«I had just learned to smoke (cigarettes and grass), and I was excited about it. I had always had asthma and couldn’t smoke. One day I was walking down the street and someone blew a puff in my face from a passing cigarette on a fall day, which is always the worst season. So its was, uh, «Smoke – i’m gonna fall down any second,» and nothing happened. So I thought, AH HA! And immediately I became a two pack a day Camel smoker, which was really bad for me and causes me a touch of asthma even today.»
. . . FIRED
«I remember the first time I ever got fired from a job. I learned a lot. It was by a guy named Mr. Rogers, who was a heavy duty truck driver. This was when I was old enough to mow lawns. I mowed a lot of the lawns in the trailer park. He was the cheapest one. He only gave me $35 – of course they were small lawns. His Lawn mower was never in good shape anyway. He never kept the blades sharpened. I was supposed to cut with this thing?
Well, one day he decided I didn’t do a good enough job – he’d always check the little edges and staff – and he fired me. And later, when he couldn’t see me, I cried and cried. I mean I was just crushed. But he did say to me, “Now, understand,” he said, “Look, I’m a foreman on a construction site…”
I couldn’t relieve it when he first fired me. I just always assumed that everybody loved me. I was one of those kids, you know: nobody seemed toe ver say no to me, at least not in the adult world. Kids I didn’t know much about, but adults I knew how to handle right away.
He said, “Look, when I’m on a job and a guy doesn’t do his work right, what do I do? I fire him. You were on a job. You didn’t do your work right. You’re fired.”
I didn’t quite understand at the time. He was a real dour, Nasty man, like a loto f them living alone: no wife, alcoholic. But he had a good income – a real good income, real good at his job – and he felt strongly about the lesson he was teaching me. It wasn’t that he did it simply for my Benedit. He felt strongly about the morality. At least he was nice enough to let me know. And I think he was absolutely a saint to do that for me. Really, I think he was absolutely a saint. When somebody doesn’t do their job, you fire him. Much later in life I’ve received such joy when at various moments I’ve felt justified in the end to say, “You’re fired!” Because people have the right to say no.»
. . . Why I Do What I Do
‘I’m sure the constant exposure to amplifiers and electric guitars, and hearing my own voice amplified, has altered my body chemistry, in which, after all, the life lives.
I often try to examine the reasons why I am doing what I do – working with electric guitars and drums and singing – or what I’m trying to do with. But I feel so umbilically connected to the thing itself, the process is far more important than the result. It is the proximity of the electric hum in the background and just the tremendous feeling of buoyancy and power, you know. When you start being in the presence of this power, you also become its witness. When guitars are played properly, hitting the same sound at the same time, a joyful thing happens; that’s good backing. You’re dangerously abandoned. It is the most honest experience I have ever encountered. Gotta have it. Once I started playing on stage, maybe even after the first gig, it was like a wolf after getting his first blood or something. As soon as I had a taste of that I just abandoned all interest in music and went right straight for the throat. I was really determined to use the noises on myself, as if I were a scientist experimenting on himself, like Dr Jeckyll or the Hulk. Sometimes I feel like Hulk, actually. I really didn’t have any use for rationality or harmony – that was right out, you know. Stated harmonies, I didn’t want. I wanted more overtones. Really good music isn’t just to be heard, you know? It’s almost like an hallucination. So I’ve always liked chanced overtones. What I do is either abstract to you or it’s POW!’
James Osterberg (aka Ig Pop): I Need More [1980]
♦→ ‘Five Foot One’ ⇓
∇ ‘Don’t Look Down’ ↓ [New Values_1979]
∇ ‘Billy is A Runaway’ ⇓ [«New Values»]
◊→ ‘Eggs On Plate’ ⇓ [«Party»_1981]
∇ ‘Run Like A Villain’ ⇓ [«Zombie Birdhouse»_1982]
Big Dick is a thumbs-up guy – He shot a missile in the sky
It functioned just as advertised – Until the fire made him cry
Look into it later when the dust is clearing off the crater
Run like a villain let the good times roll
Run like a villain to the sugar bowl
Run like a villain ‘cause you can’t adjust
To a saccharine suburb in the mush
I’ve got some loving arms around me
Darker than the tombs of Egypt
Dumber than the crudest fiction
Buried in a melting coffin
Nights like this appeal to me!
