White Moon

The White Stripes

White moon, white moon
Breaks open the tomb
Of a deserted cartoon that I wrote
Creature come, creature, creature
My own double feature
As I´m warming the bleachers at home

Well, my nose keeps on bleeding
Cause it´s Rita I´m needing
I better call out a meeting of the boys
Of the boys
My friends are all dying
And death can´t be lying
It´s the truth and it don´t make a noise

Oh Rita, oh Rita
If you lived in Mesita
I would move you with the beat of a drum
And this picture is proof
That although you´re aloof
You had the shiniest tooth ´neath the sun

Easy come, easy go
Be a star of the show
I´m giving up all I know to get more
To get more
Photograph the picture
Young grunt pin-up scripture
For locker-tagged memories of war

A mirage, this garage
And a photo montage
And a finger massage from the host
Good lord, good lord
The one I adore
And I cannot afford is a ghost
Is a ghost

Proto-social is the word
And the word is the bird
That flew through the herd in the snow
In the snow
Lemonade me, then grade me
Then deliver my baby
And if my friends all persuade me, I´ll go

Blink, blink at me Rita
Don´t you know I´m a bleeder?
And I promised I wouldn't lead her on
But she met me, then led me
And I ate what was fed me
´Til I purged every word in this song


Lyrics submitted by deppdego

White Moon Lyrics as written by Jack White

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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White Moon song meanings
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33 Comments

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  • +3
    General CommentI agree with you, laurafromtoronto. At the end of the dvd "The White Stripes: Under Great Northern Lights", Jack plays this song for Meg, who begins to cry. I firmly believe this song is about their relationship. I think people misunderstand Jack's fascination with Rita Hayworth. He is a fan of the old film star, but it's no different than people who are obsessed with Betty Paige. However, I think Meg was Jack's Rita and the references to Rita in the song are referring to Meg. The clear display of emotion on both Jack and Meg's part indicate this to be most likely. Jack and Meg's divorce might have something to do with him naming his new guitar Rita. I don't know.

    I DO know that you ROBRAM89 are an idiot. Jack and Meg's relationship was NOT incestual. Any true White Stripes fan would know this. Jack was actually born Jack Gillis and is of no relation to Meg other than that they got married. He, untraditionally, took her maiden name as his last name. Jack and Meg introduced themselves as brother and sister so that they would not be judged by people before hearing their music, which is completely understandable. Critics are harsh and the music industry is very competitive. If they had marketed themselves as a divorced couple, instead of brother and sister, then there's a large possiblity they would have been percieved and recieved differently.
    joe9580on January 01, 2011   Link
  • +3
    General Commentregardless of who or what this song is about, this song will now always be connected to Meg.
    anabeaon July 06, 2012   Link
  • +2
    General CommentI actually think this song is about his relationship with Meg right before he met got together with his wife Karen. White moon (meaning Meg White).
    suzylee77on March 17, 2010   Link
  • +2
    General Commentok so i just watched the under great white northern lights documentary, and this song took on a whole new meaning, it might be a little out there, but i think its about jack and meg. jack wants meg but its impossible or maybe the other way around meg wants jack...who knows thats my thoughts, there was something about the song in doc that moved both of them idk what do you think?
    mash8065on April 03, 2010   Link
  • +2
    General CommentRita Hayworth was one of, if not the most famous pin-up girls during the second world war. I think this song is about the experience a soldier has during war. Many carried pics of Rita Hayworth if they didn't have a girl back home; or perhaps she represents every soldier's "girl back home" and the fight these soldiers went through daily to keep their sanity while death and loss were all around them. I think it breaks your heart when you hear it because it really captures and mirrors the uncertain outcome of love during wartime; the fragility and strength of the human heart; living ever in love but heartbroken always. The soldier abroad and all he represents and how the image and idea of Rita functioned to keep each one going, battling to return to a love back home. Once home the love they held on to was often gone leaving them with the ghost of what life was before war and for many of the women waiting their ultimate fate was to be in love with a fallen mans ghost.
    hbthompson October 04, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General CommentI could be completely wrong but I reckon he's sort of worried and confused about his real life and the persona he's created through the band. There's an awful lot of references to other songs of his and it's almost like he's forcing himself to believe his own words, or maybe he's struggling to write new words (Get Behind Me Satan is quite an unusual album and almost provides antithesis with Elephant).
    Smackhead Pedoon May 12, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General CommentMaybe Rita is his Feminine side...
    artbeaton June 21, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General CommentI can't work out what this song means, but I think it's deliberatly ambiguous. I love the rhyming in it though. Usually I think using too much rhyming sounds meanigless - as if you're just throwing words together, but Jack White makes it work!
    We-Are-Adventuringon October 13, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General CommentI cried at the end. But now I've seen it, it has changed my view. They said Meg was only crying because it was the 10th anniversary of the band so emotions were high anyway. I can't tell whether I now think it's about Meg because that last scene just makes it look that way or if it's because that scene made the meaning more obvious. But I also think it might totally not be about Meg.

    A lot of stuff happened to Jack and because of Jack in Detroit around 2004-5 period that made him lose his friends, and thats bound to have affected Meg as well because she stuck by him. I'm not gonna go into what happened because there's enough horrible and vicious online conversations and rumours surrounding this if you know where to look, and I have respect for Jack so I don't want to add to that.

    If it is about Meg, and she is the White Moon, maybe this song has an air of regret about it because he wishes things could've been different (I promised I wouldn't lead her on). But honestly I think this is cryptic in that it could be about Meg or it could be absolutely nothing to do with Meg and this is just a subtle form of Jack's web spinning around their relationship.

    One idea I just had though is that when it says "My nose keeps on bleeding, cos it's Rita I'm needing" could be about using cocaine to try and distract himself from the pain of not being able to have the person he loves. I have no idea if this is true though.

    I feel guilty about my half mention of what happened before this album was made so I'll give you one little clue in Tracee Mae Miller, who sort of looks like Rita Hayworth.
    VortexOfLanguageon July 03, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General CommentWoo first commentor!!!

    At first I thought this song was about an anorexic who constantly compared herself to Rita Hayworth, the old filmstar that Jack is kind of obsessed with. I have many reasons for why I thought this but I cant be fucked to go into them all.

    But I dont think that anymore, I dont know what it could be about...
    bonginthereggaesongon June 14, 2005   Link

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