During Tuesday’s Fresh Air, punk icon Iggy Pop had the following exchange with Terry Gross while talking about this many near-death experiences.
Iggy Pop: One time I did actually hear the trumpets and the celestial choir and all that stuff, and it was pretty insipid.
Later in the interview:
Terry Gross: You said during one of these near death experiences that you heard the celestial choirs and the music was insipid. Can you tell us more about what you heard. As a musician and a rocker it’s kind of interesting to hear.
Iggy Pop: It sounded like a Tangerine Dream album
Iggy Pop & Terry Gross: [laugh knowingly]
Iggy Pop: It was like ahhhoooohhhaaaahhhh, and boop-boop-boop. It was kind of like that. I don’t remember the melody.
I guess that makes Iggy’s rendition of “Autumn Leaves,” rendered like Leonard Cohen on Quaaludes, the sound at the doors of hell. You can hear it on his CD, Preliminaires.
With all due respect to the influential music Iggy has made, I’m wondering how much stock I should put in the perceptions and recollections of a drug-addled rocker in the throes of an overdose who used to cut his chest on stage while exposing himself.
Besides, what was he expecting at the gates of heaven, “I Want to Be Your Dog?”
John Diliberto ((( echoes )))
Thanks for that John. I had a similar reaction listening to the interview last evening. I was disappointed with Gross as I have alway found her very open and her interviews insightful.
You don’t cut your chest and expose yourself in the Echoes studios? For some reason I always pictured that happening behind the scenes….