Smith was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Her mother, Beverly, was a jazz singer, and father, Grant, worked at the Honeywell plant. She spent her entire childhood in Deptford, New Jersey. Raised the daughter of a Jehovah's Witness mother, she claims she had a strong religious, Bible-based education but left organized religion as a teenager because she felt it was too confining. (She later wrote the opening line of her cover version of Them's Gloria in response to this experience.) After graduating from Deptford Township High School in 1964, Smith went to work in a factory.
In 1967 she left Glassboro State Teachers College (now Rowan University) and moved to New York City. She met photographer Robert Mapplethorpe there while working at a book store with friend, poet Janet Hamill. Mapplethorpe's photographs of her became the covers for the Patti Smith Group LPs, and they remained friends until Mapplethorpe's death in 1989. In 1969 she went to Paris with her sister and started busking and doing performance art. When Smith returned to New York City, she lived in the Hotel Chelsea with Mapplethorpe. The two frequented the fashionable Max's Kansas City and CBGB nightclubs. The same year Smith appeared with Wayne County in Jackie Curtis's play "Femme Fatale". As a member of the St. Mark's Poetry Project, she spent the early '70s painting, writing, and performing. In 1971 she performed – for one night only – in Sam Shepard's "Cowboy Mouth". (The published play's notes call for "a man who looks like a coyote and a woman who looks like a crow".) She collaborated with Allen Lanier of Blue Öyster Cult, who recorded several of the songs to which Smith had contributed, including Debbie Denise (after her poem "In Remembrance of Debbie Denise"), Career of Evil, Fire of Unknown Origin, The Revenge of Vera Gemini, and Shooting Shark. During these years, Smith also wrote rock journalism, some of which was published in Creem magazine.
By 1974 Patti Smith was performing rock music herself, initially with guitarist and rock archivist Lenny Kaye, and later with a full band comprising Kaye, Ivan Kral on bass, Jay Dee Daugherty on drums and Richard Sohl, on piano. Financed by Robert Mapplethorpe, the band recorded a first single, "Hey Joe/Piss Factory", in 1974. The A-side was a version of the rock standard with the addition of a spoken word piece about fugitive heiress Patty Hearst ("Patty Hearst, you're standing there in front of the Symbionese Liberation Army flag with your legs spread, I was wondering were you gettin' it every night from a black revolutionary man and his women..."). The B-side describes the helpless anger Smith had felt while working on a factory assembly line and the salvation she discovered in the form of a shoplifted book, the 19th century French poet Arthur Rimbaud's Illuminations.
Patti Smith Group was signed by Clive Davis of Arista Records, and 1975 saw the release of Smith's first album, Horses, produced by John Cale amidst some tension. The album fused punk rock and spoken poetry and begins with a cover of Van Morrison's Gloria, and Smith's opening words: "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine."
As Patti Smith Group toured the United States and Europe, punk's popularity grew. The rawer sound of the group's second album, Radio Ethiopia, reflected this development. Considerably less accessible than Horses, Radio Ethiopia received poor reviews. However, several of its songs have stood the test of time, and Smith still performs them regularly in concert. On January 23, 1977, while touring in support of the record, Smith accidentally danced off a high stage in Tampa, Florida and fell 15 feet into a concrete orchestra pit, breaking several neck vertebrae. The injury required a period of rest and an intensive round of physical therapy, during which time she was able to reassess, re-energize and reorganize her life. Patti Smith Group produced two further albums before the end of the 1970s. Easter (1978) was her most commercially successful record, containing single Because the Night co-written with Bruce Springsteen. Wave (1979) was less successful, although songs Frederick and Dancing Barefoot both received commercial airplay.
