Patti Smith on Patti Smith: Interviews and Encounters

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Patti Smith on Patti Smithincludes some of Smith's most iconic moments in the media, and some that have never appeared in print, each as insightful as they are unrehearsed

From the moment Patti Smith burst onto the scene, chanting 'Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine,' the irreverent opening line toHorses, her 1975 debut album, the punk movement had found its dissident intellectual voice. Yet outside the recording studio - Smith has released eleven studio albums - the punk poet laureate has been perhaps just as revelatory and rhapsodic in interviews, delivering off-the-cuff jeremiads that emboldened a generation of disaffected youth and imparting hard-earned life lessons. With her characteristic blend of bohemian intellectualism, antiauthoritarian poetry, and unflagging optimism, Smith gave them hope in the transcendent power of art. Her interview archive serves as a compelling counter narrative to the albums and books. Initially, interviewing Patti Smith was a censorship liability. Contemptuous of staid rules of decorum, no one knew what she might say, whether they were getting the romantic, swooning for Lorca and Blake, or the firebrand with no respect for an on-air seven-second delay.Patti Smith on Patti Smithis a compendium of profound and reflective moments in the life of one of the most insightful and provocative artists working today.

Reviews

"Here is Patti Smith: wise-cracking and meditative; funny and profound; flippant, provocative and wise. What a treat it is to read these interviews, lovingly and expertly curated by Aidan Levy. Fans and scholars alike will drink deep from this collection, which covers every aspect of Patti Smith's artistic life: from her days as an aspiring poet in the early 1970s to the years of alt rock stardom, and from her resurgence as a musician and author in the late 1980s and 1990s to her post-millennial incarnation as a highly respected memoirist, cultural commentator and political activist . . . More now than ever, we would do well to attend to Patti Smith, both on the page and on the record: this collection gives us the artist in full."--Philip Shaw, author of Patti Smith's Horses

Author Bio

Aidan Levy has written for the the Daily Forward, JazzTimesthe Nation.He is the author ofDirty Blvd.: The Life and Music of Lou Reed. He lives in New York City.