Song

Analysis
Jolene was originally written in 1974, and performed by Dolly Parton. It
was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014, and celebrated its 41st
anniversary on February 2, 2015. The inspiration for the song came from a sultry
bank teller that Partons husband had a flirtatious affair with. The name Jolene is
completely irrelevant to the story itself. Dolly met a young fan at a signing with
beautiful auburn hair and stunning green eyes. When she said her name was Jolene
Dolly decided that she would name a song after her. Dolly insists the song is not as
heavy hearted as it seems to be, but the music industry clearly begs to differ. (Vitale)
There are many covers of Jolene, but none as haunting as The White Stripes live
version on the Under Blackpool Lights DVD.

The White Stripes have reserved some of their best talent to reinvent
Jolene for a new audience. They take the context of a song that was written during
a time that extra marital affairs were common, and confrontations often went
unspoken. Women had a certain image to uphold in the community as well as in the
home. The White Stripes strip the song down to its roots, and let the emotions run
wild. Jack White has stated in an interview with NPR, "I thought to take the
character and change the context and make this red-headed woman my girlfriend,
and that she's cheating on me with one of my friends. Then, that would be what I
could really get emotionally attached to." (Vitale) He definitely had no problem
attaching himself to the emotion behind the song. This is no light confrontation
when it comes to getting the characters man back. His vocals have the character

down on their knees begging for this Jolenes retreat. The behavior that would have
been socially acceptable in the 1970s is quite different than that of an audience in
the 2000s. There is willingness towards vulnerability that is often respected and
admired. Jack leans right into this notion when he begins mildly pleading. However,
as the song continues the pleas become fierce, and the sanity of the character is
thrown to the wind. Jack relies on screeching and howling to evoke emotion in the
audience. The last line in the song is perhaps the most telling of them all. He says,
Please dont take him even though you can, in one faint pitiful last ditch effort to
persuade Jolene to leave. It is almost as if this is the end of life for the character,
there is no fight left inside.

The song begins with Jack coming in solo on the guitar giving an electric spin
to the classic Jolene riff. It has been noted before that Meg White has little
technical ability on the drums, but for Jolene her lack of technicality is what keeps
the song true to the original. During the verses she maintains only light crashing of
the symbol, while Jack carries the melody on the guitar and with vocals. The second
and fourth chorus is where Meg shows that where she lacks technicality she draws
on raw power. She carries Jack through the chorus as if she is the strong heartbeat
of the character. The percussion exists purely to showcase and compliment Whites
vocals and guitar. In the beginning, the guitar maintains this soft ghostly feel until
the second chorus. Where the melody takes on a sort of conversation. Low notes
with a growling tone carry the song through the verses. When the chorus hits, the
guitar becomes heavy and pronounced. Jack uses a lot of distortion to portray the

agony that this person must be feeling at the potential loss of love to this seductress.
The venue and acoustics give the song a classic underground feel. There is this
hollow open sound further allowing the music to feel empty and incomplete. The
musical arrangements The White Stripes have applied to Jolene establish their
ethos as quintessential garage rock band musicians. The song is gritty and
unpolished which lends to the depth of the character speaking to Jolene. They are
broken pleading for their love, and perhaps even their life.

Jolene begins with Jack coming in soft and pleading on the chorus. As the
audience you immediately hear the distress in his voice. White keeps the original
lyrics and musicality pretty much intact, but slays the vocals allowing him to focus
on expressing the character purely through the tone of the song. Parton takes a
mournful approach to the character. Creating the image of a woman that is holding
it all together. She is politely asking for Jolene to step back and reconsider her
actions. Jack creates a character that is wrought with agony and devastation. Jack
has no shame in sending the character almost to the point of psychotic breaks with
the tone of the lyrics. The lyrical variation works well with the context of the song,
and still does justice to Partons original. Rolling stone has said, A lesser band
would collapse under the weight of a classic, but White's past-exorcising vocal is one
of his best. (Joyce)

Design Analysis
When thinking about design for this particular song I wanted to convey the
heartbreak and anguish the character of the song is experiencing. I also wanted to
pay tribute to the original version, in the same way that Jack does. I decided that I
would use typography in order to set the mood of the image. With the guidance of
the CRAP design system I was able to analyze the layout of my document to ensure
effectiveness in achieving my rhetorical goals for this design.