Tracy got an afghan, pedigreed
Prescription shades and designer jeans
A Sony Walkman on her head
All she wants is to be fed
Run, run, run, because you’re soft
Run, run, but don’t get lost
. . . The shining moon the dead oak tree
Nights like this appeal to me
I’ve got some loving arms around me …
Trying to steal a moment of pleasantry in this zombie birdhouse
Run, run, run, run like a villain – Let the good times roll
Run like a villain to save your soul
It can’t be done, I already know
So I’ll run like a villain to the sugar bowl
Because who you are nobody knows
Who you are, nobody knows you
Rings on your fingers and bells on your toes
∇ ‘Ordinary Bummer’ ⇓ [Zombie Birdhouse_1982]
Lovely games of yesterday have left me with my soul todayFelicity flies out the door when people lose their warmth
That’s a very ordinary bummer
I’ll hold out for summer days – Stand and laugh and run
In a quiet movie of mine I saw a girl with eyes like fire – I had to look away
She was swearing like a sailor and demanding her own way
That was when I knew I had to love her I opened up my sad old eyes and let the feelings run With a quiet beauty of mine Maybe sometimes we do bad things And then other times we do good
And sometimes from something very bad comes something very good
In a quiet year of mine
∇ ‘Eat Or Be Eaten’ ⇓ [Zombie Birdhouse_1982]
I got nothin’ to eat in this old house – I gotta go out and catch a mouse I can’t be wrong so I gotta be right – It’s eat or be eaten Something’s hungry like a hunter And it’s probing like a finger As the drumbeat keeps things hurrying – That’s the part that’s so appealing It’s the beat that dominates Each breath you draw , Each step you take Strike or be stricken – Eat or be eaten yum yum yum yum – Eat or be eaten – Beat or be beaten Your skills are highly specialized But still that girl can magnetize You sense the hunger in her eyes – It’s beat or be beaten There’s no softness in her eyes – A weird dull glint is in her eyes With a stubborn will to tantalize – Like some cheap devil in disguise And it’s troubling me – Hell it’s nervy that’s what it is Eat or be eaten – Beat or be beaten – Strike or be stricken The night is dark the night is pulp Tilt back your head and take a gulp of air that’s screamed a thousand times The main thing is to victimize – It’s just the night for a conquering tribe Oh, it’s just the night for a conquering tribe Eat or be eaten – Beat or be beaten – Faster than the arrow flies Or the man who smiles while he lies It’s just the night for a conquering tribe And the girls are calling in a yellow dress That girl is calling in a yellow dress She says eat eat eat here boys – Eat eat eat here boys And then a bop a doo ba doop ba abop A dooba ba bop bohma bop a doo bop bohm A doopee dee a dop adoop A bum bayo bayum bohmbayumbohm ooooohh…◊ ‘THE PASSENGER’ ↓ (abridged)
They set out to find 8 New Zealanders to help Iggy Pop re-record ‘The Passenger’ live via Orcon Broadband. From more than 200 amazing auditions they ended up with 9 incredible New Zealanders. They were hooked up to Iggy in Miami via Orcon Broadband, and this is the result…
How, how he rides He sees the city’s ripped backsides Along the winding ocean drive And all of this was made for you and me So let’s take a ride and see what’s mine Singing la la la la… la la la la… la..la
∞ w/ Goran Bregovic ⇓ ‘TV Screen’ [«Arizona Dream»_1993]
Not rushing through this time
In a bar where a fat lady reigns supreme
Come in and drink with a false name
In circus clothes forget their pain
They are the zombie bodies
Caught in the glow of the TV screen
Just forget it?
The TV screen
TV screen makes you feel small
No life at all
It’s harder than you thought
No one wants to give a damn
Or even hear a thought
They rush from one fad to the next
You talk and it has no effect
You are the target for stars
And the planets on the TV screen
Just forget it?