Before the release of Wave, Smith, now separated from long-time partner Allen Lanier, met Fred Sonic Smith, former guitar player for Detroit rock band MC5 and his own Sonic's Rendezvous Band, who adored poetry as much as she did. ("Wave"'s "Dancing Barefoot" and "Frederick" were both dedicated to him.) The running joke at the time was that she only married Fred because she would not have to change her name. Patti and Fred had a son, Jackson, and later a daughter, Jesse. Through most of the 1980s Patti was in semi-retirement from music, living with her family north of Detroit in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. On June 1988 she released Dream Of Life, which included song People Have the Power. Fred Smith died on November 4, 1994. Shortly afterward, Patti faced the unexpected death of her brother, Todd, and original keyboard player, Richard Sohl. When her son Jackson turned 21, Smith decided to move back to New York. After the impact of these deaths, her friends Michael Stipe of R.E.M. and Allen Ginsberg (whom she had known since her early years in New York) urged her to go back out on the road. She toured briefly with Bob Dylan in December 1995 (chronicled in a book of photographs by Stipe).
In 1996, Smith worked with her long-time colleagues to record the haunting Gone Again, featuring About a Boy, a tribute to Kurt Cobain. Smith was a fan of Cobain, but was more angered than saddened by his suicide. That same year she collaborated with Stipe on E-Bow the Letter, a song on R.E.M.'s New Adventures in Hi-Fi, which she has also performed live with the band. After release of "Gone Again", Patti Smith has recorded two new albums: Peace and Noise in 1997 (with the single 1959, about the invasion of Tibet) and Gung Ho in 2000 (with songs about Ho Chi Minh and Smith's late father). A box set of her work up to that time, "The Patti Smith Masters", came out in 1996, and 2002 saw the release of "Land (1975–2002)", a two-CD compilation that includes a memorable cover of Prince's When Doves Cry. Smith's solo art exhibition, "Strange Messenger" was hosted at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh on September 28, 2002.
On April 27, 2004 Patti Smith released Trampin' which included several songs about motherhood, partly in tribute to Smith's mother who died two years before. Smith curated the Meltdown festival in London on June 25, 2005, the penultimate event being the first live performance of "Horses" in its entirety. Guitarist Tom Verlaine took Oliver Ray's place. This live performance was released later in the year as "Horses/Horses". In August 2005 Smith gave a literary lecture about the poems of Arthur Rimbaud and William Blake. On July 10, 2005, Smith was named a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. In addition to her influence on rock music, Minister also noted Smith's appreciation of Arthur Rimbaud. On October 15, 2006, Patti Smith performed at CBGB nightclub, with a 3½-hour tour de force to close out Manhattan's music venue. She took the stage at 9:30 p.m. (EDT) and closed for the night (and forever for the venue) at a few minutes after 1:00 a.m., performing her song Elegie, and finally reading a list of punk rock musicians and advocates who had died in the previous years.
Smith was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame March 12, 2007. She dedicated her award to the memory of her late husband, Fred, and gave a performance of The Rolling Stones classic, Gimme Shelter. As the closing number of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Smith's "People Have the Power" was used for the big celebrity jam that always ends the program.
From March 28 to June 22, 2008 the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain in Paris hosted a major exhibition of the visual work of Patti Smith, "Land 250", drawn from pieces created between 1967 and 2007. At the 2008 Rowan Commencement ceremony, Smith received an honorary doctorate degree for her contributions to popular culture. Smith is the subject of a 2008 documentary film, "Patti Smith: Dream of Life". http://www.dreamoflifethemovie.com/
In June 2012, Smith released her 11th studio album, "Banga." In an interview on CBS News Sunday Morning on April 1, 2012, Smith explained the album's title: "for those who are curious, you can find what Banga is if you read The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov." In The Master and Margarita, Banga is Pontius Pilate's dog who Pilate could freely complain about the hemicrania that tortured him. Other songs on the album were also inspired by literature, particularly "April Fool," inspired by Nikolai Gogol.
