I’m worth a million in prizes

“I’m worth a million in prizes.” – Lust For Life – Iggy Pop.  You can’t speak of this song and not talk about the infectious drum beat of the song, which also inspired Jet’s “Are You Going To Be My Girl?” but was actually born from two different Motown tracks, “You Can’t Hurry Love” and “I’m Ready For Love”.  Lust For Life had impeccably BAD timing in it’s release as it came out three weeks after Elvis Presley’s death, when Iggy’s record company only wanted to press Presley records and not Iggy’s latest release in the fall of 1977.  The irony of the lyrics of this song is that they were mostly improvisational by Iggy Pop, and not written down in advance per se.  This song is one of those that was “born again” when it was featured on 1996’s Trainspotting soundtrack, introducing Iggy Pop to a whole new generation of rock fans.  

“I’m worth a million in prizes.”  The self proclamation in this song brims with confidence, especially given the year of its writing (1977) when a million dollars meant a lot more than what it does today.  Worth.  It’s been bandied about by many different people over the years.  The person that has instilled that in me more than anyone else has to be Mark Ferrell.  You see, Mark was a mentor before I even knew who a mentor was.  When i was at a crossroads in my career, I reached back out to find him on the world wide web (as it was known back then), and became inspired again.  The message that Mark (also known as the Worthmeister) teaches is all about worth, and not just monetary worth either.  Who has been the worthmeister in your life?  Who has helped you see that you are worth MORE than a million in prizes?  What infectious beat pounds in your head to motivate you to be worth more?  Those are #LyricsToLiveLifeBy.