I began my analysis by listening to Dolly Partons version of Jolene, and
then listening to The White Stripes version several times. I wanted to spot
differences as well as similarities in the two songs. I wrote down a list of feelings for
each track to compare and contrast. I knew that I would need to find a font that
incorporated aspects from the original by Dolly Parton, but make sure that the
elements that The White Stripes brought to the song were the main feature.

I decided to create the feel of a hand written letter to Jolene to display the
soft musical elements from the original kept intact in the cover by the White Stripes.
I wanted to use a classic cursive type for the background. By using a font that has a
handwritten quality the authenticity of the text is portrayed. Cursive type is elegant
and soft which holds true to the original subtlety that The White Stripes kept in the
verses of the cover. I used Volstead because it was one of the more readable fonts
when enlarged. In the background you can see the repetition of the lyrics, Im
begging of you please dont take my man and Please dont take him even though

you can. In order to give the design the handwritten components of a letter I opted
for a centered alignment. If I kept the margins aligned left or right the text looked
too organized. The letter needed to feel like it was sprawled onto the page with
minimal effort or thought.

To contrast Volstead, the handwritten cursive font, I looked for fonts that
represented anguish, horror, and heartache. Jack spends most of the song howling
in agony. I looked for a font specifically for the lyric Jolene that represented the
pain that Jack emitted through his vocals. I opted for a font called, No Fear. Which
is quite funny considering it looks like despair. It is a bold font with sharp edges.
When used on the lyric Jolene you dont get the feeling that she is a warm and
inviting woman. No Fear makes the name look cold and hardened. The last line in
The White Stripes cover is, please dont take him even though you can. Jack sounds
as if hes saying this with his last breathe of life, and there is no more fight left to
convince Jolene to back away. I got the idea for this font from the first episode of
BBCs Sherlock. A woman is murdered and she scratches Rache onto the floor. I
wanted to find a font similar to that used in Sherlock in order to show those last
moments of despair. I needed a font that represented one last final attempt to send a
plea to Jolene. I chose DK Poison Ivy, a thin scratchy font in all capital letters.
There was a nice contrast from the bold screeching letters used for Jolene to his last
pleading line and I chose fonts to directly represent that disconnect. The thin
lettering suggests the end of the fight and being able to persuade Jolene.

I chose to draw attention to specific lyrics in the center of the page. I wanted
to immediately draw attention to the despair that is present in The White Stripes
version of Jolene. Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene is the most iconic line in the song,
and one of the main parts that Jack has chosen to make his own. He provides raw
power and emotion when howling this line. I wanted to showcase his contrasting
tone throughout the song directly through the font. I paired two intense lyrics with
one another to show their contrast in tone. The decisions that Jack makes with tone
have everything to do with the cover being as successful as it is. He wasnt afraid to
take the song to the depths of despair, and I chose to show that by making that
despair the focal point of the piece.

Sources

Joyce, Colin. "Jack White's 15 Best Cover Songs." Rollingstone. 21 May 2014. Web. 7
Feb. 2015. <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/jack-whites-15-best-
cover-songs-20140521>.

McCollum, Brian. "Native Detroiter Jack White Finds True North in Nashville." The
Tennessean. 28 July 2014. Web. 7 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2014/07/28/native-
detroiter-jack-white-finds-true-north-in-nashville/13258303/>.

Vitale, Tom. "Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' Still Haunts Singers." NPR Music. 9 Oct. 2008.
Web. 3 Feb. 2015. <http://www.npr.org/2008/10/09/95520570/dolly-partons-
jolene-still-haunts-singers>.