Sometimes a cover song just hits different. You know the feeling—you’ve heard the original a thousand times, and it’s fine, maybe even great, but then someone else comes along and rips the soul right out of it. That is exactly what happened when we first heard Jack White Love Is Blindness.
Originally the somber, atmospheric closing track on U2’s 1991 masterpiece Achtung Baby, "Love Is Blindness" was always a bit of a slow burn. Bono’s version is detached, cold, and drifting. But when Jack White got his hands on it? He didn’t just cover it. He set it on fire.
The 2011 Q Magazine Tribute that Started It All
It’s easy to forget that this track didn't start as a big cinematic movie theme. It actually popped up in 2011. Q Magazine was celebrating its 25th anniversary and the 20th anniversary of Achtung Baby by putting together a tribute album called AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered.
The lineup was honestly insane. You had Nine Inch Nails doing "Zoo Station," Garbage taking on "Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses," and Patti Smith handling "Until the End of the World." But tucked away at the very end of the tracklist was Jack White.
He was at a weird transitional point in his career then. The White Stripes were officially over. He hadn't yet released his first solo album, Blunderbuss. He was basically just a guy in Nashville with a studio and a lot of pent-up energy.
When his version of Jack White Love Is Blindness hit the airwaves—premiering on BBC Radio 2—it felt like a physical punch. While U2 used synthesizers and a drum machine to create a sense of numbness, White went full Delta blues. He brought in Ben Blackwell on drums and Kevin Childress on bass and acoustic guitar, but the star was that watery, haunting organ and White's own screeching guitar work.
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Why the Great Gatsby Soundtrack Changed Everything
If you didn't hear it on the Q Magazine disc, you definitely heard it in 2013. Baz Luhrmann, a director who isn't exactly known for "subtlety," chose the track for his adaptation of The Great Gatsby.
It was a polarizing move.
Purists hated that the soundtrack was full of hip-hop and modern rock instead of 1920s jazz. But honestly? It worked. The song plays over some of the film's most devastating moments, and the raw, bleeding-heart vocal performance from White perfectly mirrors Gatsby’s own self-destructive obsession.
The lyrics—"Love is clockworks and it's cold steel / Fingers too numb to feel"—take on a whole new meaning when you apply them to Jay Gatsby’s desperate chase for a past he can’t reclaim. In the context of the movie, Jack White Love Is Blindness isn't just a song; it's a warning.
Breaking Down the Performance: Rage vs. Numbness
What makes the Jack White version so much better (yeah, I said it) than the original? It's the contrast in emotion.
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Bono sings like a man who has already given up. It’s a post-mortem. Jack White sings like he’s currently being flayed alive.
- The Vocal Delivery: He starts in a low, almost conversational mutter. By the end, he’s literally howling. It’s chaotic.
- The Guitar Solo: Around the two-minute mark, the song just breaks. The guitar solo isn’t melodic or pretty. It’s jagged, violent, and feels like it’s about to fall apart at any second.
- The Production: Recorded at Third Man Studios in Nashville by Vance Powell, the track has that signature "all-analog" grit. You can hear the room. You can hear the strain.
There’s a legendary story about The Edge (U2's guitarist) recording the original solo. Apparently, he was going through a divorce at the time and was hitting the strings so hard they were snapping. Jack White took that spirit of "breaking strings" and dialed it up to eleven.
Is it a "Tribute" or a Re-imagining?
The relationship between Jack White and The Edge is pretty well-documented. If you've seen the 2008 documentary It Might Get Loud, you saw them sitting together with Jimmy Page, nerding out over gear. There’s a deep mutual respect there.
Because of that connection, White’s cover doesn’t feel like a cheap cash-in. It feels like a conversation between two guitarists who understand that "blindness" in love isn't just about not seeing the truth—it's about the violence of the emotion itself.
Some fans still prefer the cold, industrial feel of the U2 version. That’s fair. It fits the Berlin-era vibe of Achtung Baby. But for anyone who likes their rock and roll with a little more dirt under its fingernails, the Jack White Love Is Blindness rendition is the definitive one.
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How to Experience the Track Today
If you’re looking to dive into this particular rabbit hole, don’t just stick to the Spotify version.
- Watch the Live Versions: Jack has played this live quite a bit, notably at the Barclays Center in 2022. The live versions are even more unhinged than the studio recording.
- Check the B-Sides: The track was also released as a B-side to his "Sixteen Saltines" single in 2012. If you can find the 7-inch vinyl, it sounds incredible on a real turntable.
- Listen for the Layers: Use a good pair of headphones. Listen to the way the organ swirls in the left ear while the guitar stabs in the right. It’s a masterclass in tension and release.
Ultimately, Jack White Love Is Blindness remains one of the few covers that managed to escape the shadow of a legendary band and stand entirely on its own. It’s dark, it’s loud, and it’s probably the best thing to come out of that Gatsby era.
To really appreciate the evolution of the track, listen to the U2 original and the Jack White cover back-to-back. You’ll hear two completely different ways to express heartbreak—one that's frozen in ice and one that's burning to the ground.
Next Steps for the Listener:
- Track down the AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered album to hear how other artists like Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode reimagined the rest of the record.
- Watch the "Love Is Blindness" segment in The Great Gatsby to see how the visual editing syncs with White's guitar stabs.
- Compare the studio version to the 2022 live performances at Barclays Center to see how White has aged the song over a decade of touring.