"Steady, As She Goes" is the debut single of American rock band the Raconteurs from their first album, Broken Boy Soldiers (2006). In early 2006, a limited-edition 7-inch vinyl record was released as a double A-sided single with the relatively unpromoted "Store Bought Bones" as the flipside. "Steady, As She Goes" was released physically on April 24, 2006, with the B-side "Bane Rendition". Two further vinyl releases were produced: the first (marked 'B') with "Store Bought Bones" as the B-side; the second (marked 'C') an acoustic rendition of "Steady, As She Goes" with "Call It a Day" as the B-side.
In the United States, the song reached number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. It achieved top-10 success in the UK and Denmark, peaking at number four in both countries.
Background
"Steady, As She Goes" is the first song ever written by White and Benson.[4]
Jack White and Brendan Benson lived three blocks apart from each other in Detroit, and White would often stop by Benson's house to say hi. One day, Benson showed White a slow reggae demo of what would become "Steady, As She Goes". Benson had played all the instruments on the demo, but only had one verse, "Find yourself a girl and settle down..." White took that idea and started writing.[5]
White said to Uncut in 2006, "It’s asking a question, which is, 'Is doing that – getting married and settling down – starting a new life or is it giving up?'"[6] Speaking again to Uncut in 2006, he added, "I think the big notion in my head was we’re all getting older now and enough of goofing around. All our friends are musicians, so it was like, 'How much of this world can we stay a part of and how much do we reject?'"[5]
There are two music videos for "Steady, As She Goes". The first music video was directed by Jim Jarmusch, and focuses on the band performing the song. It premiered on MTV Two on March 10, 2006, and was also available for streaming on the band's website. In the second music video, the Raconteurs teamed up with Paul Reubens. In this video, each band member plays an imaginary speed-racing hero in an old-fashioned soapbox race, following the heroes on their cut-throat chase for first place. Reubens plays an unscrupulous pit boss, stooping to low levels to ensure a win for his racer, Jack Lawrence. Lawrence and Reubens (wearing standard melodrama-villain handlebar moustaches) cheat many times throughout the race, to make sure that Lawrence wins. Patrick falls off a cliff, Brendan crashes, and Reubens shoots White ("the Copper Kid") with a blow gun. Lawrence wins. The latter video premiered exclusively on Yahoo! Music on June 19, 2006.
^Steady, As She Goes (US 7-inch single B vinyl disc). The Raconteurs. V2 Records, Third Man Records. 2006. 63881-27848-7.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Steady, As She Goes (US 7-inch single C vinyl disc). The Raconteurs. V2 Records, Third Man Records. 2006. 63881-27847-7.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Steady, As She Goes (US CD single disc notes). The Raconteurs. V2 Records, Third Man Records. 2006. 63881-27846-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Steady, As She Goes (UK CD single disc notes). The Raconteurs. XL Recordings, Third Man Records. 2006. XLS229CD.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Steady, As She Goes (Australian CD single disc notes). The Raconteurs. XL Recordings, Third Man Records. 2006. XLS229CDAUS.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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