‘Pumping’: the moment Patti Smith became a rockstar
When Patti Smith first emerged in the music world, no one was quite sure what she was, and neither was she. She was a poet in the body of a rockstar, a rockstar in the body of a poet. A creative with the attitude of a punk and the artistic mind of an 1800s French writer. She was Arthur Rimbaud and a Ramone, all rolled in one. But then, with ‘Pumping’, she went all in on the latter.
A few big classic rock guitar strums, and you’re hooked. As her whole band started playing as loud and wild as they could, the riff that powers ‘Pumping’ felt like the thing that finally and utterly kicked down the door to let Patti Smith, the rockstar, walk through. Maybe this is Lenny Kaye’s most ferocious moment, as the guitars on this track are truly nothing short of face-melting, but when Smith’s vocals come in, there is no denying who is in the spotlight.
Out of all of Smith’s songs, this is the one that really reminds you that she was working and creating within the New York punk scene. Her literary streak often sets her apart from peers like Blondie, Ramones, New York Dolls and more, but she was among them. She was a regular at the CBGB, both on stage and in the crowd. She lived and breathed in—at one point being deeply in love with Tom Verlaine as he pioneered Television—and living among the rowdy crowd of the Chelsea Hotel.
While now we often see Smith as a kind of sage, full of literary and creative wisdom, in 1976, when ‘Pumping’ came out on Radio Ethiopia, she was amongst the riff-raff. She was deep in the countercultural crowd and was finally indulging in her life-long love of rockstars, having spent her younger years admiring the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards.
The launch of her musical project was a way to finally honour the dream that admiration had harboured. When she launched her ‘Rock and Rimbaud’ nights, reciting her poetry along with Kaye on guitar, that was a toe in the water of her trying to figure out if or where she had a place in the music world. Her approach on Horses was her wading deeper, balancing a few big rock songs with a few meandering, poetic improvisations. But ‘Pumping’ was a splash dive right into the deep end.
It’s three minutes and 21 seconds of pure rock power. Sure, the lyricism still has her poetic edge as she wails, “Got no recollection of my past reflection / So I’m free to move in the resurrection”, but when she chants, “Upset, total abandon, you know I love you so”, it is nothing short of a fist-in-the-air moment.
It’s exactly the kind of high-energy song that hooks you instantly and is designed to be sung back at her. It’s a track invoking a sweaty, packed-out venue vibrating almost dangerously as bodies throw themselves around. It’s a stadium song, honestly, as Smith put in her ultimate bid to be a rockstar, proving her worth and power for good.
