“Strong collective effort”: The songs Patti Smith thought represented her band the most
Patti Smith’s output is so vast and so eclectic that attempting to compare or even rank her work would be impossible. It spans decades, styles, genres and even mediums as she’s given the world anthemic rock songs, avant garde poetry pieces and everything in between. But in her eyes, she’s at her best with her band beside her, feeling like certain songs best represent the group.
Since the first time Smith put her poetry to music, back in the early 1970s, her circle of collaborators has stayed tight and loyal. At her first ever performance, she was accompanied by Lenny Kaye, a guitarist who still plays with her to this day and played a vital role in shaping every one of her albums. Kaye is a backbone of the Patti Smith Group, and really, of Patti Smith as he helped her take the first step into music.
As her confidence grew and she decided to start pursuing music fully, rather than just adding music to her poetry readings, the band grew. She brought in Richard Sohl on keys, Ivan Král on bass and Jay Dee Daugherty on drums, who still plays with her today.
Together, they made Horses and launched Patti Smith into the world of punk music with their powerful collective energy and incredible talent for improvisation. Later collaborators like Oliver Ray and Tony Shanahan would also play essential roles and stick around in the band for lengthy runs.
To Smith, the energy of her group and those enduring band relationships between her circle of collaborators powers her music. Just as much as her own poetry or her own work ethic and passion, the flair and talent that her band bring to her songs are just as important.
It’s also the reason why certain songs in her discography stand out as her favourites. “My favorite songs are usually ones that were created by the band,” she said in a fan Q and A. In particular, she picked out a few standouts, adding, “Birdland, Memento Mori and Gung Ho (the track) are three of my favourites.”
“All three of these represent a strong collective effort,” she said, praising her group’s ability to work together in service of the song. Especially when it comes to ‘Birdland’, the collective effort is particularly impressive. On Horses, the band leaned into the improvisation that had been making their name, with the band playing a tune while Smith weaved a narrative over the top. In the case of ‘Birdland’, it formed into a sprawling story with characters and scenes, but the group holds it all together with an instrumentation that is both atmospheric and intense, swelling in the right places but still leaving space for the story.
For Smith, who dreamed of rock and roll but had a mind for literature and academics, her band is incredibly important. They’re the unit that turned her dreams into reality and empowered her to take to the stage, not just as a poet reading her work but as a true performer and a pioneer of punk.
