Outsiders: Patti Smith

Patti Smith (1946-present) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, author, and visual artist. A pivotal figure in the New York City punk rock scene, her 1975 debut album “Horses” fused rock with poetic intensity. Patti Smith is also the author of the acclaimed memoir “Just Kids” about her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and her early years as an artist.

For Further Reading:

• Life’s Work: An Interview with Patti Smith
• The Radical Hope of Patti Smith
• Patti Smith Looks Back On Life Before She Became The Godmother Of Punk
• Patti Smith Is Always Going to Be a Worker
• Patti Smith

This month we're talking about Outsiders -- women who marched to the beat of their own drum and rejected stereotypes about what women "should" be. They are aesthetic pioneers, norm-benders, and often the only woman in their field.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Wamanica. This month, we're talking about outsiders, women who
marched to the beat of their own drum and rejected
stereotypes about what women should be. Their aesthetic pioneers, norm venders,
and often one of the only women in their field.
In a nightclub in New York's East Village stands a woman.

(00:25):
The crowd is rowdy, the energy electric. In one hand
she holds the microphone and in the other a book
of poetry. She starts sixteen in time to pay off.
I get this job in a piss factory inspecting pipe
forty hours, thirty six dollars a week. But it's a paycheck, jeck.

(00:47):
It's so hot in here, hot like it's the final
show at the legendary CBGB's and she's giving one last
rock as performance. But more than thirty years earlier, in
that same club, she was just into the scene, blending
punk rock with poetry to become a force of nature.
Let's talk about Patti Smith. Patti Smith was born on

(01:12):
December thirtieth, nineteen forty six, in Chicago to a lower
middle class family. Her father worked at a factory and
her mother was a waitress. Her parents had three more
children and raised the family in a small house in
New Jersey. When Patty was twenty years old and studying
to become a teacher, she became pregnant and decided to
put the baby up for adoption. That decision marked a

(01:35):
turning point. Patty left college and moved to New York
in pursuit of an artistic life. She began a relationship
with photographer Robert Maplethorpe. The romantic part of their relationship
ended after a few years when Robert realized he was gay.
The two remained friends and collaborators as they both forged

(01:55):
their own artistic paths. Patty painted, drew, and even acted
in plays, but her real passion was her poetry. Her
writing was raw and her reaths were frenetic, a sharp
contrast to the more refined style of New York's poetry circles.
Uninterested in the conventional literary scene, Patti found alternative venues
for her work. She started reading her poems and rock

(02:18):
clubs across the city, performing as the opening act for
blues or rock bands. Her poems weren't always well received,
so she decided to change up her style yet again,
this time with a little help from her friend Lenny Kay.
The plan was for Lenny to provide a musical accompaniment
to Patty's unrestrained poetry. The results would change both of
their lives. On February tenth, nineteen seventy one, Patty and

(02:41):
Lenny took the stage at Saint Mark's Church. Lenny strummed
along as Patty belted out the words to her poems.
One of the poems she read that night was Oath
Christ died for somebody since but not mine Milton in
a plot of thieves, wild Card up the sleeve, thick Heart,
a sad stone, my sins my own. The poem was

(03:03):
inspired by leaving behind her religious upbringing and would later
become the opening lines to her song Gloria. The Saint
Mark's Church gig would go down as the first Patty
Smith show. For the next four years, Patty continued to
perform across New York City, expanding her backing band to
form the Patti Smith Group. In the spring of nineteen
seventy five, the group was given a two month residency

(03:25):
at the rock club CBGB's alongside the proto punk band Television.
The club was packed, and Patty soon caught the attention
of record producers. In the fall of nineteen seventy five,
Patty Smith released her first album, Horses. The songs were
full of Patty's prose lyrics, touching on alienation, exile, and inequity.
Served as the perfect precursor to the punk movement. Patty

(03:48):
spent the rest of the seventies wowing the world with
her stage presence and lyrical death. The Patti Smith Group
released three more albums together, Radio Ethiopia, Easter, and Wave Easter.
The band's most commercially successful album included the song Because
the Night, co written with Bruce Springsteen. At the height
of her career, Patty decided to take a different path motherhood.

(04:12):
She moved to Michigan with her husband MC five's guitarist
fred sonic Smith to raise their two children. For fifteen years,
Patty lived a simple life outside of the public eye,
but it was still a creative one. She woke up
every morning before her children to write. But then after
the deaths of her husband, her brother, and her longtime
friend and collaborator Robert Maplethorpe, Patty entered another act. She

(04:37):
published the Choral See in homage to Robert, and reunited
with her band. In nineteen ninety six, she released the
album Gone Again. Patty continued to release music and poetry
for decades. She cemented her status as the godmother of
punk in two thousand and six when she performed a
more than three hour concert for CBGB's final show. In

(05:00):
twenty ten, Patty released her memoir Just Kids, which recounts
her relationship with Robert. The work was deeply personal and
took Patty years to write. Her hard work paid off,
and Just Kids won the twenty ten National Book Award
for Nonfiction. Today, Patti Smith still writes and reforms, but
now through a different medium, her Substack. She shares her

(05:21):
musings and poems while also advocating for human rights, environmental causes,
and free expression. From the dim clubs of New York
to the halls of literary fame, Patti Smith forged a
path that defied labels. Her legacy isn't just in the
songs she sang or the poems she penned, but in
the courage she gave others to speak, scream, and sing
their truth. All month, we've been talking about Outsiders. For

(05:44):
more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica
podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and
co creator. Tune in tomorrow for the start of a
brand new theme. Talk to you then,