Patti Smith on the artist who had “everything you wanted in a rock star”
Patti Smith’s love for Jimi Hendrix runs deep. More than just an admiration for his music or a love for the man who is widely regarded as one of the greatest musicians the world has ever known, Smith’s connection with the guitarist acts as a kind of golden thread that ties her entire musical career together from it’s very beginning to today.
The first song Smith ever put out was a Hendrix cover. In a lot of ways, her cover of ‘Hey Joe’ is evocative of the career she would have. It merged the true rock and roll of Hendrix’s original with her own unique poetic streak in a way that not only marries the two but points out that the prior couldn’t exist without the latter. It also captures the element of Smith’s career that has always been dedicated to honouring her idols and remembering the leading lights of the creative world.
Released in 1974, the decision to lead with this cover was not only a way to honour Hendrix as a musician but also to thank him for the personal impact he’d had on Smith’s life. In 1970, the pair met at a launch party for Electric Lady, Hendrix’s recording studio. For Smith, who was only just beginning to dip her toes into the world of music and merging her poetry with rock, it was an intimidating affair. She’d yet to even set foot in a proper studio, let alone set foot in one built by one of her musical idols.
As she faltered outside, trying to get the bravery to go in, she met the man himself. She recalled in her memoir Just Kids, “When I told him I was too chicken to go in, he laughed softly and said that contrary to what people think, he was shy and parties made him nervous.” In their brief conversation, Hendrix not only gave Smith the confidence to go to the party but also to get in the studio and truly get to work on her music. When it came to recording her first songs, which she did at Electric Lady, she could think of no better way to begin than with a song to honour the late hero who had inspired her to take the first step inside.
But beyond even that personal connection, Smith thought Hendrix represented the absolute epitome of what a rockstar should be. He was the gold standard to which all other musicians should look, for example. “He was everything you would want in your rock and roll star. He was beautiful, intelligent, hungry,” Smith said, recalling the early run-ins she was lucky enough to have with the musician as a young up-starter.
“He was such a great loss because he was only 27 years old,” she said, reflecting on the tragedy of his early death. “He was going to evolve in magnificent places. His ambition to create a new language through music and to work with all kinds of musicians from all over the world, and just develop a language of peace, as he called it.”
Even decades on from that first encounter and her first time recording ‘Hey Joe’, the impact of Hendrix on her life continues. It’s something she still honours today as her band performs his song ‘Fire’ during an interlude in her live shows as if to conjure his energy as she continues the legacy he encouraged her to make.
“When I was younger I just loved him, I loved his songs, I’d daydream about him. But at this time in my life, as an artist, I appreciate him even more deeply,” she said, “I never get tired; I’ve never outgrown him.”
