Dear Bleaders,
The Best American
Poetry Blog seems to have an affection for the poetry of lyrics and
with that in mind I offer the lyric to this keen ecstatic classic, which I think one
rarely sees but only hears. Bowie
wrote the music.
Iggy Pop LUST FOR LIFE
lyrics
Here
comes Johnny Yen again
With
the liquor and drugs
And a
flesh machine
He's
gonna do another strip tease
Hey man, where'd you get that lotion?
I've
been hurting since I bought the gimmick
About
something called love
Yeah,
something called love
Well,
that's like hypnotising chickens
Well,
I'm just a modern guy
Of
course, I've had it in the ear before
'Cause
of a lust for life
'Cause
of a lust for life
I'm
worth a million in prizes
With my
torture film
Drive a
G.T.O.
Wear a
uniform
All on
government loan
I'm
worth a million in prizes
Yeah,
I'm through with sleeping on the sidewalk
No more
beating my brains
No more
beating my brains
With
the liquor and drugs
With
the liquor and drugs
Well,
I'm just a modern guy
Of course, I've had it in my ear before ...
I bring this to your attention because I have a poem in the current New Yorker. Page 84, all the way at the back. It is very beautiful to me, as is the Contributor’s page, which speaks of me as if we were old friends. It is a sweet week, seeing my issue in strangers’ hot strange hands on the subway. Anyway, here is My Hero.
See that? Thus Quoth Iggy.
Like billions of others, I have a long and storied relationship to this song not least because of the hypnotized chickens. Also because of getting to say I’m worth a million in prizes. Which must have meant something to me, hmm? But also the utter buttered uddery-ness of the milky “Well, I’m just a modern guy/Of course, I’ve had it in my ear before.” That has always made me happy. The first time I heard it I thought, can a person say that? A person can.
But there’s also “Here comes Johnny Yen again,” which comes to mind at times as I know what it is like to run like a demon to the sugar bowl. I suspect cookie monster hears that line growl its way into his mind and out his mouth.
Still, like trillions of other emotional wretches I’m weak for the line “Lust for Life.” Just saying it is a kind of paradise. Now that I think about it as a slogan it sounds like anti-abortion prostitutes. It could happen.
Seeing the Stooges live a bunch of times helped muscle me through a BA and a PhD. Including times I barely clocked in at taking it one heartbeat at a time. At times, I wasn't taking it. Somewhere there is a video of Iggy leaning down to where I stood in the pit against the stage and allowing us to scream some lyrics together, “Now I want to be your dog,” if you must know. It doesn’t sound quite right in this context but I assure you it was a romantic triumph. Also somewhere there is video of me crowdsurfing in the pit.
So here
we are. Now I only surf remotely. I do not remotely surf. I do not have a million in
prizes, but I am, at last, a modern guy.
I have to get back to Bertrand Russell but I want to see if I can get
Iggy to read this post, and so please indulge me this allowance.
Hi Iggy. I hope you like my poem. I love you.
Okay, I
guess that wraps it.
kisses of the appropriate nature to all of you,
Jennifer
Congratulations! That's great news, and well-deserved.
Posted by: Laura Orem | May 27, 2009 at 05:28 PM
Thanks Laura.
Jennifer
Posted by: Jennifer Michael Hecht | May 28, 2009 at 03:40 PM
You are my heroine.
Posted by: DL | May 28, 2009 at 11:57 PM
Great sharing information.
Nice submission and great profile. Your article very unique and original.
Thanks to sharing with us.
frenksy
Student College Loan Consolidation | Debt Consolidation
Posted by: Account Deleted | June 23, 2009 at 10:54 PM
Your poem was very tasty, but I love the last sentence. Absolutely. Love. That last sentence. Beauty!
Posted by: D Moore | September 15, 2009 at 01:01 AM