The Pharaohs - The Passenger (Iggy Pop Psychobilly Cover)
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From ’’ London 1888 ’’
Label: Crazy Love Records – CLCD 6480
Format: CD, Album
Country: Germany
Released: 2000
Tracklist
01. London 1888 (Jack The Ripper)
02. Worth Waitin’ For
03. Spook On The Nile
04. Sweet And Bitter Violets
05. Domino
06. I Don’t Want You
07. Harlow Rock
08. Vincent Van Go Go
09. High Noon In Calela
10. The Last Time
Written-By – Keith Richards, Mick Jagger
11. Turkey Dance
12. The Passenger
Written-By – Iggy Pop, Ricky Gardiner
13. Mystery Spook
Guitar, Vocals – Glenn Daeche
Guitar, Backing Vocals – Ben Evans
Double Bass – Mark Penington
Drums – Ritche Taylor
Piano – Handy Andy (track: 6)
Piano, Organ – Clinch Rockhard (tracks: 4, 9)
Written-By – Ben Evans (track: 9), Glenn Daeche (tracks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13)
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“The Passenger“ is a song by Iggy Pop and Ricky Gardiner, recorded and released by Iggy Pop on the Lust for Life album in 1977.
It was also released as the B-side of the album’s only single, “Success“.
In the summer of 2007 alternative rock radio stations around the USA resumed playing the song in accordance with Iggy Pop and The Stooges tour in that country.
The lyrics, written by Iggy Pop allegedly aboard Berlin’s S-Bahn, have been interpreted as embodying the nomadic spirit of the punk outcast.
Guitarist Ricky Gardiner composed the music.
While it possesses a distinctive riff, “The Passenger“ is perhaps most recognizable by its chorus, on which David Bowie sings back-up.
The Passenger was included in 2008’s The Pitchfork Media 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present.
In 1998 the song was released as a single in the UK after being used in a TV commercial for Toyota’s new Avensis.
The single peaked at #22.
In the media
In 2010 the German mobile phone provider T-Mobile launched their “Welcome Home“ flash-mob advert on British television. Amongst the songs performed using only voices was “The Passenger.“
The song has been featured in the movie Radiofreccia, TV spots for the film Waking Life, the television show 30 Days, the film Jarhead and the 2002 video game Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX 2. More recently, the films Up in the Air and The Weather Man featured the song on its teaser trailer, and is played in a shop early in the film. It can also be heard in Kurt Cobain About a Son, the documentary exploration of the life and influences of the late musician. Scarface: The World Is Yours includes the song on its music selection menu. It was also used in a series of Kohl’s commercials advertising the new “Simply Vera“ line of clothing designed by Vera Wang. Guinness used the song for a television advertisement featuring an airplane flying through a pint-glass-shaped valley with clouds representing the beer’s foamy head. The instrumental lead-in riff of this song is also the intro theme music for the CNN program Anderson Cooper 360. The song is also included in the music/rhythm game Lego Rock Band, complete with a Lego-style avatar of Iggy Pop at vocals.
In a 1998 Toyota Avensis car advert,this song was used.
Cover versions
1987 Siouxsie and the Banshees, on the covers album Through the Looking Glass
The group revamped the song by adding brass arrangements.
Released as the second single from that album, it peaked at #41 in the UK singles chart.
1989 Pidżama Porno, on discs “Ulice jak stygmaty“ and “Futurista“, with Polish lyrics written by Krzysztof Grabowski, called Pasażer (“passenger“ in Polish).
1991 Brazilian band Capital Inicial recorded a Portuguese version of the song (whose lyrics follow nearly to letter the original) for their album Eletricidade. An acoustic version appeared in their MTV Unplugged album in 2000.
1994 Kult, on the disc “Muj wydafca“
1994-5 Deborah Harry played it many times during her Debravation Tour.
1995 Phil Shöenfelt in collaboration with Czech band Tichá Dohoda, on the album “Live In Prague!“
1995 Michael Hutchence, of INXS, on the Batman Forever soundtrack
1996 Die Toten Hosen, on the live album “Im Auftrag des Herrn“
1996 Big Cyc, on the “Z gitarą wśród zwierząt“ album, sung by Jarosław Janiszewski
1998 . covered the song during their first performance on the BBC TV show Later with Jools Holland; the live recording was released later that year as a B-side to the . single “At My Most Beautiful“
Lunachicks did a cover for the We Will Fall: The Iggy Pop Tribute album
2006 Belgian group Absynthe Minded did a cover for the Windkracht 10 soundtrack album
Bauhaus often performed a cover version of “The Passenger“ in live shows
2010 Jamaican group The Jolly Boys recorded a mento version on their album Great Expectation. This version was featured in the British television series Skins, Season 5 episode 08.
2011 Kid Loco, on the album Confessions Of A Belladonna Eater.