Patti Smith on Patti Smith: Interviews and Encounters (Musicians in Their Own Words) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1613746342 ISBN 13: 9781613746349

Publisher: Chicago Review Press, 2026

Synopsis

From the moment Patti Smith burst onto the scene, chanting "Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine," the irreverent opening line to Horses, her 1975 debut album, the punk movement had found its dissident intellectual voice. Yet outside the recording studio--Smith has released eleven studio albums--the punk poet laureate has been perhaps just as revelatory and rhapsodic in interviews, delivering off-the-cuff jeremiads that emboldened a generation of disaffected youth and imparting hard-earned life lessons. With her characteristic blend of bohemian intellectualism, antiauthoritarian poetry, and unflagging optimism, Smith gave them hope in the transcendent power of art. Her interview archive serves as a compelling counternarrative to the albums and books. Initially, interviewing Patti Smith was a censorship liability. Contemptuous of staid rules of decorum, no one knew what she might say, whether they were getting the romantic, swooning for Lorca and Blake, or the firebrand with no respect for an on-air seven-second delay. Patti Smith on Patti Smith is a compendium of profound and reflective moments in the life of one of the most insightful and provocative artists working today.

About this title

About the Author

Aidan Levy has written for the the Daily Forward, JazzTimes, and the Nation. He is the author of Dirty Blvd.: The Life and Music of Lou Reed. He lives in New York City.

Edition details

• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1613746342
• ISBN 13: 9781613746349
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 544
• Editor: Levy Aidan