Lou Reed´s “Berlin” VS Iggy Pop´s “Only The Lonely”
Alejandro De Luna
If you could think in a song that works as a complement of Lou Reed´s Berlin” (1973), there´s no better way to go than Iggy Pop´s reinterpretation of “Only The Lonely” (2012), a song immortalized by Frank Sinatra´s seductive and engaging crooning in 1958, but that in the voice of Iggy Pop boosts in emotion and pain. Thirty nine years separate these songs from each other, but the mood and empathy in each track blends perfectly into a storm of sorrow and desolation.
If you listen to “Berlin” – the opening song from Lou Reed´s seminal album of the same name – there´s just a heartbroken and solitary piano that, along with Lou´s severe tones and agonizing lyrics, tears your emotions. In this essential piece of recorded noise, Lou Reed takes as an influence, the european romanticism and West Berlin´s bohemia to elevate his poetry into a cabaret-like tale full of claustrophobia. “Berlin” still recalls the Velvets´ultra realistic NY junkie poetry, but with a different approach. This time, Reed take as a pattern, the destructive relationship between Caroline and Jim while living in Berlin. A story that throughout the full album, becomes a memoir of drug addiction, violence and suicide between a disastrous couple. In “Berlin”, there´s no way to go other than to recall those moments when you miss somebody that´s gone.
Iggy Pop achieves a similar effect with a softer, but desolate affair in “Only The Lonely”, from Après – his second and fully French-like album in less than 4 years. Also influenced by a classy European sound of dark nightclubs and bohemia, it feels that this song has the same pace than Reed´s melancholic and tragic story along with similarities on the spooky and silent production, and a haunting piano mixed with Pop´s rancid but gentle voice full of wisdom.
Melodically and lyrically, both songs have a correlation. From small cafés, to picnics in the beach as the places where our heroes recall their feelings and memories. From “a love that used to be” to a love that will be missed when´s gone.
Two dark, haunting, simple and claustrophobic tracks. Just beautiful.