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Ravens
Patti Smith Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And slips our binding rings
We'll turn our heads
And make us reel
We'll bare our arms as wings
Before our feet a feather drifts
Beyond us it will fall
Make ravens of us all
My love he breathed the air of kings
Yet fell beneath his luck
And in his heart a yearning yet
Before his time time shook
All the gifts that God had gave
And those by fate denied
Gone to where all treasures laid
And where the raven flies
Oh there are places I agree
Where I have yet to roam
The Egyptian field
The arctic sea where shadows
Haunt and moan
But none but sky
I have to go
Should I return to thee
Gone to where the feather flies
To all eternity
But for a time I got more time
Till I a raven be
'Cause time will bid and make us rise
Make ravens of us all
And time will bid and make us fly
Make ravens of us all
And time will bid and make us fly
Make ravens of us all
In Patti Smith's song Ravens, the lyrics explore the common fate of humanity - no matter how different our paths may seem, time will ultimately make ravens of us all. The phrase "common fortune seeks us all" highlights the universality of this theme. The first stanza talks about how despite our efforts to hold onto ourselves and our identity, time will still "make us reel" and "bare our arms as wings", symbolizing the transformation we will go through as we age and approach death. The second stanza focuses on the story of the singer's lover, who despite having royal potential, "fell beneath his luck" and had a yearning in his heart that was never fulfilled. This speaks to the idea that fate is unpredictable and unfair, and that even those who seem destined for greatness can be brought down by circumstances beyond their control. The use of the image of the raven throughout the song further highlights the theme of mortality - ravens are often associated with death and are seen as a symbol of the transition from life to afterlife.
One interesting aspect of Ravens is how it draws inspiration from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe called "The Raven". Smith has spoken in interviews about how she was initially intimidated by the thought of writing a song inspired by one of Poe's most famous works, but ultimately felt compelled to do so after visiting his grave with her husband. The song also has a very dreamy, mystical quality to it, which reflects Smith's interest in poetry and literature.
Another interesting aspect of Ravens is how it showcases Smith's unique vocal style. She has a very distinctive voice that can be quite raw and emotive, and this is especially evident in Ravens. The way she elongates certain syllables and adds little flourishes to her phrasing adds to the overall dreamy, other-worldly feel of the song.
Line by Line Meaning
Common fortune seeks us all
Everyone experiences good and bad luck at some point.
And slips our binding rings
Sometimes, despite our best efforts, things don't go the way we planned.
We'll turn our heads
We'll try to look away from our problems but they'll still be there.
And make us reel
Our problems can make us feel dizzy or overwhelmed.
We'll bare our arms as wings
We'll try to rise above our problems and face them head-on.
Before our feet a feather drifts
We see a symbol of freedom and lightness in contrast to our heavy problems.
Beyond us it will fall
The feather represents a possibility that we may not be able to grasp or achieve.
Cause time will bid and make us rise
Time will force us to confront our problems and rise above them.
Make ravens of us all
But if we don't rise to the occasion, our problems may consume us and turn us into dark, ominous creatures.
My love he breathed the air of kings
The artist's loved one had great potential and ambition.
Yet fell beneath his luck
But despite their potential, they couldn't escape their fate and suffered from bad luck.
And in his heart a yearning yet
Despite their hardships, the loved one still had dreams and desires.
Before his time time shook
But they were taken away too soon by an unexpected event.
All the gifts that God had gave
The loved one had many talents and blessings.
And those by fate denied
But despite their potential, they were denied the opportunity to reach their full potential.
Gone to where all treasures laid
The loved one has passed on and is now in a place where all their treasures, whether material possessions or intangible qualities, are laid to rest.
And where the raven flies
In many cultures, ravens are symbols of death and mystery, so the loved one is now in a place associated with these themes.
Oh there are places I agree
The singer acknowledges that there are many places she hasn't been to yet.
Where I have yet to roam
There are many places she still wants to explore.
The Egyptian field
One of the places the artist wants to visit is Egypt, which is known for its ancient history and mysterious treasures.
The arctic sea where shadows haunt and moan
Another place she wants to visit is the Arctic, which has an eerie and haunting quality to it due to its harsh landscape and extreme weather.
But none but sky I have to go
Despite her desire to travel and explore, the only destination she must ultimately go to is the afterlife.
Should I return to thee
If she were to return to her loved one after she dies.
Gone to where the feather flies
She will be reunited with the idea of freedom and lightness that the feather represented earlier.
To all eternity
She will be in this peaceful and free state for eternity.
But for a time I got more time
While she is still alive, she has more time to confront her problems and rise above them.
Till I a raven be
But if she doesn't make full use of her time and overcome her hardships, she could turn into a dark, ominous raven as well.
And time will bid and make us fly
But if we can overcome our problems, we can transcend them and take flight.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: PATTI SMITH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind