June 02, 2010
Songwriter. Poet. Trailblazer. Rock Icon. With her creative genius and rock & roll spirit, Patti Smith continues to inspire each new generation.
By Jim Steinblatt
Patti Smith performing at the 2010 ASCAP show in Hollywood, CA
On Wednesday, April 21st, ASCAP presented its prestigious Founders Award to Patti Smith, who, as a young factory worker with deep artistic yearnings, left southern New Jersey in 1967 for New York City and helped to transform rock & roll. Her debut album, Horses, released in 1975, merging "three chords with the power of the word," remains an iconic work and an important contribution to our cultural voice. Over the years Smith haswritten or co-writtenmany standout songs, including "Birdland," "Free Money," "Dancing Barefoot," "Because the Night," "Ghost Dance," "Frederick" and "People Have the Power." Smith's powerful influence is evident in artists as diverse as U2, the Pretenders, Sonic Youth and R.E.M.
Now 63, she remains committed to pursuing "the revolutionary to the point of blasphemy." Yet she is delighted to be singled out for the ASCAP Founders Award. Speaking last month at her favorite West Village café, she said, "Truthfully, receiving an honor like this makes mewant all themore towrite a song thatwill tap into the public consciousness; to keep on plugging away. There is honor in being influential, though obscure. But recognition for one's work - I certainly welcome that." She had a great deal more to say about her life and work.
On her early years: "When Iwas young, Iwanted to be a writer. I read Little Women and Jo's Boys, by Louisa May Alcott. Jo March was a writer and I wanted to be like her. She was sort of a tomboy and was a character I could relate to. At school I also pursued painting. I wasn't interested in cooking or sewing or being a hairdresser - the things expected of a girl in a lower middle class community in the early 60's. I wanted to be free. So I left homewith dreams of being an artist and to get a job, because I needed to make a living and there was no end of bookstores in New York."
On music as she was growing up: "All through my life music has been a solace. There was always music in our home; my mother listened to Artie Shaw, my father listened to classical music. I grew up as rock & roll was evolving. I watched it happen through teenagers around me, listening to Bo Diddley, Little Richard and Elvis Presley. When I look back, the very emotional R&B songs and Italian operawere the two things I liked best.
In 1963, John Coltrane opened my mind to the idea of improvisation and spirituality in music. Jazz wasmy world until the Animals and Rolling Stones came along. As a young girl growing up in the early 60's, my essential role model was Joan Baez, and through her I found Bob Dylan."
On early times in New York: "I met Robert Mapplethorpe in Brooklyn in 1967 (Smith's years with Mapplethorpe are documented in her recent book, Just Kids). In working and struggling together I became privy to his friends and his studies at the Pratt Institute of Art. After many trials, we moved to the Chelsea Hotel in 1969. We had few prospects but scraped by to stay there.We realized that the Chelsea was the home of a lifetime, for passing through those doors every day were extraordinary people who became friends and mentors. People such as Harry Smith, Allen Ginsberg, Janis Joplin, and Sam Shepard and Bobby Neuwirth. Bobby took me under his wing. He inspired me to direct my energy toward songwriting."
On longtime collaborator and friend Lenny Kaye: "I sought Lenny Kaye out for he had written a moving essay on a cappella music and I wanted to tell him what a great piece it was. In those days you just looked up someone in a phone book, so I called him. And he said, 'I work in a record store, come by and say hello.' I did. Lenny and I are the same age and share the same references. We just hit it off. When I did my first poetry reading in 1971, I asked Lenny if he would play with me. I wanted to infuse some high energy into the reading. I asked himto improvise like Albert Ayler, only on electric guitar. And that began our lifelong collaboration. I can honestly say I wouldn't be here without Lenny."
"Horses was really written for outsiders, like me. Iwasn't thinking of the wholeworld. I was thinking of the disenfranchised artists and poets."
On Clive Davis, who signed Smith to the Arista label: "Clive had just formed Arista Records. He had Barry Manilow, Melissa Manchester, and I think I was his third artist, which shows you something about the range and vision of Clive. When he signed me, you couldn't have imagined a rougher diamond. What did Clive see in me?
Iwas nomusician or great singer but perhaps a natural performer. My mother loved Judy Garland, Ethel Merman and Edie Gormé - the real go-getters. I guess she instilled that in me. I'm sure Clive saw that. Clive also has a weakness for art. I believe that Clive, even if he didn't always agree with what I was doing, was always interested in the core of what drove me on."
On her biggest hit, "Because the Night," co-written with Bruce Springsteen: "I asked Jimmy Iovine, Bruce Springsteen's engineer, to produce my third album, Easter. He had never produced a record and some people thought it a risky choice, but I knew that he would work night and day to give me the best record he knew how. So I fought for him, and I won.
Jimmy was very ambitious. Bruce Springsteen was involved in a legal situation at the time and couldn't record. Bruce had written a song, and Jimmy brought me a cassette tape of it and kept saying, 'You have to listen to this song.' But I was reluctant, for I thought it was really important that my band write our own songs. So I placed it in a basket and put off listening to it and kept struggling with my own bits and pieces.
Iwas having a long distance relationshipwith my future husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith - back when a long distance telephone call was a big deal. He had promised to call me from Detroit, and it was getting late. I was impatiently pacing around and I noticed the tape sitting in my basket. I had promised Jimmy I'd listen to it, so I popped it in my cassette player. And there was the song, completely arranged, in my key, with a great chorus and some mumbling for verses. I listened to it, and I shut off the tape recorder and said, 'Oh no, it's one of those damn hit records.' And I thought if I worked on it and sang it, I might have my first hit song. It felt like a moral conundrum. I listened to it over and over again while I waited formy phone call, and wrote the lyrics, and Fred did call, six hours late. But by the time he called, I had written my part of the lyrics. And that's why it says 'Have I doubtwhen I'malone, love is the ring, the telephone.' It's about waiting for Fred to call me.
I took it to my band, and they agreed it was a great song. So we recorded it very quickly - right at the tail end of our album - and itwas my first hit single. That song has given me much pleasure and bailed me out in times of strife. When my husband died, I had reached a very low point. I had no money and had two children. Natalie Merchant recorded it, and Bruce put it on a live record. The royalties from that song helped me get through the darkest and roughest times. And now, all these years later, when I sing it, I smile because the people are excited to hear it and I wrote those lyrics for Fred, the love of my life."
On writing in a more political vein: "Whenwe are young, we are more concerned with ourselves. I think that's fine. I think that's part of human evolution. Horses was really written for outsiders, likeme. I wasn't thinking of the whole world. I was thinking of the disenfranchised artists and poets. But now, in 2010, I feel we are all disenfranchised. And so I seek to sing for everyone. After getting married and having a family, my concerns became more humanistic. The song that best exemplifies this philosophy is 'People Have the Power,' which I wrote with Fred. After Fred died, I formedmy present band, the core being Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty and Tony Shanahan. "People Have the Power" has become our band anthem. It's about the strength of the individual, but also that of people, as a common force."
