Long Description:"The Big Three Killed My Baby" is the third track on The White
Stripes, the eponymous debut of the Detroit-based American garage
rock band The White Stripes. It was released in March 1999 as a 7",
and is the first single from the album. A live recording of the
song is featured on Under Blackpool Lights; The White Stripes' only
officially released DVD. The single is backed with "Red Bowling
Ball Ruth".
"The Big Three" refers to the three major car manurfacturing
monopolies in the 1950s and 1960s, Ford, Chrysler and GM. The song
is an attack on these companies, and oil companies in general,
relating to the fall of labor unions in the 60s. Jack White has
stated in interviews that he does not believe music to be a viable
medium for political messages and until the 2007 release of "Icky
Thump" (which criticizes American immigration policy) it was the
White Stripes' only political song of note. The song mentions
Tucker's blood, a reference to Preston Tucker's ill-fated Tucker
Torpedo. More recently, The White Stripes have performed the song
live with alternate lyrics referring to the Iraq War: "Bush's hands
are turning red…and I found out your baby is dead"
The photo that the band is standing in front of on the single's
cover art has a note on it, which reads "Insert your money
here".
"The Big Three Killed My Baby" has been used by political film
director and activist Michael Moore as a musical introduction to
some of his public speeches.
The big three killed my baby, no money in my hand again.
The big three killed my baby, nobody's coming home again.
Their ideas made me want to spit,
A hundred dollars goes down the pit.
Thirty-thousand wheels are rollin',
And my stick shift hands are swollen.
Everything involved is shady,
The big three killed my baby.
The big three killed my baby, no money in my hand again.
The big three killed my baby, nobody's coming home again.
Why don't you take the day off and try to repair?
A billion others don't seem to care.
Better ideas are stuck in the mud.
The motor's runnin' on Tucker's blood!
Don't let them tell you the future's electric,
Cause gasoline's not measured in metric.
Thirty-thousand wheels are spinnin',
And oil company faces are grinnin'.
Now my hands are turnin' red,
And I found out my baby is dead!
The big three killed my baby, no money in my hand again.
The big three killed my baby, nobody's coming home again.
Well, I've said it now, nothing's changed.
People are burnin' for pocket change.
And creative minds are lazy,
And the big three killed my baby.
And my baby's my common sense, so don't feed me planned
obsolescence.
Yeah, my baby's my common sense, so don't feed me planned
obsolescence.
I'm about to have another blowout, I'm about to have another
blowout