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Bergère Avec Son Troupeau
by Jean-François Millet (1814-1875)
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“From very early
on in my childhood - four, five years old - I felt alien to the human race. I
felt very comfortable with thinking I was from another planet, because I felt
disconnected - I was very tall and skinny, and I didn't look like anybody else,
I didn't even look like any member of my family.”
Patti Smith
(from a 2005 interview)
(from a 2005 interview)
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| 1951 |
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| Linda, Todd and Patti, photographed in 1952 by their mum, Beverly Smith |
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| Clouds, photo by Patti Smith |
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| Patti Smith, aged 7 |
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| Patti Smith, aged 11 |
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| Patti Smith at William Burroughs' graveside, photographed in 2013 by guitarist Lenny Kaye |
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| Patti's mum, Berverly, in 1977 photo by Caroline Coon |
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| Patti Smith, photographed by her sister Linda Smith Bianucci |
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| Sisters, Linda and Patti Smith |
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| Patti and Linda Smith |
‘Redondo Beach’ written in 1971, it's a song about
her sister Linda: the pair, rooming together in the Chelsea Hotel, quarrelled,
and Linda disappeared, causing Patti much anguish.
(from a 2005 interview)
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| Patti and her brother Todd Smith |
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| from Patti to her little sister Kimberly - 1968 |
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| Patti with her youngest sister Kimberly and their dad Grant |
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Patti Smith with her youngest sister, Kimberly - Christmas 1976
(with 1976 album Agents of Fortune by Blue Öyster Cult)
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The wall is high,
the black barn,
The babe in my arms in her swaddling clothes
And I know soon that the sky will split
And the planets will shift,
Balls of jade will drop and existence will stop.
Little sister, the sky is falling, I don't mind, I don't mind.
Little sister, the fates are calling on you.
The babe in my arms in her swaddling clothes
And I know soon that the sky will split
And the planets will shift,
Balls of jade will drop and existence will stop.
Little sister, the sky is falling, I don't mind, I don't mind.
Little sister, the fates are calling on you.
Here I stand again
in this old electric whirlwind,
The sea rushes up my knees like flame
And I feel like just some misplaced Joan Of Arc
And the cause is you looking up at me.
Oh baby, I remember when you were born,
It was dawn and the storm settled in my belly
And I rolled in the grass and I spit out the gas
And I lit a match and the void went flash
And the sky split and the planets hit,
Balls of jade dropped and existence stopped, stopped, stop, stop.
Little sister, the sky is falling, I don't mind, I don't mind.
Little sister, the fates are calling on you.
The sea rushes up my knees like flame
And I feel like just some misplaced Joan Of Arc
And the cause is you looking up at me.
Oh baby, I remember when you were born,
It was dawn and the storm settled in my belly
And I rolled in the grass and I spit out the gas
And I lit a match and the void went flash
And the sky split and the planets hit,
Balls of jade dropped and existence stopped, stopped, stop, stop.
Little sister, the sky is falling, I don't mind, I don't mind.
Little sister, the fates are calling on you.
I was going crazy,
so crazy I knew I could break through with you,
So with one hand I rocked you and with one heart I reached for you.
I knew your youth was for the taking, fire on a mental plane,
So I ran through the fields as the bats with their baby vein faces
Burst from the barn and flames in a violent violet sky,
And I fell on my knees and pressed you against me.
Your soul was like a network of spittle,
Like glass balls moving in like cold streams of logic,
And I prayed as the lightning attacked
That something will make it go crack, something will make it go crack,
Something will make it go crack, something will make it go crack.
So with one hand I rocked you and with one heart I reached for you.
I knew your youth was for the taking, fire on a mental plane,
So I ran through the fields as the bats with their baby vein faces
Burst from the barn and flames in a violent violet sky,
And I fell on my knees and pressed you against me.
Your soul was like a network of spittle,
Like glass balls moving in like cold streams of logic,
And I prayed as the lightning attacked
That something will make it go crack, something will make it go crack,
Something will make it go crack, something will make it go crack.
The palm trees fall
into the sea,
It doesn't matter much to me
As long as you're safe, Kimberly.
And I can gaze deep
Into your starry eyes, baby, looking deep in your eyes, baby,
Looking deep in your eyes, baby, looking deep in your eyes, baby,
Into your starry eyes, in your starry eyes, baby…
It doesn't matter much to me
As long as you're safe, Kimberly.
And I can gaze deep
Into your starry eyes, baby, looking deep in your eyes, baby,
Looking deep in your eyes, baby, looking deep in your eyes, baby,
Into your starry eyes, in your starry eyes, baby…
‘Kimberly’ on debut album Horses © 1975 Patti Smith
song credits: Patti Smith, Allen Lanier (of Blue Öyster
Cult), Ivan Král (bass guitarist in Patti Smith Group)
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| Sisters Kimberly, Linda and Patti Smith |
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photo by David McGough – 1977 New York Dolls concert in NYC
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| With brother Todd and band mate Lenny Kaye |
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| Patti's daughter, Jesse Smith, photographed in 1995 by family friend, Patti Hudson
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Woolgathering © 1992, 2011 Patti Smith
excerpts from the 2011 edition by Bloomsbury
Poem written for Sam Shepard, shared on this page:
