Patti Smith: Horses

Though I could never take Dave Taylor's music taste seriously — his enthusiasm for Van Halen's Jump saw to that, along with his mockery of some of my off-mainstream purchases — he was definitely ahead of me with his Patti Smith albums: I didn't get this until— I don't know when; probably early '90s.

I think of it first more in terms of who it influenced — Tim Booth from James and Michael Stipe talk about it as a touchstone — and only secondly in its own right. You know (if you remember) that Patti Smith partly inspired those lines in Sit Down, "I'm relieved to hear that you've been to some far out places". And Tim Booth told a story last month on Radcliffe & Maconie from when he was at boarding school and was summoned one evening by the housemaster, to be told that his father was seriously ill and might not survive the night. That night young Tim stole down to his study and listened to Birdland on headphones: "His father died and left him a little farm in New England / All the long black funeral cars left the scene / And the boy was just standing there alone / Looking at the shiny red tractor / Him and his daddy used to sit inside"… (as it turned out, happily, his father didn't die). I still don't understand quite what happens in Birdland, but I'd wager it's the same boy who makes an appearance in Sometimes.

You really have to listen on headphones to get the most out of this. On another day, Horses might have gone straight into the top 50, but you have to be able to give Patti all your attention and follow when she goes to those far out places. And today; well, today I'm busy.

I'm still impressed. I remember being astounded when someone said that Patti's Gloria was a cover of Van's Gloria, because they don't sound the same, do they? The lyrics overlap less than 50% and the vocal melody is different. The whole energy and subject of the song is heading off in completely other direction. I love them both a great deal, but I still can't see them as the same song. And that's what's so impressive: that Horses retains its otherness after more than 30 years; it resists being assimilated and becoming a dessicated museum exhibit, like, say, Sergeant Pepper's and other lesser works.

Oh, and Patti Smith's Meltdown festival in 2005 was the best Meltdown of the last decade by a country mile — actually the only one that lived up to what that festival could and should be.

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Comments

[brian]

You didn't hear Horses until the 90s??? Fuck, man, where was head for 15 years? Lemme guess, up Black Sabbath's ass, no doubt. Look, kid, you got to to the party late, that's obvious, and saying stupid, ignorant shit like the comment about the Beatles record just hangs a sign on ya that says, "Ignorant And Proud Of It! You can bet your poofter white ass that Patti was a beatlemaniac in her own time, too, bank on it, loser. Now go back to your phil collins collection and leave the real stuff for people that were there, on time, asswipe, not ignorant and late...

[David]

Phil Collins? Oh shit, looks like I'm late to that party too... again!

Kisses and hugs right back atcha, Brian! Keep smiling.