music.wikisort.org - Composition

"Lust for Life" is a 1977 song performed by Iggy Pop and co-written by David Bowie, featured on the album of the same name. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it No. 149 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", re-ranking it No. 325 in their 2021 updated list.[4]

This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2009)

"Lust for Life"
Cover of the 1977 Netherlands single
Song by Iggy Pop
from the album Lust for Life
Released	September 9, 1977 (1977-09-09)
Recorded	June 1977[1]
Studio	Hansa (West Berlin)[2]
Genre	Garage rock[3] punk rock
Length	5:12
Label	RCA
Songwriter(s)	Iggy Pop David Bowie
Producer(s)	David Bowie
Music video
"Lust for Life" on YouTube

Composition and performance

Co-written by Iggy Pop and David Bowie (written on a ukulele), the song is known for its opening drumbeat (played by Hunt Sales). The rhythm was based on the Armed Forces Network call signal,[5] which Pop and Bowie picked up on while waiting for a broadcast of Starsky & Hutch.[5] The drumbeat has since been imitated in numerous songs, including "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet and "Selfish Jean" by Travis; however, Sales's use of the rhythm was not original, as it was itself derived from "You Can't Hurry Love", released in July 1966 by The Supremes,[6] and "I'm Ready for Love", released in October 1966 by Martha and the Vandellas. Even Ian Paice of Deep Purple has used the beat in some live performances during the Machine Head Tour.

In 1977, the song reached No. 3 in the Dutch Top 40 as well as in Yugoslavia. Its success was credited to a performance in the Dutch pop TV show TopPop, where Iggy Pop, shirtless, wrecked part of the stage set (which consisted of a couple of potted plants and some cardboard scenery).[7][8] Although many viewers and newspapers complained about the apparent damage, the director of TopPop later admitted that they knew beforehand what Iggy was going to do and that the damage was minimal.^{[citation needed]}

Lyrics

The song's lyrics contain a number of references to William S. Burroughs' experimental novel The Ticket That Exploded, most notably mentions of "Johnny Yen" (described by Burroughs as "The Boy-Girl Other Half strip tease God of sexual frustration") and "hypnotizing chickens".

In a 1995 interview, Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek and manager Danny Sugerman stated that the opening lyrics were about their deceased heroin dealer, nicknamed "Gypsy Johnny", arriving at Wonderland Avenue, with his heroin and his "motorized dildos".

Track listing

1996 UK single

1. "Lust for Life" – 5:11
2. "(Get Up I Feel Like A) Sex Machine" – 4:05
3. "Lust for Life (Live at the Feile Festival, 1993)" – 5:35
4. "I Wanna Be Your Dog (Live at the Rock for Choice Benefit concert)" – 4:55

Personnel

According to biographer Chris O'Leary:[1]

• Iggy Pop – lead vocals
• David Bowie – piano
• Ricky Gardiner – lead guitar
• Tony Sales – bass, backing vocals
• Carlos Alomar – rhythm guitar
• Hunt Sales – drums, tambourine, shaker, backing vocals

Trainspotting

"Lust for Life" gained renewed popularity in the late 1990s after being featured in the 1996 British film Trainspotting. The song was heavily featured in the film's marketing campaign and subsequent soundtrack album, resulting in a new UK chart peak of number 26 after being reissued as a single.[9] The single's success inspired Pop's then-label Virgin Records to issue a greatest hits compilation titled Nude & Rude.[10] Pop's biographer Joe Ambrose writes that the song gained the same level of resurgence as the Doors' "The End" after that song's inclusion in Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now.[11] In 1999, Pop reflected on the song's renewed popularity:[12]

When I made Lust for Life, I really thought America was gonna rock to this motherfucker. And it took 20 fuckin' years which is a really long time to wait. I guess what happened is that there was this system that wasn't gonna fuckin' give me a break, and I outlived the system. The movies and advertisers have subverted the stranglehold of radio in America, and there are now other ways for people to hear music. All of a sudden, – a few years ago when Trainspotting came out – I was walkin' down the street and I'd heard Raw Power comin' out of the bars.

A remix by The Prodigy was featured in Trainspotting's 2017 sequel, T2 Trainspotting.[13]

References

Sources

• Ambrose, Joe (2004). Gimme Danger: The Story of Iggy Pop. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1-84449-328-9.
• O'Leary, Chris (2019). Ashes to Ashes: The Songs of David Bowie 1976–2016. London: Repeater. ISBN 978-1912248308.
• Pegg, Nicholas (2016). The Complete David Bowie (Revised and Updated ed.). London: Titan Books. ISBN 978-1-78565-365-0.
• Seabrook, Thomas Jerome (2008). Bowie in Berlin: A New Career in a New Town. London: Jawbone Press. ISBN 978-1-90600-208-4.
• Trynka, Paul (2007). Iggy Pop: Open Up and Bleed. New York City: Broadway Books. ISBN 978-0-76792-319-4.

На других языках

---

- [en] Lust for Life (Iggy Pop song)

---

[ru] Lust for Life (песня Игги Попа)

Lust for Life (рус. Жажда жизни) — песня, написанная Игги Попом в соавторстве с Дэвидом Боуи; вошла открывающим треком в одноимённый альбом Игги Попа в 1977 году. В 2004 г. она была включена в «500 величайших песен всех времен по версии журнала Rolling Stone» под номером 149.

---

---