“The Regency” by Iggy Pop

There’s a lot going on in Iggy Pop’s “The Regency” – so much so that focusing on it all would actually lead us away from what Iggy described as being the basis of the lyrics. “The Regency”, as presented, reads as if it is some type of evil mega-corporation. So the vocalist, of course, is such that he has beef with them.

The Parking Business

Iggy has revealed that this outing was inspired by “really big business” alright. But more specifically what motivated him, quite interestingly, is the “parking business” in particular. Or the way he described it is that when you’re dealing with institutions like banks and stadiums, a considerable amount, if not most of their profit actually comes from parking charges. 

That noted, banks aren’t conventionally known for charging their customers for parking spaces. But what Iggy is more logically getting at is those businesses which do engage in such practices making a lot more money doing so than we, the general public, realize.

Working Girls

What about that particular reality went on and compelled the senior musician to rant against the man is not specified. And for some reason, prostitutes or women who use their bodies to get close to celebrities are also added to the mix.

We have to take it that Iggy Pop knows a thing or two about dealing with groupies. And in the first pre-chorus, he mentions “Misty”, a young lady presumably, who does appear to be one, i.e. a rock star’s girlfriend, even though “she doesn’t love him”. And later in the second verse, i.e. the only part of this song where a parking lot – and furthermore a “cold” one – is actually mentioned, we are met with a girl who apparently uses such venues to engage in sex work. 

Going out on a limb, perhaps we can speculate that maybe Iggy is trying to say something like a lot more bonking goes on in these parking lots than we realize also.

In any event, by the time all is said and done a listener is not likely to walk away from this song thinking that it really has anything to do with parking lots.  Instead, more simply and logically interpreted it features the vocalist taking a stand against big business, though again, why he is doing so is not clearly expounded on.

When Was “The Regency” Released?

On 6th of January, 2023, Iggy Pop officially dropped his nineteenth studio album titled “Every Loser”. “The Regency” is one of the tracks found on this album.

Credits

In writing this song, Pop collaborated with a bunch of songwriters, including the late Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins. Aside co-writing this song, Hawkins also plays the drums on it. He also performed these same roles on another track from “Every Loser” titled “Comments“.

According to Iggy, he met Hawkins for the first time when he (Iggy) opened for Hawkins’ band the Foo Fighters. He stated that Hawkins’ drums on the aforementioned songs gave them life.

The other co-writers of “The Regency” include:

• Andrew Watt
• Dave Navarro
• Chris Chaney