"A dragonfly lay in the cold dark snow..."

On Stooges post-FH tunes... Some have probably already been discussed here. Maybe some can shed more light. Per

Due to their gradual communication decline, Iggy and Ron stopped working together on new material for the band. Iggy was critical of the song ideas that Ron did contribute, as he didn’t feel them were up to scratch. Increasingly, Iggy took it upon himself to write new material. The Stooges’ set in the second half of 1970 featured a mix of Fun House tracks and new numbers, which were mostly penned by Iggy: “Big Time Bum,” “I Got A Right,” “Way Down In Egypt” (also known as “Egyptian Woman”), and “Private Parts.” Rock Action’s “Searching For Head” was also played from time to time. A tune called “Big Score” has also been mentioned, although it may be mistaken for “Big Time Bum.” One of the songs (not clear which) featured the lyrics, “A dragonfly lay in the cold dark snow, I sent to kiss your hard, cold feet.”

Those lyrics are from a Nico song called "Evening of Light" off her 1969 album The Marble Index. Its actually one of my favorite all-time songs by coincidence actually. I would absolutley love to hear a Stooges version of it. There a Youtube video of it featuring the Stooges running around with there faces painted white and burning a cross at night with Nico watching over them.

I think Iggy sang or recited those lyrics at one of the Ungano's Aug 1970 gigs - I think I got it from a review of one of those gigs and figured it might be lyrics from a new tune. Thanks for clearing that up. Per

It's great to see you here, Per!

Cathy BB

pernil: En till svensk?

I think I heard from somewhere (maybe your book Per) that the Stooges performed a track called Evening of Light in 69 - or maybe Iggy just called one of the 1969 tracks this for a show (he sometimes gave songs different titles on certain nights).

Though confusion may come from the Evening of Light video by Nico with Iggy in it.

Stooges gigs would usually end with a big freak out freeform noise fest - this was eventually titled "Freak" during the Fun House sessions and was renamed "LA Blues" for the album cover, but the piece never really had a name.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Iggy sometimes called this finale "Evening Of Light" on occasions and he could easily have recited Nico lyrics over the top.

I would be willing to bet good money that the Stooges never actually performed the Nico song. It's a great song though.

Cheers,

Richard

I think Ben Edmonds, who of course was hip to Nico, mentioned that Iggy would drop a few lines from Evening of Light into their show-closing freakout. I think the freakout also went by different names, just for a laugh, really, they occasionally used to title it after an MC5 song whose name I forget.
Hearing debate about all those later songs makes me think about some of the other early songs they worked on. Here's what their manager, Jimmy Silver, had to say (more on my site...):


“One of the things they would do is play these joke songs that they would make up on the spot. And they had the ability to perfectly mimic the style of all the bands that were popular around Ann Arbor at that time. They could sound like Bob Seger, they could sound like the SRC, they could sound like the Rationals, Amboy Dukes, Ted Nugent, but even better than those bands could sound themselves in their own style! They could epitomise the style these bands had – as a joke! I used to go down and go and have these almost arguments, like, You should write these songs down or flesh them out and demo them and we should give them to these guys, they would like these songs better than what they’re writing! I would tell them Lennon & McCartney would make a fortune from all these songs they wrote for other people... and they’re, ‘oh man, come on, get out of here’. They couldn’t be bothered with it. It was really remarkable to me – I could hear this thru the floor, is Scott Morgan down there playing with them?”

Reading through this thread, it kinda feels like everyone has ignored my post (the first reply to the initial poster). Its on the Nico album I mentioned and was produced by her and John Cale. I'm pretty sure Iggy was doing a cover of this, especially since the two had a brief relationship around that time.

We haven't ignored you, I'm sure it makes sense to everyone now - the Stooges connection and their version of Evening of Light. I just didn't recognise those lyrics about the dragonfly even though i have the Marble Index and think it's one of the most stunning and unique albums ever made.

The Stooges didn't do any covers back then and they didn't preform any live till 1973. And even it ("Heavy Liquid") is hardly a cover as it sounds nothing like the original. So "Louie Louie" on the last ever Stooges gig was probably the only time they did a proper cover live. Apart from Iggy crooning "The Shadow Of Your Smile" but The Stooges didn't play along to that anyway.

G, F#, E wrote:

The Stooges didn't do any covers back then and they didn't preform any live till 1973. And even it ("Heavy Liquid") is hardly a cover as it sounds nothing like the original. So "Louie Louie" on the last ever Stooges gig was probably the only time they did a proper cover live. Apart from Iggy crooning "The Shadow Of Your Smile" but The Stooges didn't play along to that anyway.

Have you changed your mind about the Stooges doing Money at King's Cross then?

Yeah I have. JSTS was right, the set would have been much shorter so I dont think "Money" was played. Even if it was in 1969 The Stooges wouldn't have done a cover.

This line is definitely in one of the versions of Dead Body on YWMA.

Marble Index was produced by Barry Friedman not Cale with Nico. Cale once said he was involved in international car theft and changed his name/identity to Frazier Mohawk. Cale did the arrangements and played most instruments on the album but the official production credit went to Frazier.