The White Stripes: Blue Orchid Meaning
Blue Orchid Lyrics
You got a reaction didn't, you?
You took a white orchid
You took a white orchid turned it blue
Something better than nothing
Something better than nothing, it's giving up
We all need to do something
Try keep the...
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anonymous Jan 10th 2007, 10:53 report
Since when was this song about so much sex?
It is about a bad relationship, feeling used really.
"you took a white orchard, you took a white orchard turned it bblue"
He is talking about giving a girl something beautiful and pure llike love and not appreciating it. (white = pure, blue = sad)
"Something better than nothing
Something better than nothing, it's giving up
We all need to do something
Try keep the truth from showing up"
He stayed withher anyways, lying to himself, because at least then he had something, which was better than nothing.
"How dare you
How old are you now, anyway?
How dare you
How old are you now, anyway? "
Basically saying that he is done with it. "HOW DARE YOU!?"
Then he is just saying how childish she is.
"You're given a flower
But I guess there's just no pleasing you
Your lips tastes sour
But you think that it's just me teasing you"
Self explanatory(I don't know how pregnancy or sex is nesseccarily related here?)
Basically, I gave you everything and you just can't be happy? Her lips are starting to taste sour and unpleasant, and she thinks it he is joking...
"Get behind me
Get behind me now, anyway"
Saying he is done with her, also maybe a play on the album title, "get behind me Satan" playing the girl as Satan?
That is what I've got out of it.
A second opinion as to what it may be about is the media, turning there life sour after they made it big. -
anonymous Aug 4th 2011, 18:04 report
That's the beauty of art: A zillion different interpretations. The meaning of art is whatever people who appreciate it want it to mean. White Stripes is pure art shaped as music.
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anonymous Jun 14th 2011, 22:25 report
Guys, I think that it's meant to be ambiguous as in having multiple interpretations, or a double entendre/innuendo (double meaning:1 normal, one sexual.)
The normal, surface level meaning is a man who loves a woman. He is utterly kind to her and gives her gifts of love. But she rudely rejects them just to see what he'll do. He finds this to be immature and childish. He then compares her deception to Satan and can't even kiss her because of how horribly she just treated him.
Sexual meaning: They had sex a little too hard and she got a reaction out of him--blue balls. He laments that even though it's painful, "something's better than nothing" and the sex was still awesome. Then he realizes that she's too young. "How dare you? / How old are you now, anyway?" This makes him feel like a creep because he just screwed a minor, plus he's still in pain because of his junk being hurt. He can't focus on the sex because of this. "You're given a flower,""lips taste sour," etc. He then basically tells her to leave because he's freaked out that he violated a child.
There you go, both meanings together. -
billiam95 Apr 15th 2011, 12:18 report
I think this talked more about how evil this person is, and that this person basically is a problem in his life. Somewhat like a relationship. He tries to please this person in every way (like giving her a flower, as heard from the song), but she keeps turning it down. The man grows tired of this, her woman always acting like she's older and wiser, which indicates she's somewhere in her young age (early 20's - 30's).
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anonymous Feb 2nd 2011, 00:14 report
In Victorian England, the blue orchid was a symbol of decadence. White orchids are a symbol of purity.
What we have here is a girl who has throw away her purity, and a man lamenting the fact, and dumping her cheating a$$. -
KionaCorona Oct 5th 2010, 01:39 report
The lyrics of the song “Blue Orchid” by White Strips could tell the story of the temptation of a man by a young lady and the loss of love between a man and a women, both seem to come into play. In the song, Jack refers to a white orchid being turned blue. An orchid is traditionally a perfect gift symbolizing love, luxury, beauty and strength. The white orchid symbols her virginity. Flowers have long symbolized purity in a woman, when the flower transforms into blue it is referring to the regret and sadness of the loss. The gift wasn’t sufficient, she had to change a perfect orchid blue. The purity and love was lost in her transformation of the gift.
