"The simplicity makes it work."

I played the 7/1 recording of 'Hand Springs' for Jack in my office this week. As the song started, he was visibly wincing, almost as if to say 'This is going to be bad.' Because the song is complex, they barely ever played it live and when they did it was a trainwreck. As the first verse transitioned into the second, his expression changed, almost puzzled. He never even plays his guitar here. It's just drums and vocals. The simplicity makes it work. As the song comes to an end, with Jack's lyrical recitation unaccompanied by any drums, just spare, a cappella, striking...the power to the lyrics is magnified tenfold. This best ever live performance of 'Hand Springs' is reason alone to check out the 20 year anniversary Nugs uploads of White Stripes performances from July 2003.