“Most important”: The artist Patti Smith called one of the best guitarists ever
The guitar has always been the weapon of choice in rock and roll. Even for an artist like Bob Dylan, who thrived upon the lyrical content of every song he wrote, he always made sure that he had that acoustic guitar across his chest when talking about the great troubles with the world. And while Patti Smith didn’t necessarily need guitars to become a legend, she knew that it was best to have a solid rock nd roll foundation if she wanted to truly move people’s hearts in the 1970s.
When Smith first started to make music, though, it was almost like she was fulfilling unfinished business. All of her heroes had passed away far too early in life, and whether they were icons like Jimi Hendrix, her poetic contemporaries, or her personal friends, albums like Horses was meant to take all of the raw emotion tied up in those relationships and frame it in the context of a rock and roll tune.
Bands like The Beatles had discussed the power of love, but Smith was after something a little bit more feral. Her music had to touch rock and roll right on its wound, and while many people call her the ‘Godmother of Punk’ for what she did, that was never her intention. She wanted to make something that would last forever, and that meant subverting people’s expectations.
Even when the punk revolution started, Smith was far more interested in artists who were using their platform for more artistic means. One could call what John Lydon did performance art in many ways, but it was far more interesting to listen to bands like The Clash talk about the greater problems with the world than watching a man in spiky hair be a contrarian about everything that came on the radio.
The music may have been simplistic in the same way that Smith’s was, but there was something different going on with Television. Tom Verlaine certainly didn’t see himself as a guitar hero in the same way that most people defined that word, but listening to the different approaches to songcrafting on Marquee Moon, he wanted to make people think about the instrument in a different way, down to using feedback in a particular way and creating a certain atmosphere whenever he played.
“Even though Oliver [Ray] and I wrote it, the most important interpreter of it is Tom. Tom is one of the greatest guitar players we have.”
Patti Smith
Smith already knew that Verlaine was making musical masterpieces years before he took off, but even in her later years, no one could capture what he could do in her eyes, saying, “Tom Verlaine and I have worked together back and forth since 1974. There’s also new energy from Oliver Ray, who’s twenty-three and in touch with a whole other area of knowledge. Oliver and I wrote the pivotal piece on the new record together. It’s a ten-minute-long track called ‘Fireflies’, and even though Oliver and I wrote it, the most important interpreter of it is Tom. Tom is one of the greatest guitar players we have.”
But the real power behind the tune is how it goes against what a customary rock and roll song is supposed to be. Smith had always wanted to move beyond the strict parameters of the genre, and by having a token appearance by fellow legend Jeff Buckley, ‘Fireflies’ is the kind of moody epic that fit right in amongst the art rockers of the late 1990s.
It might have seemed trendy for the time, but that’s not really what Smith was aiming for. All kinds of trends come and go in rock and roll music, but the key is to create a finely-crafted piece of art that would last forever, and while it’s never guaranteed, having Verlaine add his magic to a track is definitely starting off strong.