The TV screen
TV screen makes you feel small
No life at all
Not rushing through this time
In a bar where a fat lady reigns supreme
Come in and drink with a…
∇ ‘We Are The People’ ⇓ [«Free»__2019]
We are the people without land
We are the people without tradition
We are the people who do not know how to die peacefully and at ease
We are the thoughts of sorrows
Endings of tomorrows
We are the wisps of rulers
And the jokers of kings
We are the people without right
We are the people who have known only lies and desperation
We are the people without a country, a voice, or a mirror
We are the crystal gaze returned through the density and immensity of a berserk nation
We are the victims of the untold manifesto of the lack of depth
Of full and heavy emptiness
We are the people without sorrows
Who have moved beyond national pride and indifference
To a parody of instinct
We are the people who are desperate
Beyond emotion because it defies thought
We are the people who conceive our destruction and carry it out lawfully
We are the insects of someone else’s thought
A casualty of daytime, nighttime, space, and God
Without race, nationality, or religion
We are the people, and the people, the people
⇑ Live at the Avenue B _ 1999
- No Shit
- Nazi Girlfriend
- Espanol
- Raw Power
- Search And Destroy
- Shakin’ All Over
- Corruption
- Real Wild Child (Wild One)
- I Wanna Be Your Dog
- I Felt The Luxury
- Home
- Lust For Life
- The Passenger
- Cold Metal
- Avenue B
- TV Eye
- I Got A Right
- No Fun
- Death Trip
- Sixteen
- Louie, Louie
÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷
¤ Lou Reed ⇓ [1942-2013]
«The world has lost a fine songwriter and poet … I’ve lost my school-yard buddy.»
≈ John Cale
«Lou was a prince and a fighter and I know his songs of the pain and beauty in the world will fill many people with the incredible joy he felt for life. Long live the beauty that comes down and through and onto all of us.»≈ Laurie Anderson
◊ ‘Rock and Roll’ ⇓ [The Velvet Underground]
Jenny said, when she was just five years old there was nothin’ happening at all
Every time she puts on the radio there was nothin’ goin’ down at all, not at all
Then, one fine mornin’, she puts on a New York station – You know, she couldn’t believe what she heard at all
She started shakin’ to that fine, fine music – You know, her life was saved by rock’n’roll
Despite all the imputations, you know, you could just go out and dance to a rock’n’roll station
And it was all right, hey baby – You know, it was all right . . .
Jenny said, when she was just about five years old –`You know, my parents are gonna be the death of us all
Two TV sets and two Cadillac cars – Well, you know, ain’t gonna help me at all’
Then, one fine morning, she turns on a New York station – She doesn’t believe what she hears at all
Ooh, she started dancin’ to that fine, fine music
You know, her life was saved by rock’n’roll – Yeah, rock’n’roll
Despite all the computations, you could just dance to that rock’n’roll station
And baby, it was all right, yeah – Hey, it was all right
Hey, here she comes now …
⇐Run, run, run
Teenage Mary said to Uncle Dave
I sold my soul, must be saved
Gonna take a walk down to Union Square
You never know who you’re gonna find there
You gotta run, run, run, run, run – Take a drag or two
Run, run, run, run, run – Gypsy Death and you Tell you whatcha do
Marguerita Passion had to get her fix
She wasn’t well, she was getting sick
Went to sell her soul, she wasn’t high
Didn’t know, thinks she could buy it
And she would run, run, run – Take a drag or two
Run, run, run, run, run – Gypsy Death and you Tell you whatcha do
Seasick Sarah had a golden nose
Hobnail boots wrapped around her toes
When she turned blue, all the angels screamed
They didn’t know, they couldn’t make the scene
She had to run, run, run, run, run – Take a drag or two
Run, run, run, run, run – Gypsy Death and you Tell you whatcha do
Beardless Harry, what a waste
Couldn’t even get a small-town taste
Rode the trolleys down to forty-seven
Figured he was good to get himself to heaven
‘Cause he had to run, run, run, run, run – Take a drag or two
Run, run, run, run, run – Gypsy Death and you Tell you whatcha do
◊ ‘Waiting for The Man’ ↓ [Velvet Underground]
Up to Lexington, 125
Feel sick and dirty, more dead than alive
I’m waiting for my man
Hey, white boy, what you doin’ uptown?Hey, white boy, you chasin’ our women around?
