Tonight is going to be well spent: I received Horses in the post today… I’ve already played it 3 times already and although it is BEAUTIFUL BLUE SKY outside and I’ve been polishing up my bike so could go and get some fresh air (I probably will do after this now, so forgive me if this is a little short-lived, that just sounds v.enticing) I could listen to this forever and ever, (until the phase vanishes that is, and I start listening to Ke$ha again, not even really ironically.)
Reasons why I like this album already:
- The opening track ‘Gloria’ makes me feel happy to be alive. Can you just watch this and tell me if this doesn’t EXCITE you? If it doesn’t excite you, you’re heartless and so not punk rock.
- The way she POUNDS her chest in the chorus in ‘Break it up’ She’s pretty much the queen. Let’s all emulate this. For those who have not been aurally treated to this, remember when you were little and used to bang your chest and pretend to be Tarzan? THAT, but whilst singing and y’know BEING PATTI SMITH.
- My brother just walked through the room in which I type, reeking of aftershave, and said, ‘What the fuck is this shit you’re listening to’. This means it’s very good.
- My DAD walked in after and started going, ‘Yeah! Patti! She’s so very…’ Me: Punk. Him. SO. And then we started shouting PUNK ROCK!!! A good moment for anyone who knows my dad.
I read her touching memoir Just Kids in the summer, and, although I hate this word a lot, it was really completely ‘unputdownable’, I read half of it on the way back from London (you can buy it from places outside London I’m sure) and laughed the whole way home, gasped at all the namedropping, Lou Reed, Andy Warhol, Jimi Hendrix, Edie S. etc etc,
She has the most poetic way of talking about everyday things, along with her lovingly elaborative anecdotes and her besotted-ness with the dreamy photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, who took the picture of aforementioned album:
Intense. This quote reads beautifully:
” I imagined myself as Frida to Diego, both muse and maker. I dreamed of meeting an artist to love and support and work with side by side.”
*sighs with admiration*
This is my favourite ‘Could all you idiots shut the fuck up’ face. Will try and recreate with my cigarettes this weekend.
And finally, (seeing as this was a la mode on my blog last year and I enjoyed looking back on them, how can we look like Patti?)
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It’s not about the clothes though, it’s about the ~vibes~. People above included Henry Miller, Bob Dylan and the poetry of Blake, of whom she was influenced by too.
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God bless X
Tara Lepore 