Songs of Renown: Patti Smith- Paths that Cross

Patti Smith wrote ‘Paths That Cross’ to comfort an ailing Robert Mapplethorpe on the death in 1987 of Sam Wagstaff, his partner, lover and mentor (This article is about Sam Wagstaff)

Robert Mapplethorpe  was of course Patti Smith's former lover, artistic muse and collaborator and passionate friend. Their story of love and friendship is told in Patti Smith's magnificent and beautifully written memoir of love and devotion Just Kids, written as an elegy for Robert Mapplethorpe.

In Just Kids Patti Smith writes about the song's creation:

 "On the fourteenth of January I received a distraught call from Robert. Sam, his sturdy love and patron, had died. They had weathered painful shifts in their relationships, and also the critical tongues and envy of others, but they could not stem the tide of the terrible fortune that befell them. Robert was devastated by the loss of Sam, the bulwark of his life.
Sam's death also cast a shadow on Robert's hopes for his own recovery. To comfort him I wrote the lyrics and Fred*  the music to "Paths that Cross", a sort of Sufi song in memory of Sam. Though Robert was grateful for the song, I knew one day I might seek out these same words for myself. Paths that will cross again".
*(Fred Sonic Smith was Patti Smith's husband)

 Paths That Cross
By Patti Smith
 
Speak to me
Speak to me heart
I feel a needing
to bridge the clouds
Softly go
A way I wish to know
A way I wish to know

Oh you'll ride
Surely dance
In a ring
Backwards and forwards
Those who seek
feel the glow
A glow we will all know
A glow we will all know

On that day
Filled with grace
And the heart's communion
Steps we take
Steps we trace
Into the light of reunion

Paths that cross
will cross again
Paths that cross
will cross again

Speak to me
Speak to me shadow
I spin from the wheel
nothing at all
Save the need
the need to weave
A silk of souls
that whisper whisper
A silk of souls
that whispers to me

Speak to me heart
all things renew
hearts will mend
round the bend
Paths that cross
cross again
Paths that cross
will cross again

Rise up hold the reins
We'll meet again I don't know when
Hold tight bye bye
Paths that cross
will cross again
Paths that cross
Will cross again

Songs of Renown: Paths that Cross by Patti Smith

Patti Smith wrote ‘Paths That Cross’ to comfort an ailing Robert Mapplethorpe on the death in 1987 of Sam Wagstaff, his partner, lover and mentor (This article is about Sam Wagstaff)

Robert Mapplethorpe  was of course Patti Smith's former lover, artistic muse and collaborator and passionate friend. Their story of love and friendship is told in Patti Smith's magnificent and beautifully written memoir of love and devotion Just Kids, written as an elegy for Robert Mapplethorpe.

In Just Kids Patti Smith writes about the song's creation:

"On the fourteenth of January I received a distraught call from Robert. Sam, his sturdy love and patron, had died. They had weathered painful shifts in their relationships, and also the critical tongues and envy of others, but they could not stem the tide of the terrible fortune that befell them. Robert was devastated by the loss of Sam, the bulwark of his life.

Sam's death also cast a shadow on Robert's hopes for his own recovery. To comfort him I wrote the lyrics and Fred*  the music to "Paths that Cross", a sort of Sufi song in memory of Sam. Though Robert was grateful for the song, I knew one day I might seek out these same words for myself. Paths that will cross again".

(Fred Sonic Smith was Patti Smith's husband)

Paths That Cross
By Patti Smith

Speak to me
Speak to me heart
I feel a needing
to bridge the clouds
Softly go
A way I wish to know
A way I wish to know

Oh you'll ride
Surely dance
In a ring
Backwards and forwards
Those who seek
feel the glow
A glow we will all know
A glow we will all know

On that day
Filled with grace
And the heart's communion
Steps we take
Steps we trace
Into the light of reunion

Paths that cross
will cross again
Paths that cross
will cross again

Speak to me
Speak to me shadow
I spin from the wheel
nothing at all
Save the need
the need to weave
A silk of souls
that whisper whisper
A silk of souls
that whispers to me

Speak to me heart
all things renew
hearts will mend
round the bend
Paths that cross
cross again
Paths that cross
will cross again

Rise up hold the reins
We'll meet again I don't know when
Hold tight bye bye
Paths that cross
will cross again
Paths that cross
Will cross again

William Blake, The Price of Experience (1797)

image courtesy of Patti Smith

In a previous blog piece I cited two lines from William Blake's epic poem The Price of Experience, which has to be one of the great "political" poems of all time. Blake's poem is a profound reminder that we must never turn away from injustice; that we must face the harsh and distressing realities of the world we live in.

Blake was a political radical who took an active interest in the social and political issues of his day. He abhored slavery and believed in racial and sexual equality. Patti Smith once wrote that William Blake saw what others did not.

Patti Smith is a long time fan of William Blake and in 2007 edited a collection of his poetry. When I saw her live in Melbourne in 2008 the song My Blakean Year (from her 2004 CD Trampin) was a concert highlight.

