Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and visual artist who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPunk Singer
Date of Birth30 December 1946
CityChicago, IL
CountryUnited States of America
rooms energy tension
I like energy. I like to feel it cracklin', I like sexual energy in a room, and I like tension.
running years ideas
I'm not a critic. I'm not a journalist. I'm not a philosopher. Arguing that punk has run its course is like saying painting ran its course after the Renaissance. Punk is an idea. It's freedom. And it'll be around 200 years from now for the people who want it.
artist hands zippers
A good artist's always got his hand in his zipper.
thinking people waste
I'm pretty moral about what I do. If I didn't think I was worthy of doing something, I wouldn't do it. I ain't gonna waste a bunch of people's time.
book writing rocks
I like making records right now 'cause I can express myself that way in a very immediate, physical sense. You can always write a book, but you can't always do a rock 'n' roll record that's gonna work.
afternoon too-much evening
I'm a total failure at housewifery. I always have been, 'cause I daydream too much. If I start doing the dishes at one in the afternoon, I'll still be there at six in the evening.
people purity
People like beauty and purity. They pretend that's what it's all about.
moving rocks voice
When I started making music, we'd lost a lot of our great people. Rock was moving in a direction I didn't like. Rock was my generation's revolutionary, sexual, poetic, and political voice, but it had become corporatized. It was going into stadiums. It was so far removed from its basic roots.
ideas talking happens
I had this idea that the coolest thing that could happen to you was talking with God.
style ginsberg beatnik
My style of performance poetry came from the beatniks, Allen Ginsberg.
stars role-models roles
All of my role models, whether it was the disciples, or John the Baptist or Arthur Rimbaud, slept under the stars.
I've always considered myself a writer.
writing aspect small-parts
I didn't write about aspects of my public life because that's a small part of my life.
hard-times stranger young
I wasn't a stranger to hard times. I used to read the Bible - well, I still do, but when I was young I read the Bible quite a bit.