Shine The Light On Me

Album: Help Us Stranger (2019)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Jack White originally recorded this piano-rocker for his Boarding House Reach solo album. "I did a session in New York and a session in LA but it just didn't fit," he told The Sun. "That was such a strange record and it seemed like too beautiful a song."

    White thought it sounded like a Raconteurs song, so he played it to bandmate Brendan Benson in his car. Benson agreed and the guitarist started putting aside other demos that he thought would be good for The Raconteurs.

    Nothing more happened for a couple of years, then in 2018 drummer Patrick Keeler paid a visit to Nashville, where White and Benson both live. His stopover prompted an informal jam session. White recalled:

    "(Benson) had 'Only Child' and I had 'Shine the Light on Me' and that spurred us on and we ended up having written 25 to 30 songs that turned into Help Us Stranger."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Facebook, Bromance and Email - The First Songs To Use New Words

Facebook, Bromance and Email - The First Songs To Use New WordsSong Writing

Where words like "email," "thirsty," "Twitter" and "gangsta" first showed up in songs, and which songs popularized them.

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie Combination

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie CombinationSong Writing

In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.

Adele

AdeleFact or Fiction

Despite her reticent personality, Adele's life and music are filled with intrigue. See if you can spot the true tales.

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.

Al Jourgensen of Ministry

Al Jourgensen of MinistrySongwriter Interviews

In the name of song explanation, Al talks about scoring heroin for William Burroughs, and that's not even the most shocking story in this one.