Tag: patti smith

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I finished reading Patti Smith’s “Bread of Angels” (2025). It is a beautiful, “death-haunted,” memoir. I suppose if you live long enough you too will become “death-haunted.” Death is sort of the mystery that envelops every life. Those of us still living must contend with the reality and finality of death in our own particular ways. Patti reaches out to the mystery & the poetry. It’s admirable, inspiring and deeply sad too. I was happy to read the book, and also happy to finish it. Patti lost some of her most significant lovers, inspirers, and co-conspirators early on. And she lost many more significant & influential folks over the years. She pays tribute to all those who gifted her along the way. An extraordinary life. The r&r shaman & poet. I recently purchased the 50th Anniversary Edition of her debut album “Horses.” (1975). The remaster CD sounds fantastic. One of the greatest debut albums of all time with probably, for me, the greatest opening lines of all time. Certainly lines that made this lasped-Catholic boy sit up and take notice. Yes. Head-opening. A glorious liberation: “Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine…”  The lines that follow are epic too: “… my sins are my own… they belong to me… to me…” Very Jean Paul Satre “existentialist,” don’t you know?! And then throughout her rendition of the classic r&r song, “Gloria,” Patti adopts the persona of a very insistent & aggressive rebellious-tomboy, on the hunt for a pretty young thing, “leaning on the parking meter, humping on the parking meter,” or maybe she’s imagining embodying a creative, rebellious, rambunctious boy, something along the lines of a young, surrealist-cowboy-mouth Dylan or an illminated Arthur Rimbaud? You know, totally, fucking extraordinary, mind-expanding r&r, right up there with Dylan’s great album “Highway 61 Revisited” (1965).- Jammer

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Freaking cold this morning. Sun breaking over the lake, and I am blasting Patti Smith’s record “Horses,” on a magnificent sound system in a mansion by the lake. It’s a funny life. Is there a better opening for a record than “Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine?” I think not. The only album-openers that come close for me are the rim-shot opening Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisted,” and the descending notes from Keith Richard’s guitar on the Stone’s “Let it Bleed.” As the Lovely Carla Hayden says about me, “Jammer is a r&r purist.” Hah. I know what I like, & I am always looking for moments of passion & truth. The new 50th anniversay edition remaster of “Horses,” is freaking glorious. “My sins are my own… they belong to me…” Yes, so liberating & exhilarating! – Jammer

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patti-smith-snl-easter-1976-100“Gloria.” The Patti Smith version. The one that starts, “Jesus died for somebody’s sins… but not mine…” Powerful. Blasphemous. It was our closing song at last Saturday’s covers show, Sex, Drugs & R&R. The song was always tantalizing, but didn’t completely jell in rehearsals. Three simple chords. Visionary poetry/trashy garage rock. The band had doubts. Could we pull it off? Could we make it fly? Based on the post-show response, it’s fair to say, that the answer is “Yes,” we could make it fly. It all came together. Carla channeled the fiery outlaw poet spirit of Patti, and she rode the raucous energy of the band like a surfer riding a wild-ass wave. It was a peak experience. Satisfying. Exhilarating. No doubt! Rock and roll! – Jammer

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“Jesus Died for somebody’s sins, but not mine…”  Visionary poetry married to punky-garage rock. Rock and roll embodied by a flinty, knife-sharp, Black Raven-like girl, declaiming a deeply subversive and ecstatic vision. The collaboration between Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye; the perfect r&r template. The Poet and The Guitar Slinger. All fever-dream, stream-of-consciousness, and spit. Sam Shepard (Tooth of Crime) and Bob Dylan (Blonde on Blonde) in their boots of Spanish leather, and their mirrored shades, looking over Patti’s shoulder with cracked, sideways, grins. Cowboy Mouth! – Jammer