Jack White covers Harry Connick Jr: Listen to Blue Light Red Light, the rocker’s latest B-side.

Jack White’s Latest Song Is a Surprising, Sultry Harry Connick Jr. Cover

Jack White’s Latest Song Is a Surprising, Sultry Harry Connick Jr. Cover

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Slate's Culture Blog
Feb. 11 2015 8:58 PM

Jack White’s Latest Song Is a Surprising, Sultry Harry Connick Jr. Cover

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Jack White.

Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/GettyImages

“Diverse” isn’t the first word that comes to mind when describing Jack White’s music. He’s a rocker who makes very good rock songs: some are loud, some are soft, some are kind of bluesy, but that about covers it. So his latest number—a cover of Harry Connick Jr.’s “Blue Light, Red Light (Someone’s There)”—is notable mostly for the jazzy, big band rhythms that inflect his typically ace guitar work.

But the song is also just really good, with White working a nice velvet croon around some ragtime piano chords. The cut is a B-side for “That Black Bat Licorice,” the latest single off solo album Lazaretto.  

Sharan Shetty is on the editorial staff of the New Yorker. You can follow him on Twitter