[Post Pop Depression] discuss[es] issues of what happens
when your utility is at an end, and dealing with your legacy.
– Iggy Pop
Hello everyone. It is a real honor and pleasure to be invited to Hans’ song draft. Being a person who likes patterns and order, I was trying to figure out how to choose the songs – and finally gave up. It’s a no-pressure draft, so why not just choose what I love to hear, regardless of where it falls in musical history chronologically, by genre, artist, political significance, etc.
Now that you know where I’m coming from on it, I present my first choice. From what I read in wikipedia, the origin story of the album from which, “Gardenia,” comes from starts where Iggy contacts Josh with ideas that stemmed from the time Iggy worked with David Bowie.
I first became aware of Iggy Pop, Josh Homme, Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age,) and Matt Helder’s (Arctic Monkeys,) Post Pop Depression at J’s Wax Ecstatic blog. I was hooked after reading the review and listening to the samples, then bought the album. You know how it is when a sound clicks into place and you need to listen again and again? The whole album was like that for me which meant it stayed on the platter for several weeks. You also know how certain tracks will jump out at you from an album, and that jumping track can change over time. “Gardenia” remains at the top of the heap for me with “Paraguay” a close second or maybe tied.
What is it about, “Gardenia”? Let’s start with the sound. The wah-wah intro in duet with dissonant guitar notes, the throbbing heartbeat of the bass, and the minimal-though-pointed tap of the drums set the tone. Even though the title suggests that of a flower or a female, the notes proclaim that this is no ordinary love song. Iggy’s yearnful searching voice gives the feel of a junky looking for their next fix. Homme’s haunting falsetto is like a shadow following the searcher. The bridge has ambulance urgency to it as all is revealed. Iggy’s self-punishing tone in the last verse is surprisingly more brutal and honest than the rest of the song which is not an easy feat to accomplish.
The lyrics are as brilliant as the music. The singer is searching for the object of his darkest desires where he usually finds her, out walking the streets in the seedy part of town.
Black goddess in a shabby raincoat…
Cheap purple baby-doll dress…
A gardenia in your hair
If that doesn’t conjure a sinfully erotic image in your mind, your brain cells are fizzled.
As if that wasn’t enough,
Much taller and stronger than me
Your hourglass ass
And your powerful back
Your slant devil eyes
And the ditch on your spine
What kind of woman is this Gardenia?
The searcher recalls a time with his lady of dark passion, describing the big reveal when the lights were turned on afterwards. The reveal is ambiguous. Is it a matter of gender? A matter of habit/addiction? Maybe both? It never says, which is one of the most brilliant parts of the lyrics.
He (are we even sure it is a he?) doesn’t find Gardenia that night. Instead, he goes back to his “cheapo motel by the highway to hell” and in my mind I imagine him staring at himself in the mirror as he berates himself. The regret is palpable as he cries out with such resignation:
You could be burned at the stake
For all your mistakes,
Couldn’t we all. This is perhaps the most telling line in the song.
One other thing I love about how Iggy sings this is when he tacks repeats onto some of the lines.
Is this song really about Gardenia at all?
It’s a musical and poetic masterpiece in my opinion. Songwriting credits go to Iggy Pop and Josh Homme, as far as I know. (The print on the CD is so light in areas I can’t read it.) Josh Homme produced the album. It was nominated for a Grammy in 2016 but lost out to David Bowie’s Dark Star.
One more thing I MUST say about the song: it’s a full-blown serious earworm!
Image link from wikipedia
This post was originally published on hanspostcard. I posted it on 7/9/21.
Glyn is the host of Mixed Music Bag. Glyn wants us to share about a musician or band that starts with the letters I and/or J.
Tao Talk 
Great pick Lisa…you can never go wrong with Mr. Pop!
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Thanks, Max! It’s a good’n.
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I love this album so so much. Gardenia is a magnificent track. They’re all magnificent tracks. I’ve always considered Iggy one of the masters of the genre (none finer) and at that stage of his career to meme such a view album?! Fuggeddabaaht it!