Her lips have turned sour, reflecting not only the loss of love between them, but also the man’s own guilt for taking the gift the lady offered so easily. This song is full of references of temptation. It also quotes the bible directly in the line “get behind me”, this line has significant meaning in the bible on two different occasions. Jesus said these words to Satan when he tried to tempt him by offering him all the kingdom of the world, if only he would worship Satan. Jesus replied, “Get behind me Satan”(also the title to the album). The second occasion Jesus would utter these words were to his disciple Peter. After Jesus had told the disciples that he would have to die and be raised from the dead, Peter flew into a temper and said that this must not be allowed to happen, trying to talk Jesus out of doing what he was sent to this earth to do. Jesus then told Peter “Get behind me Satan.” Resisting the temptation of not doing the duty that God had sent him to do.
The album cover definitely ties in with the lyrics of the song. Together they bring a deeper understanding and meaning to the message the song is conveying . The lady is clothed in red; the color of passion, blood, lust. However the apple that she is holding is white the color of purity and innocence. The apple is one of the many references to the bible in the artwork, clearly referring to Eve and the temptation of her by the snake. The color choices however suggest she is the source of temptation and the apple she is holding is the opposite. The gentlemen is clothed as if he is a preacher, and appears to be holding a white text maybe a bible, both figures are turned away from one another. Perhaps in reference to the mans own disgust with his actions, or they are turned from one another to show the spilt in purity and lust. Darkness surrounds the two figures. The highlight of the album cover is the microphone, suggesting that the song speaks truth and holds purity to any whom will listen to the message spoken into it.
All the elements to this song; from the title, album cover and the lyrics work together to tell a message, and a story. If studied together and paid attention to one will begin to understand how deeply they are intertwined, no one part of this work alone would mean as much alone as they do together. The covers artwork with its references to the bible, and purity work as one with the lyrics and title to truly make a deep statement.
KMT -
anonymous May 25th 2010, 22:33 report
I thought the white orchid was a woman somewhat desirable, that is killed, and turns blue.
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anonymous Jan 24th 2010, 09:39 report
you have to watch school for scoundrel,blue orchid is a soundtrack.
when roger ordered to stand up for himslef,but at the end he get a swirl
"Something better than nothing
Something better than nothing, it's giving up
We all need to do something
Try keep the truth from showing up
" -
anonymous Jul 14th 2009, 17:36 report
"The song is about someone being manipulative. "You took a white orchid/ turned it blue". It's about someone who always works things out how they want them to be and now he's fed up and pissed about it."
That's a very good possibility. And blue is also the colour of sorrow an grief, when white is the colour of peace and neutrality. -
verca1ms Mar 30th 2009, 10:27 report
I stumbled upon this while studying for my medical terminology class.I'm not a huge fan but it got the gears turning, plus I had to write an analysis for a lit class and I'm in the mood to do this (pun intended). Orchid is greek/lating for testicle. So a blue orchid could be a “blue ball”. Not to sound crude but it is what it is. Also in the music video note all the phallic symbols: the white cane, pounding hammers, snakes... Note particular the thrusting motions of jack (hmm)… An apple falls from the table in the begging of the video or is It from grace not to mention the presences of the snake … ( sounds like adam and eve to me) or how about the color red for passion, lust, first time. This song is about sex: not having it (blue orchids and purity) and the consequences of having it ( baby and being jumped on by a horse at the end of the video). But I have to study for this exam.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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anonymous Sep 9th 2008, 02:08 report
Wtf?
that doesn't make any sense....
why would the song be about blue balls?
its true that an orchid is the flower meaning of sex.
but I don't think that they would write a song about that.
i think its aboot a relationship.... -
imrena Aug 14th 2008, 23:35 report
YOU ARE ALL IDIOTS.
the song is about blue balls.
the etymology of the word orchid comes from the greek word ORKHIS which means testicles. The guy who discovered orchids thought their roots looked like balls, and he had a sense of humor, soooo...
you took a white orchid (testies) and turned it blue.
get it? got it? good.
this is the white stripes attempt at sexual humor in an educated fashion. It's not about any of that trash the rest of you posted. -
anonymous Apr 28th 2008, 08:06 report
Dang right it's about lost innocence. "you're given a flower" and "how old are you anyway?" The sexual overtones (and overt-tones) and finally the child kind of hanging out clear as day when all the other frames are chopped and twisted.
