Expecting

This 2-minute rocker is about about a girl who expects everything from a guy but gives nothing in return - at least that's his perspective. We never hear her side of the story, and when we hear "she's expecting," it could mean she's pregnant. Perhaps she just wants him to get her some ice cream and he's being all weird about it.

The girl in this song sends the guy to Toledo, a city in Ohio that is far from glamorous, but does provide the setting for the Kenny Rogers song "Lucille." In an interview with Smashin' Transistors, Jack White explained the significance: "People don't exactly go on vacation there. The girl in the song was sending me to do things for her, like run an errand to Toledo, which probably wouldn't be fun."

The song is part of the third White Stripes album, White Blood Cells. The band is American - comprised of the divorced couple Jack and Meg White (he was born Jack Gillis but took her last name) - but it was the British music press that gave their first two albums the most attention. By White Blood Cells, American music mags were starting to catch on - Pitchfork gave it a glowing review of 9 out of 10. The most popular song from the album was "Fell In Love With A Girl," bolstered by a Lego video that MTV loved. That one charted at #21 in the UK and literally 100 spots lower in America at #121. Their US breakthrough came in 2003 with the song "Seven Nation Army."