Blunderbuss

The blunderbuss was an early muzzle-loading handgun, which was the weapon of choice for 18th century highwaymen and coach guards, who required a lightweight, easily handled firearm. This waltz-time off-loading of emotional baggage is the title track of the debut solo album by Jack White.

Blunderbuss was written, recorded and produced entirely by White in 2011 in Nashville; he is supported on this song by Fatz Kaplin on pedal steel and Brooke Waggoner on piano. During a pre-release playback for the album in London, England, White explained how his time in the home of Country music left an indelible mark on the LP. He admitted, "If I didn't live in Nashville, I don't think I would have ended up making this record, because the other element of it is that I've been producing 45s by other people for my record label Third Man for the last three years. Through all those 45s I've done, I've collected a humongous family of people – pedal steel players, violinists, harpists, everything there is in town." Blunderbuss was released on April 24, 2012 through White's own label Third Man Records in association with XL Recordings and Columbia Records. (Source of quote: The Quietus.)

White explained to NME how this tale of forbidden love indulged came to him in a dream: "I always loved that word," he said. "That song was also something that I woke myself up in the middle of the night to write it down because those characters were in a dream and that melody was too. It was a new rule I made for myself, if anything comes up in a dream, get up and write it down."