Day After Day #332: Steady, As She Goes

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Steady, As She Goes (2006)

I just wrote about a side project that turned out to be a big hit for all involved (The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights") and here's another one. While it wasn't as huge as the Postal Service song, "Steady, As She Goes" by the Raconteurs was a catchy rocker that immediately caught the attention of indie rock fans everywhere.

In 2005, Jack White and the White Stripes were riding high with their fifth album Get Behind Me Satan, which hit #3 on both the Billboard 200 and U.K. album charts. White and his friend, singer-songwriter Brendan Benson, lived near each other and got together when Benson asked for help on a song he was working on. Benson had recorded a demo for the song "Steady, As She Goes" but was stuck on the line "Find yourself a girl and settle down," so White helped him with the lyrics. When bassist Jack Lawrence and drummer Patrick Keeler of the Cincinnati garage rock act the Greenhornes stopped by a few days later, White and Benson asked them to play on the song. 

The recording of "Steady, As She Goes" was the first thing the four had done together and they liked it so much they kept an early version as the one they used on the eventual album they made, Broken Boy Soldiers. White's lyrics examined the notion of settling down and getting married.

"Find yourself a girl and settle down/Live a simple life in a quiet town/Steady as she goes (steady as she goes)/Steady as she goes (steady as she goes)/So steady as she goes. Your friends have shown a kink in the single life/You've had too much to think, now you need a wife/Steady as she goes."

The song features a crunchy guitar riff and '60s-inspired power pop construction, just a perfectly infectious ripper.

"Well here we go again/You've found yourself a friend that knows you well/But no matter what you do/You'll always feel as though you tripped and fell/So steady as she goes/When you have completed what you thought you had to do/And your blood's depleted to the point of stable glue/Then you'll get along/Then you'll get along."

Calling themselves the Raconteurs, the band made two videos for the song, one a performance video directed by Jim Jarmusch and the other starring Paul Reubens and featuring the band members racing soapbox derby cars. The song hit #54 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Alternative Airplay chart, while reaching #4 on the U.K. Singles Chart. They were known as the Saboteurs in Australia, where a band already had the name Raconteurs and wouldn't give it up.

The album was released in March 2006 and the Raconteurs started touring, selling out mid-sized venues thanks to White's popularity. It was nominated for two Grammy awards but didn't win either.

White went back to the White Stripes, who released Icky Thump in 2007, and Benson, a prolific solo artist, released My Old, Familiar Friend in the same year. The Raconteurs returned in 2008 with their second album, Consolers of the Lonely, and toured again, playing big festival dates including Coachella and Bonnaroo. After a hiatus, the band played some festival dates in 2011. But no new Raconteurs material emerged until 2019's Help Us Stranger.

In the meantime, the White Stripes split up in 2011 and Jack White began a solo career, which continued with this year's No Name album. Benson continued to release solo albums. Lawrence played on numerous projects, including another Jack White group, the Dead Weather. Keeler joined the Afghan Whigs in 2014.

Things are quiet on the Raconteurs front at the moment, but that doesn't mean they won't get together in the future. Still, the first song they worked on remains their best.