Seven Nation Army

"Seven Nation Army"
Song

"Seven Nation Army" is the first track on the album Elephant by American alternative rock band The White Stripes. It was released as a single in 2003, and is easily the most well known song from the band. Seven Nation Army reached #1 on the Modern Rock Tracks for three weeks and won 2004's Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. The song is known for its underlying riff, which plays throughout most of the song. Although it sounds like a bass guitar (an instrument the group had famously never previously used), the sound is actually created by running Jack White's semi-acoustic guitar (a 1950s style Kay Hollowbody) through a whammy pedal set down an octave. The riff was composed at a sound check before a show at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne, Australia, according to the set notes in the booklet which accompanied the Under Blackpool Lights DVD. Some critics, however, have pointed out the riff's striking similarity to that of Cleveland garage rock band The Pagans' "Eye of Satan."

The song shows a rare example of the Phrygian Half Cadence in popular music. It is also a rare example of a popular song with a wholly instrumental refrain.

According to White, "Seven Nation Army" was what he used to call the Salvation Army as a child.

In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Seven Nation Army" at number 8 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. In September 2005, NME placed "Seven Nation Army" at number 5 in its list of the 50 Greatest Tracks Of The Decade. In May 2008, Rolling Stone placed this song at number 21 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.

The song is also played at the opening of every game in the UEFA Euro 2008 Soccer Tournament although not in it's entirety.

Track listing

CD

1. "Seven Nation Army" – 3:52
2. "Good to Me" – 2:06 (Brendan Benson)
3. "Black Jack Davey" – 5:06

7"

1. "7 Nation Army" – 3:52
2. "Good to Me" – 2:06

7" (promo)

1. "7 Nation Army" – 3:52
2. "In The Cold, Cold Night" – 2:58

CD (radio promo)

1. "7 Nation Army" – 3:52

Music video

The video, directed by Alex and Martin, consists of one seemingly continuous shot through a tunnel of mirrored black, white and red triangles, each containing a picture of either Jack or Meg playing. During the video, when the song begins to intensify, lights flash. Images of walking skeleton soldiers also appear regularly. An elephant (referring to the name of their album) appears once near the end. As the pace of the song speeds up, the speed that one "passes" through the tunnel speeds up, and as it slows, the speed through the tunnel slows. Jack's head also seems to set on fire in one triangle.

Cover versions

• It has been covered by many rock bands, including A Perfect Circle, HARD-Fi, No Remorse, and the Mondays. British soul singers Joss Stone and Alice Russell have each covered the song. British alternative jazz musician Jamie Cullum also performs the song in some of his live acts. The song has also been covered by Swedish band Du&JagJohnnyOh.
• During his Rap©ital tour, in 2005, the Italian rapper Frankie Hi-NRG MC also covered the song using Fight da faida vocals, song contained in his album Verba manent.
• It was covered by electronc duo Effcee, and included in the bonus disc "Remixed And Recovered" from their Perfect album.
• The track was sampled by the rapper, Apathy for his 12" single entitled It Takes A Seven Nation Army To Hold Us Back. The title is a combination of a line from Seven Nation Army, and the title of Public Enemy's second album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.
• The Flaming Lips recorded a version of Seven Nation Army, dubbed "Harry Potter's and George W. Bush's Severed Head Army Mix". The lyrics to this version were evidently inspired by the Butthole Surfers song, "Moving To Florida".
• The Hives performed this song as a part of a medley, when they got to choose their favourite songs the recent years, when Swedish musicshow "Musikbyrån" celebrated 10 years.
• Metallica performed this song also as a part of a medley during the MTV VMA's 2003.
• Living Colour performed a fusion version at the Montreux NED Music Club in 2004.
• The Veronicas also performed this song as part of a medley during shows on their US tour in February 2006
• The band AFI performed a cover of this song at a show on December 12, 2006.
• Audioslave would often perform a cover of this song at their concerts.
• Nostalgia 77 recorded a version of this song with Alice Russell.[1]
• Vyvienne Long recorded an acoustic version of the song for Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 2
• Benny Benassi recorded a House Mix version of this song.
• An electro/dance cover was recorded by Vivek Shraya and released as a free download on http://vivekshraya.com and http://myspace.com/vivekshraya in 2007.
• Foo Fighters played the Riff on their Show at Arena Oberhausen (Germany) on October 28, 2007
• Kate Nash covered the song during a BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge session on the 11th February 2008.

