The Dead Weather – Die By The Drop

Song

"Die by the Drop" is the first single from The Dead Weather's second album Sea of Cowards. It was released on March 30, 2010 in the United States and April 25 in the UK. The single includes the B-side "Old Mary".

The video of the song was directed by Floria Sigismondi who also directed the videos for "Blue Orchid" by The White Stripes and "Broken Boy Soldier" by The Raconteurs, Jack White's other two bands. It is the band's first official video to show all of the Dead Weather members playing their instruments.

Footage from the video was used in teaser trailers for the band's upcoming singles, "Blue Blood Blues", "Gasoline" and "Jawbreaker".

Reception

John Sakamoto for the Toronto Star said the song "sounds like it should weigh a tonne," with "relentless guitar riffs, throbbing drums, an insistent, plinking piano part, and very loud vocals by White and Alison Mosshart, who don't so much duet as shout at each other."

Album

Sea of Cowards is the second studio album by the American alternative rock band the Dead Weather. It was first released on May 7 in Ireland, then on May 11, 2010, in the U.S. and May 10 in the United Kingdom.

The album was streamed on the band's website, via continuous vinyl playback, for a period of 24 hours from April 30 to May 1. It was subsequently available for streaming on various media streaming websites such as National Public Radio and KCRW. The album was rated number 11 on Rolling Stone's list of the 30 Best Albums of 2010.

Background and release

In 2009, the group worked on 15 songs over three days at White's Nashville studio, Third Man Records. They reconvened at the studio in December, and recorded the album in three weeks. The vinyl LP version was pressed at United Record Pressing in Nashville, Tennessee.

On May 3, before the album's release, the band played a special show at White's Third Man Records where Sea Of Cowards was played in its entirety. The show was streamed on MySpace and subsequently appeared on the band's YouTube channel.

The performance was released on 12" vinyl through the Third Man Records' Vault subscription service, recorded live to analog tape and pressed directly to vinyl. This is in contrast to the controversial mastering process of the original album.

Composition

According to Billboard magazine, "the grinding blues that drives tracks like 'Hustle and Cuss' and 'Gasoline' take the Dead Weather to a new level of intensity." Brisbane periodical mX identified the song as "a grimy road trip through voodoo blues, garage rock and even metal."

Critical

Sea of Cowards received generally favorable reviews, ratings with Metacritic rating of "70." Giving the album a B+, Entertainment Weekly said it was "35 minutes of furious guitar solos and demonic howls."

Spin magazine gave the work eight out of ten stars, and said that Mosshart and White "harness this icy alpha-dog tension into a distorted call-and-response aggression that's now greater than its parts, a rudely heavy swath of rock'n'roll authority."

Pitchfork rated Sea of Cowards at 7.8 (out of ten), noting that "it's a heavy, snarly, physical rock album, and it feels like the work of people so secure in their ass-kicking abilities that they don't have to sweat the details." Blare magazine remarked that the album "combines the group’s sinister attitude with dreary funk and sex appeal."

Commercial

The album debuted on Billboard 200 at No. 5, and No. 3 on Top Rock Albums. It has sold 171,000 copies in the US as of September 2015.

Artist

The Dead Weather is an American rock supergroup, formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2009. Composed of Alison Mosshart (of The Kills and Discount), Jack White (of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs), Dean Fertita (of Queens of the Stone Age) and Jack Lawrence (of The Raconteurs, The Greenhornes and City and Colour), The Dead Weather debuted at the opening of Third Man Records' Nashville headquarters on March 11, 2009.

The band performed live for the first time at the event, immediately before releasing their debut single "Hang You from the Heavens."

The band's second studio album, Sea of Cowards, was released first in Ireland on May 7, 2010, then on May 10 and 11 in the United Kingdom and the United States, respectively. Dodge and Burn, their third studio album, was released in September 2015.

Let's dig a hole in the sand brother,
A little grave we can fill together,
I got myself a problem,
That I've been lookin' to sell,

Some people die just a little
Sometimes you die by the drop
Some people die in the middle
I live just fine on the top

I'm gonna take you for worse or better
I'm gonna make you for worse or better
I'm gonna take you for worse or better
To my little grave

I never said we was equal
I never wished to be saved
If I'm a problem then preacher
Let's dig a little grave

I'm gonna take you for worse or better
I'm gonna make you for worse or better
I'm gonna take you for worse or better
To my little grave

Let's dig a hole in the sand, brother
Starve off the land for worse or better
Get right down to the bottom
If one goes I'll do the other

Some people die just a little
Sometimes you die by the drop
Some people die in the middle
I live just fine on the top

I'm gonna take you for worse or better
I'm gonna make you for worse or better
I'm gonna take you for worse or better
To my little grave

Scaviamo una buca nella sabbia fratello,
Una piccola fossa che possiamo riempire insieme,
Mi sono preso un problema
Che stavo cercando di vendere

Alcune persone muoiono solo un po '
A volte muori di colpo
Alcune persone muoiono nel mezzo
Vivo benissimo in cima

Ti prenderò per il peggio o per il meglio
Ti farò stare peggio o meglio
Ti prenderò per il peggio o per il meglio
Alla mia piccola tomba

Non ho mai detto che eravamo uguali
Non ho mai desiderato essere salvato
Se sono un problema, allora predicatore
Scaviamo una piccola fossa

Ti prenderò per il peggio o per il meglio
Ti farò stare peggio o meglio
Ti prenderò per il peggio o per il meglio
Alla mia piccola tomba

Scaviamo una buca nella sabbia, fratello
Affamare la terra nel bene e nel male
Vai fino in fondo
Se uno va, farò l'altro

Alcune persone muoiono solo un po '
A volte muori di colpo
Alcune persone muoiono nel mezzo
Vivo benissimo in cima

Ti prenderò per il peggio o per il meglio
Ti farò stare peggio o meglio
Ti prenderò per il peggio o per il meglio
Alla mia piccola tomba