My Mom was never particularly fond of Iggy Pop. That’s him above, obviously, circa 1977, as captured by the great Chester Simpson. Upon a fluke sighting of a video of Iggy performing “I’m Bored” (detailed in this post), she quickly assumed the worst about him. In typical fashion, her pointed disapproval of Iggy IMMEDIATELY and indelibly made me curious to hear more of his stuff. In short order, I became a fan and blah blah blah (pardon the pun), the rest is history.
Even at the time, it was fairly easy to glean why parents might not have “gotten” Iggy Pop. I mean, with his bug-eyed stare and singularly manic stage presence, it wasn’t a huge leap to assume that he was something of a walking pharmacy and a whole mess of trouble. Decades later, he rubs shoulders with similarly august folks like Keith Richards and Lemmy in the “you really ought to be dead by this point” department. But he’s not. He’s a national treasure, by gosh. God bless him.
Anyway, the only reason I bring this up is because of “The Passenger.” Were I ever to encounter someone with a dismissive opinion of the great Iggy Pop, I would simply play them “The Passenger” from Lust for Life. I mean, never mind punk rock or stage presence or tales of peanut butter and heroin or any of that bullshit….if you can’t appreciate the simple brilliance of this song, you’re just beyond help. Al Green or Frank Sinatra could sing this song, and it would still be untouchably stupendous. Siouxsie & the Banshees recorded a perfectly respectable rendition of it several years back (punctuated by bursts of sassy brass), but there remains no challenger to the original in terms of sheer greatness.
“The Passenger” is singularly able to lift the spirits of my good friend Rob D. Time was when were he ever in a funk, all it would take would be a single airing of this song to get him up, on his feet and high stepping in the frankly alarming fashion that only he could properly pull off. It’s that type of song.
In the event that you’re unfamiliar with it (and, really, shame on you), here `tis once more.
Awesome, right?
Okay, so why am I blathering on about this now? Well, I stumbled upon the clip below last night, and was quite struck by it. I honestly haven't the foggiest clue who James Collin is, but I find his comparatively whisper-quiet rendition of "The Passenger" quite compelling. Coupled with time-lapse video of this great city, I thought it was something special -- but I couldn't just slap it up here without calling attention to the remarkable splendor of the definite article, now could I?
Enjoy...
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