The 2010s song Patti Smith said was a disaster to sing: “It was so bad that I just started laughing”
Patti Smith didn’t want to make music purely for the sake of being the greatest singer in the world.
She knew that there was no way that she was going to become the next showstopping rock and roll diva by any stretch, but her music always catered to listeners who wanted a bit more depth behind what they were hearing every time they listened. She wanted the opportunity to be able to bring her own experience to every song, but she felt that there were a handful of tunes that she couldn’t do justice to properly.
Then again, Smith’s way of covering songs doesn’t necessarily have to do with the actual notes that are being sung on the original. ‘Gloria’ is one of the best renditions of a rock and roll classic that she ever made, but before she even gets into the song, hearing her snarl about Jesus not dying for her sins is one of the best moments in rock and roll history. It was her staking her claim as one of the best voices of her generation, but she only followed in the footsteps of those who came before her.
Some of her greatest influences were already more poets than singers half the time, and the way that she wove together her spoken-word segments across her records is absolutely stunning. The ending of Easter doesn’t have to have the most beautiful vocal to sound good over the top of everything, but when you listen to her recite those final lines, it’s enough to bring tears to your eyes.
If you put it next to a singer who has actually trained their voice properly, though, Smith knew she would be no competition. She wasn’t that kind of artist, but that didn’t stop her from trying and failing to reach the same kind of dramatic peak that Adele did when she sang her rendition of ‘Rolling in the Deep’. The song fits well in her genre, but Smith felt that she had no business doing her own version of that song.
Adele is already a powerhouse in the first few lines of that tune, and Smith admitted that there was no way that she was reaching those kinds of heights, saying, “I love covering songs. Every now and again there’s a disaster when I tried to cover a song, but I don’t have the range or the technique to do that. The worst was ‘Rolling in the Deep’. I tried to do it and it was so bad that I just started laughing. And the people knew it was bad, and they said do it anyway. But I just love that chorus.”
Granted, it would take some of the most seasoned singers to be able to match the same kind of vocal swagger that Adele has. She’s not exactly the coolest pop vocalist that the world has ever seen or anything, but if you’re looking at the raw mechanics of even her deep cuts, she had the same kind of power that would make Celine Dion wonder if she had some kind of competition whenever she sang.
But when looking at Smith’s back catalogue, it’s not like ‘Rolling in the Deep’ doesn’t fit with her aesthetic. If you break it down, the song is basically a blues, and while Adele’s showstopping makes it sound a lot more powerful than it is, it’s impossible for anyone not to feel something whenever they’re trying their hand at singing a song about getting played for a fool by their other half.
So while Smith can gladly claim to butcher any of those songs whenever she sings, it’s not like she was ever going to eclipse the original. She was just approaching the song as a fan, and while that kind of trainwreck is what every single artist tries their best to avoid, it’s better to have one of them every now and again to keep you honest.