Oh pardon me sir, it’s the furthest from my mind
I’m just lookin’ for a dear, dear friend of mine
I’m waiting for my man Here he comes, he’s all dressed in black
Beat up shoes and a big straw hat
He’s never early, he’s always late
First thing you learn is you always gotta wait
I’m waiting for my man Up to a Brownstone, up three flights of stairs
Everybody’s pinned you, but nobody cares
He’s got the works, gives you sweet taste
Ah then you gotta split because you got no time to waste
I’m waiting for my man Baby don’t you holler, darlin’ don’t you bawl and shout I’m feeling good, you know I’m gonna work it on out
I’m feeling good, I’m feeling oh so fine
Until tomorrow, but that’s just some other time
I’m waiting for my man
◊ ‘How Do You Think It Feels’ ↓ [«Berlin»_1973]
How do you think it feels when you’re speeding and lonely,
come here baby
How do you think it feels when all you can say is if only
If only I had a little – if only I had some change, come here baby
– If only, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CyAyFrBfzsUif only, if only
How do you think it feels and when do you think it stops
How do you think it feels when you’ve been up for five days,
come down here mama
Hunting around always, ooohhh ‘cause you’re afraid of sleeping
How do you think it feels to feel like a wolf and foxy
How do you think it feels to always make love by proxy, huh
how do you think it feels and when do you think it stops – when do you think it stops
◊ Last Great American Whale ↓ [«New York»_1989]
They say he didn’t have an enemy – His was a greatness to behold
He was the last surviving progeny – The last one on this side of the world
He measured a half mile from tip to tail – Silver and black with powerful fins
They say he could break a mountain in two – That’s how we got the grand canyon
Last great American whale … Last great American whale …
Some say they saw him at the Great Lakes – Some say they saw him off the coast of Florida
My mother said she saw him in Chinatown – But you can’t always trust your mother
Off the Carolinas the sun shines brightly in the day – The lighthouse glows ghostly there at night
The chief of a local tribe had killed a racist mayor’s son – And had been on death row since 1958
The mayor’s kid was a rowdy pig – Spit on Indians and lots worse
The old chief buried a hatchet in his head – Life compared to death for him seemed worse
The tribal brothers gathered in the lighthouse to sing and tried to conjure up a storm or rain
The harbor parted, the great whale sprang full up and caused a huge tidal wave
The wave crushed the jail and freed the chief – The tribe let out a roar
The whites were drowned, the browns and reds set free
But sadly one thing more
Some local yokel member of the NRA Kept a bazooka in his living room
And thinking he had the chief in his sight
Blew the whale’s brains out with a lead harpoon
Last great American whale … Last great American whale …
Well, Americans don’t care for much of anything – Land and water the least
And animal life is low on the totem pole
With human life not worth more than infected yeast
Americans don’t care too much for beauty – They’ll shit in a river, dump battery acid in a stream
They’ll watch dead rats wash up on the beach – And complain if they can’t swim
They say things are done for the majority
Don’t believe half of what you see and none of what you hear
It’s like what my painter friend Donald said to me
‘Stick a fork in their ass and turn them over, they’re done’
◊ ‘The View’ ⇓ [with Metallica _ 2011]
I WANT TO HAVE YOU DOUBTING
EVERY MEANING YOU’VE AMASSED
LIKE A FORTUNE – OH THROW IT AWAY
FOR WORSHIP SOMEONE WHO ACTIVELY DESPISES YOU FOR WORSHIP SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY DESPISES YOU… I AM THE ROOT – I AM THE PROGRESS I’M THE AGGRESSOR – I AM THE TABLET THESE TEN STORIES WORSHIP – WORSHIP PAIN AND EVIL HAVE THEIR PLACE SITTING HERE BESIDE ME I OFFER THEM TO YOU AS SERVANTS OF THE GOLD THAT YOU MUST GIVE PAIN AND EVIL HAVE THEIR PLACE SITTING HERE BESIDE ME AND I’LL OFFER THEM, I OFFER THEM TO YOU AS SERVANTS OF THE GOLD THAT YOU MUST GIVE TO ME FOR WORSHIP OF SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY DESPISES YOU . . . I AM THE VIEW – I AM THE CABLE I AM THE DUE – I AM THE TABLE I AM ALL THIS – I AM THE ROOT THE PROGRESS – THE AGGRESSOR I AM THE CABLE I AM THE TEN STORIES I AM THE TABLE I AM – I AM – I AM – I AM I AM
∞ w/ Dr John ↓ ‘Perfect Day’
What a perfect day – Drink sangria in the park and then later, when it gets dark, we go home
Oh, what a perfect day – I’m glad I spent it with you
Oh, what a perfect day – You just keep me hanging on – You just keep me hanging on
What a perfect day – Problems all left at home – Weekenders on our own – It’s such fun
Oh, it’s a perfect day – You made me forget myself – I thought I was someone else, someone good
Oh, it’s such a perfect day – I’m glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day – You just keep me hanging on – You just keep me hanging on
You’re going to reap just what you sow . . . You’re going to reap just what you sow . . .