Just google "blue orchid" and child pornography and you'll see exactly what this song is about. This isn't some cryptic reach. it's about Blue Orchid. -
anonymous Apr 18th 2008, 16:18 report
I don't understand why are people trying to look so deep into White Stripes lyrics to understand their meaning, I don't mean they have no meaning, no, I meant they are not hard to understand.
Blue orchid isn't talking about a girl who is never pleased like you are all saying, well yes kind of, but more about drugs and the girl, blue orchid was a xtc, you know each kind of pills got a name, so my guess is that the white was a less powerful one, or simply speed.
For the lyrics it's quite simple to reliate it.
you've got a reaction...: she's high
We all need to do something
Try keep the truth from showing up...: being high you see no truth
How dare you
How old are you now, anyway? ...: she's either too young or old to take this kind of drug
But you think that it's just me teasing you: on xtc you just always want more
Get behind me...: the way he sing it, he's singing like if he was the girl, she want him to go behind her to... well, it's general audience here =P -
anonymous Mar 15th 2008, 23:13 report
Just wanted to volunteer a trivial fact that may have been considered when the song was written:
Orchids are known to resemble female genitalia pretty closely. -
anonymous Feb 13th 2008, 00:54 report
I think it has to do with being sexually attracted to someone he knows he couldn't be with. Like someone that is too young. The young girl likes to flirt with the older guy and turns his orchid blue (blue balls). Also I think it has to do with this temptation that he's trying to overcome because of the lines
Get behind me
Get behind me now, anyway
Those lines remind me of when Jesus tells Satan, "Get thee behind me." As if the person singing is saying do not tempt me any more.
jmho anyways. -
anonymous Dec 10th 2007, 16:34 report
This song is about a relationship coming to an end. It tells the final chapters of the story.
You got a reaction
You got a reaction didn't, you?
Something bad happened. Something unexpected between the 2 of them. This could be anything from a comment to cheating. Who knows? Who cares? But it clearly identifies the fact that something happened that could destroy of the relationship.
You took a white orchid
You took a white orchid turned it blue
All this is saying is the pure love the couple had, the "White Orchid" is now blue. I think if those who believe that this song was about sex, or a "jailbait song," were right, Jack would have called it "Red Orchid." Red is the color of the loss of virginity. Blue is sadness. And Jack repeatedly uses the color blue to define sadness.
Something better than nothing
Something better than nothing, it's giving up
We all need to do something
Try keep the truth from showing up
I think someone else identified these lines as meaning that accepting a bad relationship for the fact of having a relationship is just "giving up." I think they were right, and I think the message is the same in the last 2 lines. That couples will try to avoid the truth of the end from showing up. As an example, I golfed to try and avoid the truth from showing up. I think he is saying that people will do all types of things to avoid the end.
How dare you
How old are you now, anyway?
How dare you
How old are you now, anyway?
This is not a statement about how young someone is, it is about a disbelief in what someone did. That based on their age or experience they should have known better. "How old are you?" Is a question lots of people will ask others when they are surprised by some unexpected childish act. I ask my kids that question when they decide to do something that they should already know is inappropriate. I think that is all these lines represent.
You're given a flower
But I guess there's just no pleasing you
I see two possible interpretations. Onse simple, one a little more understated.
1) The simple: That at this point there is no longer any making up or apologies that will satisfy the hurt. That the simple act of saying I'm sorry is no longer good enough.
