Last night, Jack White published a poem called “Music Is Sacred” on his Third Man Records blog. Logically, it would appear to be in response to the reaction to his stilted and off-putting Tidal Q&A from earlier this week. It reads like a plea to maintain the “sanctity of music” by not letting those grubby streaming service middlemen damage anyone’s artistic integrity. But apparently not. A representative issued a statement shortly after it was published saying that it “had absolutely nothing to do with the current interest in the Tidal streaming service q & a with third man followers.” The last time that White published a poem was back in 2008, when he was trying to smooth over some negative comments he said about his hometown of Detroit. Incidentally, White led a “Music is sacred” chant at Coachella this year. Read “Music Is Sacred,” and watch that Coachella video, below.

music is sacred

those of you who stand for the sanctity of music
so that its soul can breathe
and be heard
so that it blooms in graveyards
echoes in hotel hallways
awakens neighbors in the night
and fills peoples minds with fire
shout it out loud with whatever microphone you have
or these stones will shout for you.
jump in front of demons,
and stand over cowards and those who would intend
to rip out your lungs and dampen your desire
tell the living and the dead
what you know in your heart to be true
and what you know your ears
will forever hear
that the melody of the human race
is a song that never ends.
music is sacred.

jack white
III