* * *
♣ Three Tracks from ‘Magic & Loss’ – ↓ [1992]
⇐[lyrics] 01 → ‘Magician – Internally’ ⇐
‘… I want some magic to sweep me away . . .’02 → ‘Goodbye Mass – In A Chapel Body Termination’ ⇐
Sitting on a hard chair try to sit straight
Sitting on a hard chair this moment won’t wait
Listening to the speakers they’re talking about you
Look at all the people all the people you knew
Sitting with my back straight it becomes hard to hear
Some people are crying it becomes hard to hear
I don’t think you’d have liked it you would have made a joke
You would have made it easier you’d say «tomorrow I’m smoke»
Sitting on a hard chair how far we have come
Trying hard to listen to your friends who have come
Some of them are famous and some are just like me
Trying hard to listen trying hard to see
Sitting in a hard chair it’s over time to stand
Some people are crying I turn to grab your hand
It’s your daughter saying thank you, You, you would have made a joke
«Isn’t this something,» you say, «tomorrow I’m smoke»
03 → ‘No Chance – Regret’ ⇐
It must be nice to be steady, it must be nice to be firm
it must be nice never to move off the mark
It must be nice to be dependable and never let anyone down
it must be great to be all the things you’re not
It must be great to be all the things that I’m not
I see you in the hospital your humor is intact
I’m embarrassed by the strength I seem to lack
If I was in your shoes, so strange that I am not
I’d fold up in a minute and a half – I’d fold up in a minute and a half
And I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye – No I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye
It must be nice to be normal, it must be nice to be cold
It must be nice not to have to go, oh, up or down
But me I’m all emotional, no matter how I try
You’re gone and I’m still here alive – You’re gone and I’m still alive
And I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye – No, I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye
There are things we say we wish we knew and in fact we never do
But I’d wish I’d known that you were going to die
Then I wouldn’t feel so stupid, such a fool that I didn’t call
And I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye – I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye
No there’s no logic to this, who’s picked to stay or go
If you think too hard it only makes you mad
But your optimism made me think you really had it beat
So I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye – I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye
No, I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye – I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye
♦ «Men Of Good Fortune» ↓ [BERLIN_live 2006]
Men of good fortune often cause empires to fall
While men of poor beginnings often can’t do anything at all
The rich son waits for his father to die
the poor just drink and cry
And me, I just don’t care at all
Men of good fortune very often can’t do a thing
While men of poor beginnings often can do anything
At heart they try to act like a man
handle things the best way they can
They got no rich daddy to fall back on
Men of good fortune – men of poor beginnings . . .
Men of good fortune often cause empires to fall
While men of poor beginnings often can’t do anything at all
It takes money to make money they say
look at the Fords … Didn’t they start that way
Anyway, it makes no difference to me
Men of good fortune – men of poor beginnings . . .
Men of good fortune often wish that they could die
While men of poor beginnings want what they have and to get it they’ll die
All the great things that live got to give
they wanna have money and live
But me, I don’t care at all
Men of good fortune – men of poor beginnings . . .
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