The Hardest Button To Button

Lyrics Information

we started living in a an old house
my ma gave birth and we were checking it out
it was a baby boy
so we bought him a toy
it was a ray gun
and it was 1981
we named him 'baby'
he had a toothache
he started crying
it sounded like an earthquake
it didn't last long
because I stopped it
I grabbed a rag doll
and stuck some little pins in it
now we're a family
and we're alright now
we got money
and a little place to fight now
we don't know you
and we don't owe you
but if you see us around
I got something else to show you

now it's easy
when you don't know better
you think it's sleazy?
then put it in a short letter
we keep warm
but there's just something wrong when you
just feel like you're the hardest little button to button
I had opinions
that didn't matter
I had a brain
that felt like pancake batter
I got a backyard
with nothing in it
except a stick
a dog
and a box with something in it
the hardest button to button
the hardest button to button
the hardest button to button
the hardest button to button
uh oh
the hardest button to button
the hardest button to button
uh oh
the hardest button to button

the hardest button to button
the hardest button to button
the hardest button to button
the hardest button to button
uh oh

Performed by The White Stripes
Written by Jack White
(Peppermint Stripe Music, BMI)
BMI # 6406567

Releases

  • Elephant
  • The Hardest Button To Button CD/7"
  • The Work of Michel Gondry (video)
Quotes

Jack White:

    "there's a button at the top of my navy peacoat and it's the hardest button to button. I thought that was a great metaphor for the odd man out in the family. It also comes from sayings of my father, like 'My Uncle Harold had a 10 button vest but he could only fasten eight."
Notes

The video was directed by Michel Gondry and was filmed in one day in New York. Beck makes a cameo.