NPR #NowPlaying
By Tom Huizenga
"Mom and dad are really gone," Iggy Pop repeats, with the graveled voice of experience, in his poem of love, loss and regret, set to music by the Amsterdam-based harpist and composer Lavinia Meijer. Even if your parents are both still alive (I'm down by one), this unexpected and moving collaboration may pierce your heart and question your life choices.
Iggy Pop places career success ("I competed / And I defeated.") and parental love on the scale of morals and finds himself lacking. "I should have loved you more," he intones with the sting of guilt. Yet, in an affecting moment near the end, he's left with just his father who holds his hand and tells him, "You've made your dream come true." The music — glistening, urgent — and the poetry get an emotional boost in the accompanying video, where a shirtless urchin, a mini-Iggy stand-in, shows twin sides of toughness and vulnerability. At a time when the pandemic has inordinately threatened the lives of the elderly, this piece is potent enough to make you call out to mom and dad. Even if they are not still with us.
Read original NPR feature here.
Mom & Dad features on Lavinia Meijer's new album Are You Still Somewhere? available on all streaming platforms here:
Album cover credit:
Robin de Puy