THE HARDEST BUTTON TO BUTTON

"'The Hardest Button to Button'" is a single by The White Stripes. It is the third single from their album ''Elephant''.
Jack White says that the song is about a child trying to find his place in a dysfunctional family when a new baby comes.
It was sampled by The Kleptones on their album ''24 Hours''.

Contents

Music video

Track listing

7"

CD

Trivia

References

Music video

The music video for "The Hardest Button to Button" is the third White Stripes video directed by Michel Gondry, after "Fell in Love with a Girl" and "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground". (Two years later, he would direct the music video for "The Denial Twist".) The video features Jack and Meg performing the song as drum sets and amplifiers multiply, taking them around a city. The video was made using pixilation animation: for example, Meg would perform one drum beat, the camera would stop, the drum kit would be removed from the line and Meg would get on to the next kit, and make another drum beat, and so on. In the video, this is played in reverse so that it looks like they are being added. There is a short cameo by Beck about two and a half minutes in. Much of the video was filmed around Riverside Drive and the Columbia University area near Grant's Tomb and around the 125th Street exit and surrounding neighborhood, - all part of the Upper West Side in Manhattan - New York City. Parts of the video were filmed at the 33rd Street PATH station.

Track listing

7"

#"The Hardest Button to Button"
#"St. Ides of March"

CD

#"The Hardest Button To Button
#"St. Ides of March"
#"The Hardest Button to Button" (video)

Trivia

★ The song was featured on "Jazzy and the Pussycats", in ''The Simpsons'' 18th season. Bart plays the song's drumbeat with multiplying drums through the town (exactly as in the video) and eventually runs into (literally) Meg and her drumkit. The Stripes briefly give chase (with their own multiplying instruments) until a break in the beat ends up with them hovering over an opening in a draw bridge, through which both Meg and Jack fall after a slight pause (in accordance with the established Laws of Cartoon Physics).

★ The cover of the single, shown above, is an allusion to the graphics of Saul Bass, seen in the movie posters and title sequences of films such as ''Anatomy of a Murder'' and ''The Man with the Golden Arm''.

★ When The White Stripes were unable to play the Reading Festival 2003, due to Jack White's broken finger, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club were moved up to their slot and covered The Hardest Button to Button.

References

★ All Music Guide: "The Hardest Button to Button". Retrieved September 5th, 2005.

★ The White Stripes (include lyrics). Retrieved September 5th, 2005.

★ White Stripes.net Retrieved September 9th, 2005.

★ White Stripes.net FAQ. Retrieved September 17th, 2005.

★ "The White Stripes on ''Elephant''". Retrieved April 19th, 2006. Archived on web.archive.org, archive retrieved 23 October 2006.