The Passenger

5/5.

Sitting aboard Berlin's S-Bahn, Iggy Pop first penned the lyrics to "The Passenger". The instantly recognizable opening riff written by Ricky Gardiner is one of nostalgia. The feel of the song, both sound and word, is evocative of the things you've been through during your life. It's that perfect slideshow song without the oozing sap between each note. It taps into that sound and quality that's felt when you hear an acoustic version of a song that you used to rock out to - like damn this thing's got words to it? this sounds meaningful as shit? A lot of songs could be categorized as having that "great" lifelong quality to them - like they've got a certain experience to them - but most fall short of greatness, giving into that urge to make it too beautiful and perfect that there's no spirit to the thing - no room for interpretation - no imperfection. Perfection comes through in those cracks of a song that make them geniune - the production of it, the soul. The charm of Iggy's best and worst stuff (and there's been plenty of both) is that it really seems he doesn't know right from wrong. He can't tell if what he's making is shit or gold. Sometimes his spirit's work is ugly and sometimes its beautiful - but its always in its rawest form.

"The Passenger" came out in '77 on Iggy's solo work Lust for Life and it tells the despondent and nomadic tale of a punk outcast - the kid in the back of the car staring out the window watching everything pass him by - maybe he's speaking about himself. Historically 27 is the age to die a rock star, and Iggy was 30 when he put this out. He had survived the long haul and was around to tell everyone what it's like - especially for him, his punked and drugged lifestyle truly makes him an anomaly.

David Bowie originally sang back up on the now famous "la la la la la la la la" chorus which bleeds in melody with the hopefulness that maybe life does mean something. The song seems to be in a daze as it watches the quick minute of human life; it's searching for answers and all that anybody ever comes up with is the complacency of no answer, an idea and feeling only best put to song with "la la la la la la la la" - a fuck it, there is no answer. It's the satisfaction of living for living and that's it.

The beauty of the song is best seen and appreciated when you dig into some of Iggy's other work, whether it be horrendous recent effort The Weirdness with what was once the greatest punk outfit to ever leave Detroit - The Stooges with their just as close to perfect Fun House, or the perfectly raw and raunchy "Lust for Life", a song brought back to popularity by a recent Carvel cruise commercial - he is truely an artist, always true to what he feels.

"The Passenger" live is a mess of electric guitar and Iggy's terrible voice, but inevitably breaking through is the honesty and beauty of the song - it cant be put down. This song is his soul and art's moment of clarity. All of that punk ugliness finally realized and articulated in the most geniune and beautiful work he ever put to record.