Though his popularity has fluctuated through the years, many of Pop's songs have become well-known, including "Lust for Life", "The Passenger", "Real Wild Child", "Candy" (a duet with Kate Pierson of The B-52's), "China Girl", "Nightclubbing", "Search and Destroy" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog".
In 2010, The Stooges were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Pop was the lead singer of The Stooges, a late 1960s/early 1970s band that featured brothers Ron and Scott Asheton and Dave Alexander and was highly influential in the development of hard rock. The debut album was produced by the Velvet Underground's John Cale. The band's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" is a garage punk standard.
Raw Power was first released in1973, perhaps the first record that could truly be called punk. It was the confluence of The Stooges ages, hormones, creativity, ability, experience, tastes, lack of supervision, contempt for authority and ambition that has made Raw Power one of the most influential albums of all time.
The Stooges were infamous for performances in which Pop leapt off the stage (hence, the "stage dive"), smeared raw meat or peanut butter over his chest and cut himself with broken bottles. A glimpse of the vibrating intensity of Iggy live can be seen in the Ramones movie "End of the Century." Guitarist James Williamson became a key collaborator, a partnership documented on the 1978 album Kill City.
In 25 years as a solo artist, Pop's best-known songs have included the thumping Lust for Life, to be heard on the soundtrack of the find-a-vein, shoot-it-up movie Trainspotting, I'm Bored and The Passenger (the latter based on a poem written by Jim Morrison). David Bowie played a key role in reinvigorating Pop's post-Stooges career and was a collaborator on the albums Lust for Life and The Idiot. Iggy may be under-rated as a songwriter. Bowie and Tina Turner covered his "Tonight". Bowie also put out his own version of "China Girl," while Grace Jones covered the icey "Nightclubbing".
Syracuse
Iggy Pop Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
L'île de Pâques et Kairouan
Et les grands oiseaux qui s'amusent
A glisser l'aile sous le vent.
Voir les jardins de Babylone
Et le palais du grand Lama
Rêver des amants de Vérone
Voir le pays du matin calme
Aller pêcher au cormoran
Et m'enivrer de vin de palme
En écoutant chanter le vent.
Avant que ma jeunesse s'use
Et que mes printemps soient partis
J'aimerais tant voir Syracuse
Pour m'en souvenir à Paris.
The lyrics to Iggy Pop's song Syracuse are a longing and nostalgic wish to see various exotic and beautiful places before the realities of aging and passing time take hold. The song's imagery is dreamlike and romantic as Iggy sings of wanting to see the island of Syracuse, Easter Island, Kairouan, the gardens of Babylon, the palace of the grand Lama, and the summit of Mount Fuji where lovers from Verona once dreamed. He muses about wanting to visit the tranquil land of the morning where he can fish with cormorants and drink palm wine while listening to the wind sing. The chorus reminisces about wanting to remember the beauty of Syracuse long after the singer's youth and vitality have departed.
The song Syracuse is a poetic and emotional masterpiece, a tribute to the universal human desire to experience and revel in the beauty of the world around us. Iggy Pop's melancholy performance captures the yearning and mournful tone of the lyrics, leaving the listener with a sense of wistful nostalgia and a desire to follow in the singer's footsteps and experience the world before it is too late.
Line by Line Meaning
J'aimerais tant voir Syracuse
I would really love to see Syracuse
L'île de Pâques et Kairouan
The Easter Island and Kairouan as well
Et les grands oiseaux qui s'amusent
And those grand birds that enjoy
A glisser l'aile sous le vent.
To slide their wings beneath the wind.
Voir les jardins de Babylone
To see the gardens of Babylon
Et le palais du grand Lama
And the palace of the great Lama
Rêver des amants de Vérone
To dream of the lovers of Verona
Au sommet du Fuji-Yama.
At the top of Mount Fuji.
Voir le pays du matin calme
To see the land of the calm morning
Aller pêcher au cormoran
To go fishing with cormorants
Et m'enivrer de vin de palme
And get drunk on palm wine
En écoutant chanter le vent.
While listening to the singing wind.
Avant que ma jeunesse s'use
Before my youth wears out
Et que mes printemps soient partis
And my springs are gone
J'aimerais tant voir Syracuse
I would really love to see Syracuse
Pour m'en souvenir à Paris.
So that I can remember it in Paris.
Lyrics © MUSIC SALES CORPORATION, PREMIERE MUSIC GROUP
Written by: BERNARD DIMEY, HENRI SALVADOR
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
R Robinson
on Livin' On The Edge Of The Night (edit)
Here are corrections to incorrect lyrics - outrageously, stupidly incorrect: The first line is, "ILL WIND off the river". (And that's ill, not I'll.) The second line is, "smoke stacks fade to BLACK". Second verse: "I've made my bed but I can't REST my head". And "so much COULD be misunderstood". Bridge: "WELL maybe it's just my life". An artist crafts his work meticulously , then this is what happens to it. Disgusting.