Social Media Sounds off on Jack White's 'SNL' Performance

Jack White is back with his first new album in almost four years, and stopped by Saturday Night [...]

Jack White is back with his first new album in almost four years, and stopped by Saturday Night Live to perform a couple of songs from the record. Social media was quick to critique with the guitar virtuoso's work.

The 42-year-old White released Boarding House Reach last month. It is his first new studio album since 2014's Lazaretto and includes the songs "Connected by Love," "Respect Commander," "Over And Over And Over," "Ice Station Zebra" and "Corporation."

"Over And Over And Over" was the first song White performed during the episode. Fans noticed that host John Mulaney introduced White just like Patrick Stewart did for Salt-n-Pepa, which Mulaney referenced in his monologue.

Some fans spent the whole time comparing him to characters from Tim Burton movies.

Others were not quite impressed.

In a recent interview with Jimmy Fallon, White said the album closer "Humoresque" was inspired by Al Capone.

"I saw this auction that said 'handwritten sheet music by Al Capone in Alcatraz,'" White told Fallon. "I thought, 'What could that possibly be?' It said 'Humoresque' written on it, and I was like, 'Did he write a song in Alcatraz?' And the description said, 'He was in a band in Alcatraz. He convinced the warden to buy the music equipment. The band was called the Rock Islanders, and Machine Gun Kelly was the drummer in the band.'"

White bought the sheet music and recorded it in New York with the help of drummer Louis Cato and keyboardist Neil Evans. An office worker overheard them, and recognized the music as Czech composer Antonín Dvořák's "Humoresques."

"We found out through research some that other lyricist wrote [the lyrics] in the Thirties," White said. "So apparently Al Capone remembered it in prison and wrote it out by hand for his band to play. It's a beautiful song for a murderer."

White also recently wrote a children's book, called We're Going to Be Friends, based on the White Stripes song of the same name.

Photo credit: Rosalind O'Connor/NBC

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