Love Is Blindness

Jack White's rendition of 'Love Is Blindness' delves into the darker, more painful aspects of love. The song opens with a hauntingly simple count-in, setting a somber tone that permeates the entire piece. The repeated phrase 'Love is blindness' suggests a willful ignorance or a desire to remain oblivious to the harsh realities of a relationship. This blindness is not just a lack of sight but a metaphorical wrapping of the night around oneself, a desire to be enveloped in darkness to avoid facing painful truths.

The imagery of being in a parked car on a crowded street, seeing love made complete, juxtaposes a moment of intimacy with the chaos of the outside world. However, this moment is fleeting as the 'thread is ripping' and 'the knot is slipping,' indicating that the relationship is unraveling. The use of 'clockworks' and 'cold steel' further emphasizes the mechanical, unfeeling nature of this love, where emotions are numbed, and actions are robotic.

The song also touches on the concept of 'a little death without mourning,' a phrase that evokes the French term 'la petite mort,' often used to describe the sensation of orgasm but here twisted to signify a small, unacknowledged death within the soul. The idea of love as a 'dangerous idea that almost makes sense' captures the paradoxical nature of love—its ability to be both life-affirming and destructive. The repeated plea to 'wrap the night around me' underscores a desperate need to escape the pain, to be blinded to the suffering that love can bring.

In essence, 'Love Is Blindness' is a poignant exploration of the darker side of love, where passion and pain are inextricably linked, and the desire to remain blind to the harsh realities becomes a coping mechanism.