine ‘cause my heart’s still beating.”