My Blakean year
Patti Smith

In my Blakean year
I was so disposed
Toward a mission yet unclear
Advancing pole by pole
Fortune breathed into my ear
Mouthed a simple ode
One road is paved in gold
One road is just a road

In my Blakean year
Such a woeful schism
The pain of our existence
Was not as I envisioned
Boots that trudged from track to track
Worn down to the sole
One road is paved in gold
One road is just a road

Boots that tread from track to track
Worn down to the sole
One road is paved in gold
One road is just a road
In my Blakean year
Temptation but a hiss
Just a shallow spear
Robed in cowardice

Brace yourself for bitter flack
For a life sublime
A labyrinth of riches
Never shall unwind
The threads that bind the pilgrim's sack
Are stitched into the Blakean back
So throw off your stupid cloak
Embrace all that you fear
For joy will conquer all despair
In my Blakean year
Written by Patti Smith © 2004 Druse Music (ASCAP)

Van Morrison also recites Blake's poem in the song Let the Slave on his 1984 album A Sense of Wonder.

William Blake
The Price of Experience

What is the price of Experience? Do men buy it for a song?
Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No it is bought with the price
Of all that man hath, his house, his wife, his children.
Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy
And in the wither'd field where the farmer plows for bread in vain. It is an easy thing to triumph in the summer's sun
And in the vintage and to sing on the waggon loaded with corn.
It is an easy thing to talk of patience to the afflicted,
To speak the laws of prudence to the homeless wanderer
To listen to the hungry raven's cry in wintry season
When the red blood is fill'd with wine and with the marrow of lambs.
It is an easy thing to laugh at wrathful elements
To hear the dog howl at the wintry door, the ox in the slaughter house moan;
To see a god on every wind and a blessing on every blast
To hear sounds of love in the thunder storm that destroys our enemies' house;
To rejoice in the blight that covers his field, and the sickness that cuts off his children,
While our olive and vine sing and laugh round our door, and our children bring fruits and flowers
Then the groan and the dolor are quite forgotten, and the slave grinding at the mill
And the captive in chains and the poor in the prison and the soldier in the field
When the shatter'd bone hath laid him groaning among the happier dead
It is an easy thing to rejoice in the tents of prosperity;
Thus could I sing and thus rejoice: but it is not so with me

In my hands are new books by Patti Smith and Zygmunt Bauman

Just back from my favourite Perth bookshop Planet Books with two new books- Just Kids by Patti Smith and Living on Borrowed Time by Zygmunt Bauman.

I love the feel and look of new books and tonight I will start reading them both.

Patti Smith's book Just Kids is about her life in New York in the 1960's and 1970's and her relationship with photographer and artist Robert Mapplethorpe. An earlier piece on the book and some reviews can be read here along with other blog pieces on Patti Smith. There is also an earlier piece I wrote on Patti Smith's last album of covers.

Zygmunt Bauman's new book is organized around a series of conversations with Citali Rovirosa-Madrazo in which Bauman explores the causes and implication of the global financial crises and discusses some of the big contemporary moral and political issues.

Bauman, who is now aged 85, remains one of the most challenging and interesting social and political thinkers and writers around. He always challenges contemporary wisdom. I have been a big fan since the late 1980's after reading his masterly book Modernity and the Holocaust.

Commentary on both books will appear in later blogs.

Just Kids: new book by Patti Smith due for Australian release

Awaiting the Australian release of Patti Smith's new book Just Kids about her life in New York in the 1960's and 1970's and her relationship with photographer and artist Robert Mapplethorpe. There is an insightful and illuminating review of the book by Edmund White in last Saturday's Guardian and another review by Elizabeth Day in the Sunday Observer who concludes with this:

"Just Kids is a compassionate portrait of an unconventional marriage; an intimacy forged through a shared artistic vision. In both the tenderness of her expression and the beauty of her prose, there is no doubt that Patti Smith has given us a fitting memorial to her lost love and to the art they created together".

Currenty listening to- Patti Smith's 2007 CD Twelve

Patti Smith's 2007 CD Twelve is a collection of covers, featuring unique interpretations of songs originally recorded by well known artists. Covers albums don't usually work for me, but this is one of the better ones.

Patti Smith brings her unique interpretative style to these songs and extracts new meaning and pathos from many of the songs. There is a moving version of Neil Young's "Helpless" and she inhabits Nirvana's "Smells like Teen Spirit" with power and energy. The song crackles and screams with mandolins and banjos, played by actor and playwright Sam Shepherd and his son. An awesome performance.

There are covers of songs by famous bands The Beatles "Within Without You" and the Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter" and then there are the left of centre covers- Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble" and Tears for Fears "Everybody wants to rule the World".

But the highlight of this CD is her version of Bob Dylan's "Changing of the Guards". Smith strips the song back focusing on the poetry of Dylan's words. She recites the lyrics over a haunting and rolling sound featuring bass, guitar, percussion and keyboards. Patti Smith brings to life in a new way the power of Dylan's lyrics and music. This is a hypnotic and atmospheric performance, worth the price of the CD. I have written before of the ways that female singers bring Dylan's songs to life in anew way and this is another example.

