GROSS: So tell us about the inspiration behind this song, both in terms of the band, you know, the music arrangement and also the subject matter. GROSS: That's "King of the Dogs," Iggy Pop from his new CD, "Preliminaires," Iggy Pop like you've never heard him before. I'm deadly, 'cause I'm the king of the dogs. I don't even own a pair of pants, I'm a dancer, baby. I'm sovereign, 'cuz I'm the king of the dogs.Ĭold outside (Unintelligible) with a dancer. I got a piece of meat in between my teeth. POP: (Singing) I got a smelly (Unintelligible), I got a dirty nose. So this is Iggy Pop from his new CD, "Preliminaires." GROSS: Well, let's hear "King of the Dogs," and then we'll talk about it a little bit more. So this one progression is right out of "King of the Zulus." So we split it up. POP: Well, what we did, I contacted their people, and it's about - the music's about half me, half from hers. GROSS: Well, it's nice of you to credit it. You didn't realize that you were borrowing (unintelligible), right. No, the actual - the song melody and the bridge is mine, but part of the chord progression is from "King of the Zulus," written by her and recorded by Louis, and I didn't know that until a couple of months after I had written the song, and I was listening to Louis Armstrong again because I do every few months, and I thought, oh damn. GROSS: So she wrote the melody that you used? Is that it? POP: Yeah, Lil Harden was her name, and then she was married to Louis for four years. GROSS: And I noticed after listening to it and thinking Armstrong, I noticed that Lillian Armstrong is co-credited as a songwriter. POP: He's a very sought-after Broadway player.
So I mean, Iggy Pop and a clarinetist? I wouldn't have thought of it. And of all the things I wouldn't associate with you as a performer, this might especially be it. GROSS: So I want to play what is my favorite track on the CD, and this is "King of the Dogs," and this is - the lyric really gets you, and you have got this great, Louis-Armstrong-ish band behind you. Life came in, and without even much of a real fuss, the tide came in, and when the tide came out, we are separated, and people are pulled apart whether they want to be or not. I loved you, you loved me, but then life. What the guy says is, just very simply look, this is a story. The original lyric, the lyric I'm singing, is not about an autumn leaf drifting by somebody's window, which is a lovely metaphor but really not that heavy. GROSS: By Little Walter, the blues singer? POP: Well, there is that problem however, I could recommend to you there's a hell of a version by Little Walter. So tell me more about your original associations with "The Autumn Leaves." Then I also, when I took piano lessons as a kid, I had the sheet music. It was like arpeggios every second and crescendos… One was, you know, in the mid-1950s, like in 1955, Roger Williams, the pianist, had a number-one hit of "Autumn Leaves," and it was so frilly. I have to say I never expected to hear you sing "The Autumn Leaves." Now I have two early associations with this song. GROSS: That's "Les Feuilles Mortes," "The Autumn Leaves," sung by Iggy Pop from his new album "Preliminaires." Iggy Pop, welcome back to FRESH AIR. Toi, tu m'aimais et je t'aimais Et nous vivions tous deux ensemble, Toi qui m'aimais, moi qui t'aimais. IGGY POP (Singer): (Singing) Tout doucement, sans faire de bruit Et la mer efface sur le sable Les pas des amants désunis.Ĭ'est une chanson qui nous ressemble.
(Soundbite of song, "Les Feuilles Mortes") Before we talk about this new direction for the 62-year-old icon, let's hear the opening track of "Preliminaires," "Autumn Leaves." The original French title is "Les Feuilles Mortes." The project began when Iggy was asked to write songs for a documentary about Houellebecq.
So what's he doing singing the Antonio Carlos Jobim bossa nova "How Insensitive" and the standard "Autumn Leaves" and an original reminiscent of early Louis Armstrong? They're on his new CD "Preliminaires." The CD is inspired by the 2005 novel "The Possibility of an Island" by the French novelist Michel Houellebecq. When you think of Iggy, you think of loud, fast and maybe angry music, songs like "Search and Destroy" and "I Want to Be Your Dog." My guest is Iggy Pop, the godfather of punk, famous for his intense music and wild performances.
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