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LOL! Love your comment!
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I don’t know Iggy’s music very well and had not heard this one – good tune. And, yes, I can see why you called it an earworm!
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It could become a mission statement! lmao! Glad you like it, Christian!
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Surely you’ve heard Lust For Life? If not, look it up. It’s been used on commercials.
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I should have done some babbling over here…
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Either place works, Vic. I do one here so I can put my preferred formatting into the post :)
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Heh. I do all my formatting, too…I just copy & paste it into a text document for Hans to copy & paste. I use a lot of HTML code, hence all the links. I wouldn’t expect Hans to replicate that by himself.
Sometimes, the copy & pasted data gets whacked because he works in the block editor. I don’t.
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Aha! I wondered about the formatting on some of the draft posts, and your comment helps me understand. I don’t mind creating my own post with it in block editor and wouldn’t have a clue how to do any programming/html coding. Nice skill for you to have!
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Been programming, in one way or another, since 1983.
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I’m sure there has been a programming evolution over that time. Your mind has to be good on logic to be good at programming I’m guessing.
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Dear god, I’m TOO left-brained, Lisa. I wish I could shut it off. I’ve done BASIC, RPG, COBOL, Assembler (never did Fortran), dabbled in SQL, managed databases (Oracle & Access) and moved into HTML & CSS. Worked a little in Javascript. Reading & scanning code does come naturally.
I will say…I absolutely HATE the block editor. It’s based on the Gutenberg editor and it has big ole bugs in it. The Happiness Engineers jack with too much Javascript code. Aggravates the hell out of me. I blog in the Classic Editor. I will fight to keep that.
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Do you do right brain activities to balance out then? I only use the classic editor myself, with rare exceptions. Not my bag at all.
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Right brain activities are artistic things and second chakra stuff. I love photography, I blog, I sing and, when I was younger I painted & sketched. My jobs in admin/tech stuff just over-worked the left side. Brain games like Luminosity or trivia is all left-brain stuff. It’s a struggle.
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I haven’t heard this one in a long time. He can do so many things with his voice. (K)
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Yes he can! He’s amazing!
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Excellent post, Lisa. Gardenia is highlight from an album of highlights. I love Iggy’s voice here… the swagger and the regret. Tremendous stuff. Anyhoo, I completely agree – a musical and poetic masterpiece.
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Thank you for your wonderful comment, J.
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I still think it was a good pick – thanks for the reminder! :-)
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It truly is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. My pleasure on sharing it again :)
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Wow I didn’t realize it was that long ago! Awesome song…Pop is great.
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I know what you mean! Time flies like an arrow.
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In September I’ll be at this for 7 years….
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You’ve put a lot of yourself into your blog. It’s like a musical autobiography. Remember, “Songbook” that book by Nick Hornby? Your blog is like that, but more. Congratulations on almost 7 years.
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I forgot about that book…yea. Thanks Lisa…thats what I tried.
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You’re very welcome.
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Great choice Lisa. I really like that album of Iggy’s collaboration with The Queens of the Stone Age.
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Thank you, Glyn. I adore it. Have you heard the “Them Crooked Vultures” album with Josh, Dave Grohl, and John Paul Jones? IT ROCKS
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Yes, I have the CD of that album
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Very cool, Glyn. Your thoughts on it?
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I liked it a lot, I’ve just played it again as I hadn’t for a while. I was hoping they’d make another album together.
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I played it last night because it had been awhile for me also. I know that Dave said it was his favorite group to make music with. Actually Josh just had a benefit concert (or someone organized one for him) and Dave was there and they were hinting they might be making new music together again. Would love to see them make another album with JPJ.
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Iggy is someone I don’t have a lot of prior experience with, but in recent years I have heard the occasional cut of his I really like, including this one. Nice to see him featured here, Lisa. Reminds me to dig into his work a bit more.
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Glad you’re giving him a chance, Bruce. iirc I saw him in an interview a few years back he said he never made any money at his music until recently. I love the idea of younger bands revitalizing the careers of the old greats, which I consider Iggy to be one of.
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