Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith (born December 30, 1946)[1] is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses.[2]
Called the "Godmother of Punk",[3] her work was a fusion of rock and poetry. Smith's most widely known song is "Because the Night", which was co-written with Bruce Springsteen and reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1978.[2] In 2005, Patti Smith was named a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture,[4] and in 2007, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[5] On November 17, 2010, she won the National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids.[6] She is also a recipient of the 2011 Polar Music Prize.
continued: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patti_Smith
BTW -- The pic above shows actor, playwright, screenwriter Sam Shepard & Patti Smith, with whom she had an intimate relationship.
Because the Night
Take me now baby here as I am
Hold me close, try and understand
Desire is hunger is the fire I breathe
Love is a banquet on which we feed
Come on now try and understand
The way I feel when I'm in your hands
Take my hand come undercover
They can't hurt you now,
Can't hurt you now, can't hurt you now
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to lust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us
Have I doubt when I'm alone
Love is a ring, the telephone
Love is an angel disguised as lust
Here in our bed until the morning comes
Come on now try and understand
The way I feel under your command
Take my hand as the sun descends
They can't touch you now,
Can't touch you now, can't touch you now
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to lust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us
With love we sleep
With doubt the vicious circle
Turns and burns
Without you I cannot live
Forgive, the yearning burning
I believe it's time, too real to feel
So touch me now, touch me now, touch me now
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to lust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us
Because tonight there are two lovers
If we believe in the night we trust
Because tonight there are two lovers
Because the night belongs to lust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us
-- song written by Patti Smith & Bruce Springsteen
The night belongs to lovers. Indeed it does. The day belongs to lovers too. The Earth belongs to lovers if they'd but realize it. The old killer ape within needs to be put to sleep...Permanently! Otherwise, we're doomed. Anyway...
Back in 1969-1970 I occasionally hung out in the Bedford-Styvesant area of Brooklyn peopled by Blacks, young people, artists, musicians, junkies, etc. near Pratt Institute attended by Patti Smith & Robert Mapplethorpe. My visited friends were also affiliated with Pratt at the time. I was working for a daily newspaper in Manhattan & going about doing whatever the hell it was I was doing which pretty much had to do with chasing girls, drinking beer & wine, smoking dope, listening to music, watching film, following the Mets until they won the '69 MLB championship (baseball could never get any better than that so I went on to other things...).
I'd eventually become impatient with the exceedingly slow way in which the newspaper trained & promoted (or didn't) its editorial clerks. I left before getting a tryout, nevertheless I learned the business. (I subsequently returned to parttime work at the daily in question as well as jobs at other newspapers. The business was too exciting not to return to it. Although eventually as journalism became more corporate--as the Age of Reagan approached-- I no longer wanted to have anything to do with the mainstream's lies, to put it politely. There are alternatives. Free listener sponsored Radio for one. Non-profits. Political activism. Etc.
A lot was happening in them [sic] days.
