Inverted Commas: Patti Smith

Mar 8, 2008 at 5:38 PM
5 comments

"I mean I can't be the saint people dream of now. People want a street angel. They want a saint but with a cowboy mouth. Somebody to get off on when they can't get off on themselves. I think that's what Mick Jagger is trying to do...what Bob Dylan seemed to be for a while. A sort of God in our image...ya know? Mick Jagger came close but he got too conscious. For a while he gave me hope... I want it to be perfect, 'cause it's the only religion I got...in the old days people had a Jesus and those people to embrace... They created a god with all their belief energies... and when they didn't dig But it's too hard now. We're earthy people and the old saints just don't make it, and the old God is just too far away. He don't represent our pain no more. His words don't shake through us no more. Any great motherfucker rock'n'roll song can raise me higher than all of Revelations. We created rock'n'roll from our own image, it's our child..." from Cowboy Mouth, a play Patti wrote with Sam Shepard

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[this is good]

some lovely lyrics written by her too I like this I feel uplifted by both good classical and punk rock music. good country and blues too

my husband's grandfather, my early benefactor and good father-figure, told me he only went to his church for the first-rate choir he wished the reverend wouldn't go on and on about God. one of the best friends I ever had in life and he was ninety-three when he died.

It isn't about the generation, it is about the wildness of one's brain.

Lucy, who loves the lovely Patty Smith, especially the album Easter, which I played around "granddad," who didn't quite get it, but loved me anyway

The music of the church is the one thing that I miss about it. My father used to sing and play the guitar for Saturday night mass and I remember being awed by that. When I took up Buddhism I was equally awed by the chanting, but missed music to accompany it. I've since found Buddhist inspired music and am quite taken with it. Dharma Moon's At Ease is one such album that I highly recommend if you're interested in soothing music.

soothing? wild? which?

I dunno about Patti. Seems she is clueless, but people love her for it. But music can have powerful and nearly religious effect on us.

Here is a book I have been wanting to write for years. Therapy book. Have problems in your live or in your psyche? Don't go to a shrink. Don't take drugs. Don't light candles and sit still. No. My book would cure you.

This book would be a matchup between whatever your problem is and whatever songs you need to cure them. Kind of like aromatherapy with guitars. Lost a loved one and feeling depressed? The book would subscribe Cannonball Adderly or Marcia Ball. Confused and dissociated? The music prescribed would be Alex DiGrassi or Muddy Waters. A cure for every ailment.

But not all the same. Cuz life ain't.

Still. Not sure what Patti Smith's music would cure.

Oh Math, you're too hard on Patti. I don't think she's clueless at all. I think she's endured enough suffering, what with the death of her husband, to be able to have some legitimate things to say... Your book on curing with music sounds interesting, even if it's only in its gestational period. I think Patti's music, especially Horses, could shake one out of depression, out of a real blue funk. Her later music sounds like lamenting to me, so it might serve to console a person whose tender heart is broken.

I know, Renee. I am hard on everyone. Especially people I respect. That keeps em on their toes, right? Right. Reading the above writing from Patti, however, suggests to me that some cluelessness is being very clearly expressed. Is she concerned with music or with being a cultural icon? Patti has created some ecstatic and cathartic performances but also has produced a lot of stuff that is flat. Does she know what the difference is? Another caveat I would put out about Patti is that she is one of those artists who needs to be pushed. With a grinding, aggressive band behind her she can be mind-bending. But is that her creation, or is that her response to a great band? With a less-than-great band, does she show signs of life?

Inverted Commas: Patti Smith

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