Punk poetess Patti Smith, still rocking at 58, received one of the highest French cultural honors, the Order of the Arts and Letters, from Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres at an AIDS concert in Paris yesterday.
An abashed Smith said she accepted the award "from the most spiritual side of me," and added, "I have vowed to live up to this honor in my work and my conduct. I can't explain what I feel like. It has uplifted me, and I will work very hard to earn it."
The citation called Smith "one of the most influential artists in women's rock 'n' roll," which was a strange way of putting it, and also noted her appreciation of difficult, brilliant French Romantic poet Arthur Rimbaud - the French appreciate being appreciated, it would seem.
I'm sure the arty French also were grooving to the fact that Robert Mapplethorpe was her roommate, Sam Shepard was her lover, and William Burroughs was one of her many champions back in the day.
Though Smith is still vital and recording quite successfully, much of her reputation rests on her work in the '70s with the Patti Smith Group — which played regularly at legendary clubs like Max's Kansas City and CBGB's and was at the center of a scene that included the Ramones, Blondie, Television and the Talking Heads — and in particular their astonishing debut album, Horses, produced by John Cale in 1975.
I talked with Cale about making the record.
"That was a case of recording a poet who was a mother hen over some inexperienced musicians, who had all the heart in the world. Once we were in the studio we discovered, 'My God, all of these instruments are warped!' We stopped, ordered in a whole slew of new instruments, and had them record that way," he said.
"Just that act alone was enough to uproot some of the sensibilities there, and that created a whole new set of instabilities within the band and toward me. I was a little brusque with them. I'm sure I could have handled it a lot better. Everyone has their favorite instrument that they love and have gotten used to. You walk in there with muddy boots and somebody feels insulted: 'What, you don't like this gorgeous Fender with a bullet hole in it?'"
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Tube Pinoy
I agree. She has influenced a generation. Simply one of the great American singer/songwriters ever.
2 - Eric Olsen
thanks Tube, what's your favorite Patti album?
3 - Randy P
"Easter" but I also like "Dream of Life". I thought it was underrated after listening to it again and again.
4 - godoggo
Luv Patti, but don't know her discography well enough to pick a favorite.
Anyway... "Dream of Life" â€" that's the name of a song by my all time favorite singer, Carmen McRae! Patti doesn't sing it, does she?
5 - Randy P
Not sure but if she cover Carmen McRae that would be interesting.
6 - godoggo
As would the reverse. Too bad about that annoying death thing.
7 - Eric Olsen
I'm pretty sure that's Patti's own tune.
Interestingly, her next album is supposed to be one of covers
8 - alpha
Patti Smith not only had Sam Shepard, Mapplethorpe, and the friendship of (then) aged Burroghs. She had me as a fan.
Of Course the French were slow to pick up on her greatness but I knew back in the days of Max's Kansas City and SOHO, the place where brave artists lived.
About time she gets lots of kudos.
But how did she ever get to be 58 just like me?
Idols shouldn't have to age.
9 - godoggo
BTW, Carmen's song was first recorded by Billie. I googled the lyrics and yeah the different, although I would imagine that Patti knows her Billie.
10 - ClubhouseCancer
Patti is a genius. The classic period (Horses, Radio Ethiopia, Wave, Easter) are all perfect in their way, although Wave does suffer from some dated production values, including, amazingly, some keyboards that clue you in that the album was recorded in 1979.
And the first comeback album, Gone Again (1999 maybe?), is just as good. This is not the prevailing attitude, even among fans, but it is mine. GA is one of those records that, for me, keeps revealing more the more I listen.
And not one second on any of the records is as satisfying as seeing her play music live, where she's the most amazing rock performer I've ever seen.
But Eric, I know geography makes you care, but I think the R&R Hall of Fame is an awful idea poorly executed. So who cares if they give Patti the imprimatur? The chief benefit seems to me to be a one-time chance to trade riffs with Jeff Lynne or Tom Petty or Clapton or somebody.
