Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life”, which featured “The Passenger”, came out on 29 August 1977.

Thus it was Iggy himself who wrote the lyrics. And he was partially inspired by the work of another iconic musician, Jim Morrison of The Doors. Gardiner was actually responsible for the musical composition of “The Passenger”. He was employed to work on Iggy’s second album, “Lust for Life”, which this song is featured on. But he ended up partnering with David Bowie (1947-2016), who co-produced “The Passenger” with Iggy, to complete the song. “The Passenger” has been featured are too numerous to list here. But it’s safe to assume that the writers of the song, Ricky Gardiner and Iggy, are probably still making a pretty penny to this day via royalties generated from the tune.Īt the time of its penning, Gardiner was just a session musician. It is actually one of the most utilized songs by pop media. The Passenger by Iggy Pop Original artist Iggy Pop From the release Lust for Life (Album) Total plays 1424 times by 68 artists First played April 13, 1977. There the track manage to go gold. Despite its unimpressive chart performance, “The Passenger” is very much one of the all-time greats.

Interestingly enough, “The Passenger” didn’t impress chart-wise. In fact the only country it seems to have reached any kind of significant milestone in is Italy. And such a drifting lifestyle is symbolic of their overall rebelliousness against society. Indeed another influence on the lyrical content of this song was a poem by none other than timeless bad boy Jim Morrison (1943-1971), who has long served as an icon to rock musicians. And even though such a philosophy is not forthrightly expressed, the way the singer is presenting his wanderings, combined with the knowledge of what Iggy himself represented as an artist, contributes to relaying such a sentiment.īut if one were to interpret the lyrics purely on a surface level, then once again this is a track simply based on the joy of traveling. And such universal applicability may be why “The Passenger” has been steadily utilized in pop media throughout the decades. “The Passenger” centers on the Nomadic Rock MusicianĪnd on that note, “The Passenger” is a song which is said to encapsulate the ideological spirit of a hardcore rock musician. Such artists are often romanticized as being nomadic in nature.

Iggy pop the passenger