Stooges – Fun House

I like the Stooges because I like raw and uncooked…and that is them. This song was the title track of their second studio album. This one is not just loud guitar and vocals. If you are a saxophone fan, you will like this. Steve Mackay plays the tenor saxophone in this and tears it up. 

When they entered the recording studio in 1970, the band wanted to capture what their shows sounded like. Producer Don Gallucci helped them set up the room so the group could play together, loud and loose as normal for them. Out of those sessions came this song, a track that shows how far the band had moved from the more structured songs on their first album.

The lineup at the time was Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexander. The song runs on a repeating riff from Ron Asheton while the rhythm section locks into a groove that sticks. Instead of building toward a traditional chorus, the song stretches out. When saxophonist Steve Mackay joins in, adding a free-form part that pushes the music further into chaos.

I love Iggy’s voice in this one. His vocals often move between spoken lines and shouted phrases. The recording keeps the rough edges…which was the goal of the sessions. The band wanted something closer to the stage than to a polished studio track. I tend to write that a lot in my reviews… because well…raw and uncooked remember? That’s what I like. 

When the saxophone really kicks in, and the rhythm keeps rolling, it feels like the walls of the room are closing in…and I like that. 

Fun House

Blow right on it, now!
Blow, Steve!
I feel alright
Yeah, I feel alright
Let me in
Hey, let me in
‘Ey, bring it down

Callin’ from the fun house with my song
We been separated, baby, far too long
A-callin’ all you whoop-dee pretty things
Shinin’ in your freedom, come and be my rings

Hold me tight, callin’ from the fun house
Hold me tight, callin’ from the fun house

Yeah, I came to play and I mean to play around
Yeah, I came to play and I mean to play real good
Yeah, I came to play

Alright
Hey, let me in
Take it down
I feel alright
A-take it down

Little baby girlie, little baby boy
Cover me with lovin’ in a bundle o’ joy
Do I care to show you what I’m dreamin’ of
Do I dare to whoop y’all with my love

Every little baby knows just what I mean
Livin’ in division in a shiftin’ scene

Hold me tight, callin’ from the fun house
Hold me tight, callin’ from the fun house

Blow
Yeah, I came to play
I came to play
Blow, Steve!

Hey
Hey now
Let me in
One more time
Take it down
Take it down
A-take it down

We been separated
We been separated
A little too long

Blow
Yeah, I came to play
Yeah, fun house, boy, will steal your heart away
Yeah, fun house, boy, will steal your heart away
Steal
Yeah
I came to play
I came to play
I came to play
This is it
Baby
Yeah, I came to play
I came to play

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

45 thoughts on “Stooges – Fun House”

  1. Pingback: Stooges – Fun House – MobsterTiger

  4. Iggy’s pants remind me of a morning I was sitting at a window table in a cafe and saw a guy across the street walking down the sidewalk carrying a large and heavy-looking box on his head. His pants were sagging and he didn’t have a hand free to hold them up. They slowly fell to around his ankles. Now he couldn’t walk and he couldn’t pull up his pants.

    I wouldn’t want to be on Iggy’s security team.

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  5. I love Raw Power….I always find it interesting while he Stooges, MC5, the Velvet Underground and maybe even the Doors were doing there thing, we also had Woodstock and the Hippies…that was an amazing time…those one the east of the US had things like the Black Panthers, the riots at the Democratic convention in Chicago…such history

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    1. Yes the music was loaded back then and it did have a lot of raw power. BTW…I was picking out a MC5 song for today but went with the Stooges instead….I’ll get them coming up soon.

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  6. Incredible title for an incredible album. We must admit that noone can remain indifferent to that sound. I can understand that a David Bowie did not come out unscathed from an encounter with this raw fury. Excellent choice, buddy.

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  8. it certainly has a ‘live from the floor’ sound to it. As a whole, it doesn’t do much for me but the sax part is good, and not what I would normally expect from them based on my limited knowledge of the group

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  9. Great song. I feel for the security guys in that video! I may be wrong but it’s as though the circle that gives proper due to this band and Iggy Pop more specifically is awfully small. The level of music experimentation and the sort of free Jazz elements are amazing. Yet I don’t think in general the Stooges or as you mentioned MC5 would be connected to their use of the saxophone for example.

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    1. This is the first time I properly listened to this album. I would have never guessed a sax would fit after listening to their debut album…but it does!
      I never connected experimentation with them…bad mistake on my part.

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      2. Looked like that was an excuse for losing their minds. Doesnt help when the headliner encourages it. I remember seeing DOA and Joey Shitheads wife was getting into it with some of the crowd. Gotta love rock n roll.

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      4. Now that I think about it we had one pretty wild night with a Punk Band called The Battered Wives later shortened to just The Wives (pc was alive and well back then) You might know of them. They were quite good actually. I recall tossing out a few over enthusiastic college kids that night!

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  14. Love the first video. Why those scruffy security folks had to mess it up I don’t know. Yes, I know, but Iggy was fine with the crowd. He pours forth pure libidinous energy from himself.

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