The Black Keys 'She's Long Gone'

The new album 'Brothers' from the Black Keys has been monopolizing my music listening during the past few weeks. Over their past few records, the duo has gradually extended their range, moving away from a heavy reliance on the simplistic, yet effective, bluesy guitar-rhythmic drums combo that dominated their early work, and I think it's a good thing. Tracks like "Too Afraid to Love You" and the cover of "Never Give You Up," break that pattern, and the organ on songs like "The Only One" and "I'm Not the One" present a welcome harmony to Dan Auerbach's powerful guitar-work. There are so many tracks to pick from on 'Brothers,' but the one that has recently towered above the others is "She's Long Gone."

From the start, "She's Long Gone" has all the makings of a fantastic Black Keys track. The basic, yet magnetic guitar riff just pulls you in, and then before you know the drums are pounding and Auerbach is wailing away about this captivating, vixen of a woman who broke his heart. The narrator makes it clear to stay out of her way, in spite of her beauty, lest you fall victim as he did. His cautions calls you to heed his warning, with lines from the opening verse ringing out: "She was made to blow you away / She don't care what any man say / Well you can watch her strut / But keep your mouth shut / Or it's ruination day." With hardly a moment to allow himself or the listener to catch a breath, Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney are barreling into the chorus, drums thumping and hammering away, guitar seeming to sing out in validation of the narrator, who launches himself into a mournful, determined lament: "Well now she's long / Long gone / Oh now now she's long / Long gone / Like Moses through the corn." This woman is gone, but what is more, adding 'long' to the chorus begs the question of whether she left the narrator long ago and he still has not recovered or whether her flight was so sudden, earnest, and perhaps intentional, that she is now hundreds of miles away. Regardless, in her wake she has left a tormented man. She is compared to Moses, who in Exodus 10:12-13 is commanded by God to enable a plague to be brought across all of Egypt and its crops, and in this way we must believe that the narrator is not only heartbroken and in anguish, but also suffering under a great gloom of despair.

The narrator it seems is a broken man, frustrated and in agony, and as always the guitar and drums of the Black Keys meld and fuse with these emotions, emotions which Auerbach adeptly and believably wears as his own. The second verse carries sentiments no different from the first, for the narrator describes the woman's incomparable beauty and how that beauty draws men in, only to have them carelessly tossed in her wake, brokenhearted ("Well her eyes, they're rubies and pearls / And she's not made like those other girls / Well her lashes flap and send men back / Like springs bouncin' off of her curls"). And then, we are once again thrust into the chorus, where the narrator's emotion truly runs wild, the anguish is at its most palpable here. Auerbach and Carney bring the song to a close with an energetic solo on the part of Auerbach, whose work here is impeccable, the slight distortion of his wailing guitar again seems to echo the emotions of the narrator, establishing a knowing, emotional call and response between Auerbach's guitar and the torment the narrator expresses in the chorus.

At just over three minutes in length, "She's Long Gone" is just the right length for the Black Keys to put forth an energetic-paced track, and still allow the narrator to empty his heart of its feeling. Special recognition should be given to Carney and his drumwork, seemingly keeping the howling lament of the heartbroken narrator and the echoing wail of the guitar in check, not allowing the song to devolve into reckless heartache. In the end, however, I find myself listening to the narrator, believing that he could fall victim to this woman again. Despite his despair, he knows attempts to love her will end in a similar anguish, but the narrator's tone speaks out to caution others, perhaps he believes himself to damaged to save. Another hard-cut guitar riff, more exuberant drumming, and straightforward yet revealing vocals, "She's Long Gone" demonstrates what the Black Keys do best.