The fourth track on The Black Keys' seventh studio album El Camino, “Little Black Submarines” originated as a demo recorded by guitarist Dan Auerbach and producer Brian Burton that saw several alterations. The band recorded it “four or five different ways” before playing it in a sparse, acoustic arrangement. The group had a louder version of the song, but believing that it “wasn’t completely working”, they spliced it after the acoustic version to create a mix with two contrasting sections. According to drummer Patrick Carney, the harder-rocking second half was the first time that the band played that arrangement. He said, “That whole ending is the first take we played, just figuring out what we’re doing and riffing on that idea. That’s why that part of the album feels the loosest. It’s how Dan and I play. It’s live in the studio, just guitar and drums, with the instruments bleeding into each other.” Auerbach called the electric portion of “Little Black Submarines” the “closest representation of our live show than anything we’ve done before”. The song concludes with a guitar solo that Auerbach described as his “jock-rock moment”.