Broken Bricks

The White Stripes

Have you been to the broken bricks girl
Snuck down through the cyclone fence
Past the caution tape
And the security gate
Back way to the break room bench
Well there's a little corner
Where you first got kissed
And felt your boyfriends fist
And made the company list
And there's a little spot
Where your dad ate lunch
And your brother landed his first punch yeah,yeah,yeah

Well have you been to the broken bricks girl
Seen the barrels that they left behind
Seen the machine
That cut aluminum clean
And got tape from the caution sign
And broke into the window panes
Just a rusty colored rain
That drives a man insane
You try to jump over water
But you land in oil
Climb the ladder up a broken crane
Yeah,yeah,yeah

Don't go to the broken bricks girl
It's not a place that you want to be
Think of the spot your father spent his life
Demolition calls it
Building see
Demolition calls it
Building see now
Demolition calls it
Building see now


Lyrics submitted by Stoney

Broken Bricks Lyrics as written by Jack White

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Broken Bricks song meanings
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17 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment
    Great punk rock sound with that twangy, strangled cat vocal. old days before detroit was a graveyard. "felt your boyfriends fist..."
    monkeymanallahon May 19, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    I think Blackjack Davey had it. I know a couple places like that around where I live. It would make sense for a musician, especially one like Jack, to pay tribute to a place like that. Also, he's going back to the color scheme again. Bricks are most often Red and cemented with White.
    TheAbsolutionHowlon April 19, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    From a recent FILTER Mag article Jack White wrote, he says: "It was a popular pastime for kids growing up in Detroit; scouring through abandoned buildings looking for whatever you could find. I was a born garbage-picker." I think this song reflects that "scouring through abandoned buildings" pastime; he sees it as a Detroit thing, which would also fit with some of the other lyrics about Detroit from the Stripes' debut album, like "The Big 3 Killed My Baby." (The later "Rag and Bone" is more about the "garbage-picking" aspect he mentions.)
    terrycraigon August 31, 2014   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    Well, if you read more into the White Stripes, you find that they aren't like most bands. They write songs that mean something to them,not so much to how they could get more people to listen .: like most modern musicans:no disrespect:. So, I'm saying I have no clue, but it is a good toe tapper. But the only person that probably would know best, could and only be the White Stripes.
    somewhat_insane369on March 16, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    oo i love this song. I think it's just about a place 'the broken bricks' that used to be nice and where people could go and hang out that over the years became run down and polluted.
    pooperscooperon March 18, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    i heard the broken is this old place somewhere by where jack grew up in detroit and its just like the song describes, a place where kids went and did stuff just to do stuff
    Blackjack Daveyon September 26, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    Obviously a run down or demolition area where the kids hang out at.
    TheTriforceon December 06, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    It's about the state of Detroit after the race riots, as it was was never restored. I think the building site Jack describes is like a metaphor for growing up in a city that is a shadow of its former self.
    Carrie87on January 26, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    somewhat insane, you're an idiot.
    acci_denton February 25, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    acci dent don't say stuff like that he's welcome to his opinion and who could possibly know what the intention behind this song was anyway, he's probably right. What does it say to me? Could it be the proverbial 'Closet'? Where secrets are kept, where sins are kept under lock and key never to be revealed. 'Broken Bricks' are a clear indication of this, bricks are made to build things with, here, a life, 'the building blocks of life' is a common phrase. Broken bricks symbolise weaknesses in the structure, parts not to be seen IMHO. There seems also to be a political message here, 'jump over water but you land in oil'... if the place is full of oil, it seems that the Stripes seem to think oil is a controvertial topic and it almost undoubtedly is.
    Lucky7on March 30, 2006   Link

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