2) The understated: That the woman of the story no longer thinks flowers are good enough. She thinks she deserves more, or she no longer sees love in the simple act of giving flowers. She has become almost greedy with her desires and measures his love by the gift he gives.
Either way it signifies the problems in the relationship at this point, and that the end is clearly near.
Your lips tastes sour
But you think that it's just me teasing you
Can you say it any more plainly. He hates kissing her, and she thinks he is playing "hard to get."
Get behind me
Get behind me now, anyway
Get behind me
Get behind me now, anyway
He is saying she is history, and that he wants to put her behind him. That it is the end of the relationship. -
anonymous Oct 20th 2007, 23:11 report
FYI EgoInvictus, I like reading walls of text and I read that guys and his makes a lot of sense and actually jur suggestions although their not all that in depth are pretty good thx...I have no real interpretation because I was just looking for the lyrics really and I found this website
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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anonymous Jun 2nd 2007, 16:12 report
I feel that the whole Jason Stollsteimer interpretation is ignoring some key lyrical elements. I'm not saying its wrong, that's the beauty of music, it has different meaning to us all.....I think Jack's way to clever to go down that path anyway. Here's my take: First off: The song is about the temptation of a man by a young woman. The song is full of references to temptation and makes a Biblical reference in the line "get behind me" as in "get behind me Satan" (the album title also). This has two significant biblical references and was the reply that Jesus made when Satan offered him all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would worship him. This is a clear rebuke of evil and temptation. Second, Jesus spoke these words on another occasion. He told his disciples that he would have to be killed and then raised from the dead, and Peter objected that this should not happen. Jesus saw Peter as a tempter, trying to talk him out of doing what he was put on Earth to do. He then spoke the same words, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” to Peter. This establishes the whole "temptation" thing. The song begins as a reflection upon something bad or regretful that has already happened with "You got a reaction. You got a reaction, didn't you?" This is pointing toward some provocative action of a young girl.....(may she was dressed to entice or spoke in a provocative way.....we don't know for sure and this is really incidental) .How do we know he's singing about a young girl? Well, the lines "How dare you? How old are you now anyway? explane how the guy feels duped and conned into being seduced buy this beautiful young girl.....I think that after his sexual encounter with her, he see's the situation with greater clarity and realizes what has really happened. Up untill then he ignored the consequences of taking her virginity......the White Orchid reference is to purity and her virginity and the fact that she gave it away too easily to this older man......she "took a white orchid and turned it blue"......she essentially cast a new color on this once pure flower.....a point further punctuated by the fact that "Blue Orchid" is the title of the song. There's one line in the lyrics on this site that should actually read "Try keep the truth from showing up" which is explaning the guy's denial of the situation before he has sex with her......he's basically aware of her young age ar atleast suspicious of it but doesn't want to know or face the truth until it's too late and they've had their sexual encounter. The lines: "You were given a flower. But I guess there was just no pleasing you. Your lips taste sour But you think that it's me just teasing you".....this is talking about the "flower" she was given at birth...again her virginity is seen as a flower (common litirary metaphor) ...but she treated this gift with disregard......"Your lips taste sour"...this is explaning the guilt he feels when he kisses her....he's pulled in by her beauty but then recoils because he knows he shouldn't be kissing her.....she's naive and inexperienced so she take's this the wrong way and thinks he's just teasing her..."But you think that it's me just teasing you".
Once he realizes the gravity of the situation and what he's done, he's hit by the guilt of their actions and exclames "Get behind me!
Get behind me now anyway!" pulling in the Biblical references to Satan and temptation.....the things that pulled him into this situation with the young girl.
The song underscores the song's title repeatedly and the guy put's the blame on temptation and Satan for influencing both his decisions and the girls. He's basically scolding her for her actions and her careless regard for her own virginity as well as his own weekness for giving into her beauty.
This take on the song also resonantes with other general interpretations about virginity and temptation. The whole "get behind me" thing is an unavoidable litirary reference that really takes things in a fairly specific direction. Hope this helps :)
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