Til Wrong Feels Right - Iggy Pop

 I've been an Iggy fan for damn near a half century now and have read a number of books on the gentleman, including his autobiography (although it looks like I never reviewed it here, so maybe i'm do to re-read that one and review it) and I tend to pick up whatever I can find at a reasonable price. This 2019 tome is primarily a gathering of Pop's lyrics, along with the occasional remembrance from the man himself or his acquaintances. The pages are packed with superb photos - many that you've seen before but also some rarer outtakes - although they are not necessarily in the same chronological period as the lyrics. Some photos are images inspired by the lyrics and many pages are also filled with simple, creative graphics to offset the words.

Of course, his early lyrics were (he freely admits) downright monosyllabic, but there were bits'n'pieces that always escaped me - like was it "all across the USA" or "war across the USA" in "1969" and I finally learned that he is shouting "Ram It!" in the break in "TV Eye" - or, at least that is what he wants you to believe! The Igster was never a dummy, though, and later on his lyrics become more, well, lyrical, with straightfowardness mixed with what is practically poetry.

 Iggy works within his own rhythms and while they are sometimes fairly traditional, at times they are radically syncopated, as only his mind can create. Some of the phrasing can almost sound clumsy but somehow he makes it work at the last minute. His early works are shouts at the world, pure rock'n'roll, primal and visceral, primitive to the extreme, as r'n'r should be. He went through many changes over the years and certainly matured, and the music tended to become slicker, but he would still sometimes write about dicks or peeing or fucking, but then in the next phrase there can be a clever turn or a declaration of love or a revelation of growing up and being "serious". 

While he is not considered a lyrical poet as some of his contemporaries are, his words do speak to the heart of rock'n'roll. This might be a bit of an ego endeavor but it does work. Fans should definitely get this one.