Listening to: Women singers interpreting Dylan's song Dark Eyes

"Oh, the gentlemen are talking and the midnight moon is on the riverside,
They're drinking up and walking and it is time for me to slide.
I live in another world where life and death are memorized,
Where the earth is strung with lovers' pearls and all I see are dark eyes

A cock is crowing far away and another soldier's deep in prayer,
Some mother's child has gone astray, she can't find him anywhere.
But I can hear another drum beating for the dead that rise,
Whom nature's beast fears as they come and all I see are dark eyes.

They tell me to be discreet for all intended purposes,
They tell me revenge is sweet and from where they stand, I'm sure it is.
But I feel nothing for their game where beauty goes unrecognized,
All I feel is heat and flame and all I see are dark eyes.

Oh, the French girl, she's in paradise and a drunken man is at the wheel,
Hunger pays a heavy price to the falling gods of speed and steel.
Oh, time is short and the days are sweet and passion rules the arrow that flies,
A million faces at my feet but all I see are dark eyes".
Bob Dylan, Dark Eyes

Some Dylan songs display their greatness when performed by others and I reckon many of the best interpretations have been by women, including June Tabor, Joan Baez, Odetta, Judy Collins, Patti Smith, Nina Simone, Marie Muldaur, Cat Power, Nanci Griffiths, Eliza Gilkyson and Emmylou Harris, to name a few.

The song Dark Eyes, which first appeared on Dylan's 1985 CD Empire Burlesque, is the perfect example of a song bought to life by female singers. The song was written by Dylan* to provide an acoustic close to the CD and whilst his version is one of the better tracks on that CD, it lacks the power and pathos that female performers are able to extract from the song.

Judy Collins's version of Dark Eyes appears on her CD Judy Sings Dylan and I reckon it stands as one of the finest interpretations of a Dylan song. Judy Collins version can be viewed here.

When Patti Smith was coaxed out of self imposed retirement to share a stage with Dylan she chose to sing Dark Eyes. Patti Smith describes how she came to choose the song

"...he gave me the opportunity to choose any song from his catalogue and we could do it together. So I looked through his lyric book, and I realised what a profound opportunity this was. This was somebody that I had adored and admired since I was 15 years old, giving me the opportunity to sing any one of his songs with him. So I chose Dark Eyes, and Bob and I sang it for the next several days. Ending, I believe, in Philadelphia, where I’m from.

Patti Smith has this to say about the song itself and the experience of singing it with Dylan

"I chose Dark Eyes because its one of his lesser known songs, and I just think the lyrics are very beautiful. They’re sort of in the tradition of Milton and Blake; the lyrics stand as a poem. Also, it’s a good song for my voice. It’s tonally dark.........It was one of the great experiences of my life, singing the song with him"

A clip of the concert version of Patti Smith and Dylan singing the song together can be viewed here

* In Dylan's autobiography, Chronicles, he tells how the song was written on demand when the producer suggested a simple final track. Dylan liked the idea of closing the album with a stark, acoustic track, particularly when the rest of the album was so heavily produced. However, Dylan didn't have an appropriate song. He returned to his hotel in Manhattan after midnight, and according to Dylan:

"As I stepped out of the elevator, a call girl was coming toward me in the hallway - pale yellow hair wearing a fox coat - high heeled shoes that could pierce your heart. She had blue circles around her eyes, black eyeliner, dark eyes. She looked like she'd been beaten up and was afraid that she'd get beat up again. In her hand, crimson purple wine in a glass. 'I'm just dying for a drink,' she said as she passed me in the hall. She had a beautifulness, but not for this kind of world."

patti smith: toward a mission yet unclear

"In my Blakean year
I was so disposed
Toward a mission yet unclear
Advancing pole by pole
Fortune breathed into my ear
Mouthed a simple ode
One road is paved with gold
One road is just a road"

lyrics from in My Blakean Year (see Patti Smith Complete: 1975-2006 Lyrics, Reflections and Notes for the Future http://www.amazon.com/Patti-Smith-Complete-1975-2006-Reflections/dp/0060849711)

Patti Smith is the musician/artist I admire most. The photos are from October 2008 taken at a Patti Smith concert at Hamer Hall Melbourne. A unforgettable concert. I flew all the way from Perth, a 4 hour plane trip on the "midnite horror" just to be there.

Reading her book of lyrics and one of her books of poetry at the moment is a reminder of the beauty of her writing, her charisma and humility and her active political commitment. Her website is worth a visit http://pattismith.net/intro.html if just to read her musings whilst enjoying coffee around the world http://pattismith.net/coffeebreak.html

Of course there is also You Tube clips. Here is an acoustic version of the song that made her famous Because the Night, co written with Bruce Springsteen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoGdx3I3dPE&feature=related

A review from the Guardian captures my experience of her live performance in Melbourne
"Smith holds the evening together through sheer force of charisma. At 63, she remains an utterly captivating figure, who exudes insouciant rock and roll cool while doing the most profoundly uncool things imaginable" http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jun/19/review-patti-smith-meltdown-festival