"Beck once said, "I was always into the Delta blues and playing slide guitar, and I had always heard that Delta-blues rhythm in hip-hop. I remember early on playing slide guitar, and thinking that slide guitar on a hip-hop beat would always sound real good. I had that in mind for years, long before I did 'Loser.'" This I assume was the origins of "Loser."" – From Loser lyrics

Loser by Beck

In the time of chimpanzees, I was a monkey
Butane in my veins and I'm out to cut the junkie
With the plastic eyeballs, spray-paint the vegetables
Dog food skulls with the beefcake pantyhose
Kill the headlights and put it in neutral
Stock car flaming with a loser in the cruise control
Baby's in Reno with the vitamin-D
Got a couple of couches, sleep on the loveseat
Someone keeps sayin' I'm insane to complain about
A shotgun wedding and a stain on my shirt
Don't believe everything that you breathe
You get a parking violation and a maggot on your sleeve
So shave your face with some mace in the dark
Saving all your food stamps and burnin' down the trailer park

Yo cut it!
Soy un perdidor, I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?
Double-barrel buckshot. . .
Soy un perdidor, I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?

The forces of evil on a bozo nightmare
Ban all the music with a phony gas chamber
'Cause one's got a weasel and other's got a flag
One's on the pole, shove the other in a bag
With the re-run shows and the cocaine nosejob
The daytime crap of a folksinger slob
He hung himself with a guitar string
A slab of turkey neck and it's hanging from a pigeon wing
And you can't write if you can't relate
Trade the cash for the beat and body for the hate
And my time is a piece of wax falling on a termite
And it's choking on the splinters

Soy un perdidor, I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?
Get crazy with the Cheez-Whiz. . .
Soy un perdidor, I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?

Drive-by body pierce. . .yo bring it on down
I'm a driver, I'm a winner . . . things are gonna change, I can feel it
Soy un perdidor, I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?

I can't believe you!
Soy un perdidor, I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?
Sprechen sie deutsche, baby... know what I'm saying?

This song just kicks, and is well worth a read just as a perfect set of ideas. Not a single word is wasted, all the intensity is in the consonants, and the visual imagery is insane in its power. But even if all the blood and queens isn't to your taste, you can't help but be impressed by the menace of "They're gonna rip it off, Taking their time right behind my back".

The White Stripes come from an understanding of the importance of lyrics that drive a song forward. Musically, they lean back in time, sonically they use the timing of perfect dance music. The immediacy of this track lyrically is remarkable.

- LC

Seven Nation Army

Im gonna fight em off
A seven nation army couldnt hold me back
They're gonna rip it off
Taking their time right behind my back
And I'm talking to myself at night
Because I can't forget
Back and forth through my mind
Behind a cigarette
And the message coming from my eyes
Says leave it alone

Dont want to hear about it
Every single one's got a story to tell
Everyone knows about it
From the Queen of England to the hounds of hell
And if I catch it coming back my way
I'm gonna serve it to you
And that ain't what you want to hear,
But that's what Ill do
And the feeling coming from my bones
Says find a home

I'm going to Wichita
Far from this opera for evermore
I'm gonna work the straw
Make the sweat drip out of every pore
And I'm bleeding, and I'm bleeding, and I'm bleeding
Right before the lord
All the words are gonna bleed from me and I will think
No more
And the stains coming from my blood
Tell me go back home