Patti Smith names her “favourite songs that no one else has heard”
Like her New York contemporary, Bob Dylan, poet and performer Patti Smith is recognised as one of the 20th century’s most innovative artists. Smith’s early talent was forged in New York City’s fertile folk-rock circuits and steeped in contemporary Beat Generation material; however, raw, passionate delivery accompanied by a heavier rock sound would later earn Smith the title ‘Godmother of Punk’.
Smith holds this title thanks to the gritty realism and intensity of her poetic performances, but she’s argued on several occasions that her output was never entirely aligned with the punk wave. “I’ve been called the ‘Princess of Piss’, ‘The Keeper of the Phlegm’, ‘The Wild Mustang of Rock’ n’ Roll’,” Smith once told the BBC with an air of irony. “But I was not really a punk, and my band was never a punk rock band.”
“I felt that our cultural voice, which was so magnificent through the late ’60s and early ’70s, was faltering, and there was the rise of stadium rock and glam rock and all of these different things, and I felt like somebody had to save it,” she continued. “I didn’t think that it would be me, but I thought I could play a role. I had a strong sense of myself, and I came to say, ‘Here I am’. I’m speaking to those like me, the disenfranchised, the mavericks. ‘Don’t lose heart, don’t give up.'”
Smith is revered most of all for her masterpiece album of 1975, Horses, but made huge commercial strides subsequently with ‘Dancing Barefoot’ and the Bruce Springsteen-penned single ‘Because the Night’. These moments serve a crucial purpose in drawing new listeners to Smith’s oeuvre, but they’re just the very tip of a varied iceberg teeming with rewarding and often esoteric material.
Perhaps the only constant in Smith’s catalogue is evocative and even provocative lyricism. It is her unique talent as a wordsmith that places her apart from her contemporaries, but even the most innovative art is informed to some degree.
In 2014, Smith sat down with Shortlist to discuss some of her all-time favourite songs. Among the selections were her favourite song to dance to, ‘Heatwave’ by Martha and The Vandelas, and her favourite sad song, Skeeter Davis’ ‘End of the World’. However, most intriguingly, Smith was asked to name her “favourite song that no one else has heard of.”
Struggling to pinpoint just one obscure gem, Smith discussed three obscure favourites. “More obscure songs…two songs come to my mind,” she pondered. “One is a song by a Scottish girl, it’s called ‘John Anderson [My Jo]’ – it’s a little song that a woman is singing about her husband who is now old but was once beautiful.”
“The other song that I think of is ‘If I Can’t Have You’ by Etta and Harvey. Etta James used to sing with Harvey Fuqua, and it’s an awesome song,” Smith pursued. “No one knows about it – I’ve asked a million people, ‘Do you know this song by Etta & Harvey?’ And there’s just something so… it’s a very sensual… it’s a badass song!”
After naming her two, one further song came to mind. With no regard for the challenge’s limitations, Smith added: “And another, it’s called ‘Today’s the Day’ by Maureen Gray. This song is, for me, one of the greatest songs…a young teenage girl singing it, it’s just the exuberance of this song, I used to dance to it when I was like 15 [sings] ‘Today’s the day that you’re going away.'”
“When I hear that song, I have to stop and dance. It’s incredible,” she continued. “Every once in a while – I forget about it for years and then…I recently told my daughter about it. I said, ‘Wanna hear a great song?’ and I found it on YouTube, and I leapt up and started dancing, and she went, ‘Mommy!’ I was just so excited to hear it. What’s beautiful about this song is she’s singing about her boyfriend, who is leaving – I don’t know if he was drafted or what, because there were a lot of songs when I was a teenager about boys going off to Korea or then Vietnam – but she’s singing it – ‘today’s the day that you’re going away’ – with such exuberance, but she’s heartbroken.”
Patti Smith’s recommendations:
- ‘Today’s the Day’ – Maureen Gray
- ‘If I Can’t Have You’ – Etta James and Harvey Fuqua
- ‘John Anderson My Jo’ – Eddi Reader
Listen to ‘Today’s the Day’ by Maureen Gray below.