11 - ClubhouseCancer
A Patti covers album sounds like a great idea. The ones she has recorded in the past are stunning. The "Wicked Messenger" on Gone Again cuts Dylan, to my ears.
Even Al might like her amazing "When Doves Cry," which i think is on the box set that Eric has kindly linked first above.
And, frankly, the songs on Trampin' were a pretty watery batch, by her standards, so maybe a little recharge is in order. Oh, and maybe more than a few thousand people will buy it if she puts something by Britney or J. Lo or Maroon 5 on it.
12 - Eric Olsen
excellent points all: Alpha, it always seems really weird to me when icons age also, shouldn't have to happen, and then they die, too!
CC, I think more highly of th eRock Hall than you do, but not as highly as I used to. But my point is if they're going to have it, the right people should be in it.
13 - Rodney Welch
I play Horses; it's become an absolute favorite, and"Land" is just amazing. I've never heard the album Dream of Life, but I always asumed she got the words from Shelley's poem "Adonais" and that maybe she heard them for the first time much the way I did: by hearing or seeing that tape of Mick Jagger reciting that passage at Brian Jones' memorial service.
14 - Eric Olsen
Rodney, always the literati (smile)
15 - Rodney Welch
It's my curse.
16 - ClubhouseCancer
Dream of Life isn't a first-rate one. It came out of nowhere in the early 80s, when she had been retired for a little while, and was a collaboration with her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith. I remember looking up Adonais when the album came out. I don't have my Shelley handy now, but I seem to remember that Patti's chorus about sea and sky echoes the end of Shelley's elegy, which I remember as being way too long.
DOL does contain "People have the Power," a sort-of anthem that Patti drags out at the annual Tibet benefits and that Bruce and REM and John Fogerty sang together as their encore. It's Ok as anthems go, and I have no problem reminding people that power lies in our hands in this country.
BTW, Oliver Ray is now out of Patti's outstanding band (and life), and an old friend, the incredible Tom Verlaine, is the new guitarist!
17 - ClubhouseCancer
Also, I meant that Bruce and Fogerty and REM sang "People Have the Power" at the John Kerry concerts last year. They also sang "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace Love and Understanding."
18 - Tim Jarrett
Count me in as voting for Gone Again as her best. I love Horses and bits and pieces of her other 70s era albums, but her 1996 comeback album is her most moving, consistent, and personal album. The contribution from Jeff Buckley on “Beneath the Southern Cross” doesn’t hurt either.
19 - Rodney Welch
FWIW:
Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleepâ€"
He hath awakened from the dream of lifeâ€"
’Tis we, who lost in stormy visions, keep
With phantoms an unprofitable strife,
And in mad trance, strike with our spirit’s knife
Invulnerable nothings.â€"We decay
Like corpses in a charnel; fear and grief
Convulse us and consume us day by day,
And cold hopes swarm like worms within our living clay.
-- Shelley, Adonais
20 - Eric Olsen
that's what all that cavorting in the heather will do to you
21 - ClubhouseCancer
Funny, Heather herself never complained.
22 - Bryan McKay
Funny, Heather herself never complained.
ROFL!
Reminds me of one of my favorite road signs ever: "Entering Marion."
23 - Eric Olsen
she was intoxicated by their heliotrope Romantic emissions
24 - gypsyman
Eric
Aside form the horrible puns in the comments section, this was a great post. I saw this story in this mornings paper, yeterday's news, but you had even more details.
The quotes from Jhon Cage were great and true to life when it comes to so many musicians I know.
Thanks for remingding me about her, and yeah I look forward to her album of covers, Because The Night, remains one of my favourite crusing in a car songs.
Did Springsteen ever redcord it?
gypsyman
25 - Randy P
Bruce does it live as he included it on his "1975-85" live box set. I also like "Dancing Barefoot". Although U2 is my favorite band, they could never match Patti's artistry when they covered this.