Technically, that's right. "Hello Operator" has some of Jack's best playing- but it's not all that fancy or athletic. Any decent local bar band should be able to more or less reproduce what he's doing.
Theoretically, Yngwie Malmsteen can play rings around Jack White. He can certainly play faster, more precise flurries of notes than Jack ever will- and you probably won't remember a lick of it five minutes later.
But you'll likely be struggling to get these relatively simple chords of "Hello Operator" out of your head so you can try to think of something else. It's the same principle as classic Chuck Berry: It's how meaningful and memorable the lines are, not how difficult they are to play. The hard part is thinking them up, not the actual playing.
LM: Oh, please, allow me to retort. For those of us younger folk who love, y'know, punk... we've all learned that less really can be more. From the Sex Pistols and The Ramones to right here in "Hello Operator" — which is a whole different brand of music, but with a little punk dribbling down the side like extra hot fudge — simple arrangements have been proven to produce some of the most fantastic songs, well, ever. And as for difficulty factor... well, anyone who's seen Jack bust it live can testify that the boy can play. But please, continue. You're the expert. I just add the spices to taste.
GA: Meg gets some of that meaningful rather than difficult dynamic in the classic percussion gimmick of this record. Twice, all the guitar stops, leaving just a few taps on the rim of her snare. The childlike simplicity of this little move comes straight out of the Jonathan Richman playbook.
It's really quite clever. It's a catchy hook itself. Also though, it brings it all down, and cleanses the palette for Jack to come charging back with the big guitar chords.
LM: There's more to the playful aspect than just the music, too. As a child in the 1980s (along with Jack and Meg themselves), I remember a little playground rhyme: "Miss Susie went to heaven / Her tug boat went to HELL-O operator / Give me number nine." The first time I heard "Hello Operator," that old rhyme floated back up into my memory and it was stuck in my head for days. But even more than that, the words "hello, operator" are a cultural staple, something we've all heard in old movies or old television shows. Even those of us who grew up long after direct dial are familiar with the phrase. It prefaces a plea; the connotation is inescapable.
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