Usage in sport

• The main riff of the song has turned into a popular chant that has become a staple at various sporting events around the world. "Seven Nation Army" was first sung during the UEFA Champions League matches of Club Brugge in the season 2003-2004.
• Italian football fans often chant the song's signature guitar riff, most notably during Italy's victory in the FIFA World Cup 2006. About 10 million Italians were supposedly singing the song "Across the Nation" the night following the final.They picked the song up when AS Roma played in and against Club Brugge for the UEFA Cup . Coincidentally, in order to win the World Cup, a team has to play against seven different nations. The success of the chant led to the song gaining a second Italian Top Ten entry, peaking at #3.
• The riff is regularly sung by the fans of Rapid Vienna to celebrate their team's goals. They seem to have adopted it after Rapid's 2005/06 Champions League campaign which also saw games against Club Brugge.
• Following the popular adaptation by the fans of the Italian national football team, fans of Melbourne Victory FC in Australia's A-League have begun to also use the riff when the team scores a goal. The widespread use came about after several Melbourne Victory fans attended the World Cup in Germany and adopted the chant being sung by the Italian fans. The song is also used by the radio station SEN 1116 as their theme tune for their A-League broadcasts.
• Occasionally, during home football games, the Penn State Blue Band will play their rendition of "Seven Nation Army" as the team is driving down the field.
• The riff is also played in the Air Canada Centre during Toronto Raptors games in between the 3rd and 4th quarters.
• Isabelle Severino used "Seven Nation Army" as her floor music in her gold medal winning routine at the 2005 European Gymnastics Championships.
• The guitar riff is often used by Hearts fans to ridicule the sexuality of their city rivals Hibs to the words of "All Hibees are gay". This chant started when the song was played before the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park on 2 April 2006, which Hearts won 4-0.
• In the following derby match at Easter Road, Hibs fans retaliated by using the guitar riff to chant "Paul Hartley is gay". Hartley was an ex-Hibs player who had scored a hat-trick in the semi-final. The chant appeared to have the desired effect as Hartley had a poor game and Hibs won 2-1. Hibs fans still sometimes use the chant, even though Hartley subsequently moved to Celtic.
• It is often sung by members of the Inferno, the FC Dallas supporters' club, during home matches, since FC Dallas's red and white striped uniforms resemble the red and white attire often worn by The White Stripes.
• This song was also played during the 2005/6 Cricket season in Australia in the VB Series, particularly when Adam Gilchrist was coming out to bat
• The main riff is the favoured chant of the French Kempo team at the recent Kempo International world championships. It was subsequently used to ridicule the French when performed with hands clasped over mouth, mimicking their football-style claim to receiving an illegal attack (punch to the mouth)
• New York Mets reliever Aaron Heilman used the song as his entrance music during the 2007 season.
• Crystal Palace FC use the tune from seven nation army to sing their own song, using the club colors to make the tune, "We're the Red and Blue Army."
• The NBA team Phoenix Suns uses the guitar riff for their introduction of players.
• In BZW Jamie Grunge uses it as his theme song and it was formerly used as the intro song to BZW Hellzone 2007 a pay per view exclusive to their Youtube fanbase.
• The same guitar riff is also played at the opening of every game in the UEFA Euro 2008 Soccer Tournament.

External links

• White Stripes.net. Retrieved September 9, 2005.
• White Stripes.net FAQ Retrieved September 17, 2005.