Background and composition

"The Passenger" was co-written by Iggy Pop and guitarist Ricky Gardiner; Pop wrote the lyrics, while Gardiner composed the music.[2] Gardiner thought of the riff in early 1977 as he was wandering throughout the countryside, "in the field beside an orchard, on one of those glorious spring days with the trees in full blossom."[3] The song was recorded at Hansa Studio by the Wall in West Berlin between May and June 1977. The lineup consisted of Pop, Gardiner, David Bowie on piano, Carlos Alomar on guitar, and brothers Tony and Hunt Sales on bass and drums, respectively.[4] Bowie, Pop, and producer-engineer Colin Thurston produced Lust for Life under the pseudonym "Bewlay Bros.", named after the final track on Bowie's 1971 album Hunky Dory.[5]

Similar to other tracks on Lust for Life, the lyrics for "The Passenger" were mostly composed on the spot in the studio.[3] They were inspired by a Jim Morrison poem, titled "The Lords",[4] that saw "modern life as a journey by car", as well as rides on the Berlin S-Bahn, according to Pop's former girlfriend Esther Friedmann.[2][6] The lyrics have been interpreted as "Iggy's knowing commentary on Bowie's cultural vampirism".[7] In an interview with The Guardian in 2016, Pop said "The Passenger" was partly inspired by touring with Bowie: "I'd been riding around North America and Europe in David's car ad infinitum. I didn't have a driver's licence or a vehicle".[8] Biographer Paul Trynka states that the song was "a simple celebration of life", of the "long walks" Pop would take growing up and his own reputation at the time.[3] Tom Maginnis of AllMusic described the music as a "laid-back ... springy groove".[9] Reviewers characterize the track as garage rock and proto-punk.[10][11]

Release and reception

RCA Records issued Lust for Life on September 9, 1977,[12] with "The Passenger" as the fourth track on side one of the original LP, between "Some Weird Sin" and "Tonight".[13][14] The song was released as the B-side of "Success" in October 1977, but failed to chart.[2][15] Pop's press officer Robin Eggar attempted to pursue RCA to issue "The Passenger" as an A-side, feeling it would be a hit, but he was ignored.[16] Following its use in a car commercial two decades later,[2] the song was released as an A-side by Virgin Records in March 1998 with "Lust for Life" and The Idiot track "Nightclubbing", with the catalog number 7243 8 94921 2 5.[17] The single peaked at number 22 on the UK Singles Chart and remained on the chart for three weeks.[18]

"The Passenger" has remained a mainstay of Pop's live performances.[4] The song received an official music video in 2020, 43 years after its initial release.[19]