The White Stripes – Blue Orchid

General CommentI was looking up "blue orchid" on google and found a bunch of articles about "The Blue Orchid Case" which was an investigation and arrest of a group of Russians involved in this worldwide child pornography ring. "blue orchid" was the name of their website.

I don't completely get how the lyrics work into this but it seems like something Jack would care about because of his whole interest in childhood innocence.

The "you took a white orchid and turned it blue" would make sense meaning the child is pure and these people abused them and left them 'blue' or mentally disturbed for the rest of their lives.

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  @pooperscooper
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  @pooperscooper That would make a lot of sense of the line "How dare you
  How old are you now, anyway?"

  Flag imnotacopon February 23, 2020  

Song MeaningBlue Orchid was the name of the website of a group of Russians involved in a worldwide child pornography ring. The line, "You took a white orchid and turned it blue" indicates that the children are pure and these people abused them, leaving them "blue" for the rest of their lives.

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  @gionation

General CommentI can´t figure out about what jack means in this music. the gritar is great . Elephant is great. Get behind me satan must be better. And the will play in sao paulo next month :))))))))))

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  @hallucinogic

General Commentorchid derives from the latin word for testicles. this song is simply about blue balls

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  @bombat
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  haha exactly what i got from this, had to search though the comments to find someone else with the same view

  Flag vitriolum13on May 10, 2012  

My InterpretationI went through all comments and didn't find the interpretation that would feel totally right for me.

I think we all agree that the song is about thoughtless devastation of something valuable and pure.
What can be so sacred to Jack that its violation pisses him off to that level? I'm sure it's his art and privacy. Another time while reading the lyrics I had an association with the statement Jack directed to his pseudo-fans registered to vault (if you haven't heard about the case,the vault members are given an opportunity to buy limited vinyls at a bargain price and some of them made a business from reselling them on ebay at a few times higher price; which of course pissed Jack off and made him stop offering these gifts to valt members for some time). Although this happened a long time after he had written this song, I sense the same anger and see similar statements.

So in my opinion the white orchid symbolises the gift of music that was given to the audience. However, the music is not enough for media and fans who want to know everything about musician's private life, corner him, want to have everything given on a plate. The artist's reaction is complete withdrawal from media.

The first verse says: We had a magical connection and you ruined it with your insistence that made us limit our contacts. Is that what you wanted?
2: You better be pleased with this what we provide you or else you won't get anything. We have right to keep our privacy for ourselves.
3:We gave you the most valuable thing - our art but it wasn't enough for you. Sad that you don't see a bad thing in your gross behaviour (you think that you have right to break into our lives) and consider our reaction exaggerated.

How dare you? Don't be so immature. Go to hell you media and pseudo-fans! Let us play music and leave our privacy alone!

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  @Lelka

General CommentWell, I never realized he said "you took a white orchid" I always thought he said "you took my orchid" and just had a little "uh" sound between "took" and "my." But using these lyrics it seems to be about a relationship, especially the part about being given a flower, an orchid is a flower. My guess is that he's really into this girl and does nice things for her like gives her flowers and even kisses her, but she acts oblivious that he's interested in her. What turns the orchid blue is her attitude. She takes something white, symbolizing innocence, purity, peace, love, and takes it to mean something else, turns it blue, symbolizing sadness, coldness, emotionless, etc. He asks her how old she is because she's acting immature, or at least really naive, which is also like how a child would act. The reaction she got was either him being into her, or him being mad and frustrated because she doesn't return his interests. He ties to do all these things to show her how he feels, but she just doesn't accept them for what they are, that's why there is no pleasing her and why she thinks that he's just teasing (joking with) her.

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  @Androgyne

General Commentwow! first comment??? this is great!

well, i think this song is about a girl who manipulates situations to her liking (turning a wild orchid blue)
i really hope GBMS is as good as WBC...elephant was a bit of a disappointment

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  @TheSyndicate88

General CommentW00T new stripes song, the guitar is great. Anyways to the meaning, erm i agree with TheSyndicate88 but i also think it has something to do with the Jason Stollsteimer (Von Bondies) incident. Probs has another meaning to it, ws songs are never straight forward.

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  @peppermintFG

General Commentsounds like the guy is trying to do something nice but the girl isn\'t accepting it. she thinks she\'s being teased. yay for new white stripes stuff! this song was stuck in my head today, that\'s a good thing,

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  @franzluv44

General Commenti love this song!! but when i first heard it i thought he was saying you tickled my orchid, you tickled my orchid and turned it blue :\\

i think it means giving and not getting back what you expected.

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  @Kinky Freeman