Lonely Boy

"Lonely Boy"
Single by The Black Keys
from the album El Camino
Released	October 26, 2011
Format	Download, 12"
Recorded	2011 at Easy Eye Sound Studio in Nashville, Tennessee
Genre	Garage rock, blues rock[1]
Length	3:13
Label	Nonesuch
Writer(s)	Dan Auerbach, Patrick Carney, Brian Burton
Producer	Danger Mouse, The Black Keys
The Black Keys singles chronology
"Howlin' for You" (2011) "Lonely Boy" (2011) "Gold on the Ceiling" (2012)

"Lonely Boy" is a song by American rock band The Black Keys. It is the opening track from their 2011 studio album El Camino and was released as the record's lead single on October 26, 2011. The song is also the A-side of a promotional 12-inch single that was released in commemoration of Record Store Day's "Back to Black" Friday event.^[2] The single was accompanied by a popular one-shot music video of a man dancing and lip-synching the lyrics. "Lonely Boy" became the band's best-charting single in several countries, reaching number 64 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number 2 on the Australian Singles Chart, and number 33 on the Canadian Hot 100.

Composition

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

"Lonely Boy" is 3:13 in length. The music and the lyrics were written by Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney in the key of E major; only three chords are used throughout the song. The song is set in the time signature of common time with a tempo of 171 beats per minute. According to Auerbach, the guitar riff was inspired by Johnny Burnette's cover of "Train Kept A-Rollin'".^[3] The guitar line features a dive bomb although Dan Auerbach uses a Boss Super Shifter pedal to achieve the effect.

Release

Music video

The promotional music video for "Lonely Boy" features actor/musician/part-time security guard Derrick T. Tuggle dancing and lip-syncing to the song in the parking lot of a motel. The video, shot in a single take, went viral and garnered more than 400,000 views on YouTube within 24 hours. According to Tuggle, who was cast as an extra, the video was originally supposed to have six or seven other people appear, along with the Black Keys who were set to hand the keys to their motel room to Tuggle. However, his improvised dancing on the set inspired a change to the video. He said, "The director just sort of noticed me dancing and asked me, 'Can you perform?' I said, 'I can dance, anybody can dance,' so I took some moves from everybody: John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction, the Carlton Banks dance from The Fresh Prince and a little bit of Michael Jackson, so it was a smorgasbord of everybody in there." He added, "It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing. My acting teacher Mark McPherson, he has us do this thing before we start class called 'Song and Dance,' where he'll have us sing one of our favorite songs, and then while we're singing it, he'll have us do a crazy dance, or a sexy dance, and I guess it spawned from that."^[4][5]

Single cover

The cover of the single release features an image of a bulldozer sitting on an empty tract of land. The lot was previously filled by the factory at which the group's 2004 album Rubber Factory was recorded. Michael Carney, the group's art director, went to take a photo of the factory but found that it had been demolished.^[6] Guitarist Dan Auerbach joked about the cover's significance: "We keep stumbling into these profound artistic expressions. That's how we roll though."^[7]

Commercial performance

"Lonely Boy" has become the band's biggest hit, having reached a peak of number 64 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, which beats the number 87 peak achieved by their previous hit, 2010's "Tighten Up". It has become their second number-one hit on both the Billboard Alternative Songs and Rock Songs charts, following "Tighten Up". The song spent 11 consecutive weeks at #1 on the Alternative Songs. On the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, it has become their highest-charting song, so far peaking at number 5, beating the number 39 peak of their previous charting song, "Howlin' for You", in 2011. In Canada, the song has become their first Top 40 hit, reaching number 33.

Reception

Critical reaction

In a review of the single, Rolling Stone gave the song four out of five stars, saying that "Frustrated desire is the song's ostensible theme... but for Keys fans, this is a clean hit of instant gratification."^[8] Its review of El Camino praised the song's arrangement, particularly the "sugar-crusted keyboard" that, along with the chorus, "chang[es] the swampy chug into a seductive singalong".^[9] James Lachno of the The Daily Telegraph said the song "blends Steppenwolf's road-tripping aesthetic with the proto-punk of the Modern Lovers" and was an example of how a "broader collage of influences allows the duo to fashion a more distinctive sound".^[10] Pitchfork Media reviewer Rob Harvilla called it a "surging opener" and highlighted the "machine-gun surge of Dan Auerbach's gong-banging guitar".^[11] Kitty Empire of The Observer wrote, "It's hard to resist the taut and catchy single".^[12]

Accolades

Readers of Rolling Stone voted "Lonely Boy" the third-best song of 2011 in an end-of-year poll.^[13] Paste ranked it number 20 on its list of "The 50 Best Songs of 2011".^[14] The song placed second on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2011 poll of the most popular songs in Australia.^[15]

Use in popular media

The song has been used for the UFC Primetime event, UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos, in episodes of Workaholics Eastbound & Down and Hawaii Five-0, in the soundtrack for Need for Speed: The Run and in the first episode of 24/7 Flyers/Rangers: Road to the NHL Winter Classic. It was also used in a highlights package prior to the Italy vs England match in the 2012 Six Nations. It was also used for highlights packages for Drew Brees and Alex Smith in the pregame before a 2011 NFL Divisional Playoff game between Brees' New Orleans Saints and Smith's San Francisco 49ers.

Since the mid-point of the 2011-12 NHL season, it has been the goal song for the Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers.^[16]

The song was used in a 2012 commercial for the launch of the A&E Channel in Australia.

For most of the 2011-12 NHL season, it has been the song played when the New York Rangers come onto the ice before home games.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Dan Auerbach, Patrick Carney and Brian Burton. 

Charts

Personnel

• Dan Auerbach – guitars, vocals, keyboards
• Patrick Carney – drums, percussion, keyboards
• Danger Mouse – production, keyboards

Additional personnel:

• Leisa Hans – backing vocals
• Heather Rigdon – backing vocals
• Ashley Wilcoxson – backing vocals

References