Patti Smith: Gloria-In Excelsis Deo
Continuing my focus on the music of 1975, coming in at #14 on my Top 20 is the album Horses by Patti Smith. This was Smith’s debut album, and is regarded as one of the greatest debuts in rock history. If you don’t know about Patti Smith, you should click a few Google searches and read about her. She was a quintessential punk in a world dominated by men. She was the rock poet of her generation. She was relentless in her drive and artistic vision. She is an icon.
The album Horses is unlike any album that came before. Fusing the poetic songwriting of Bob Dylan with the experimental musicianship of The Velvet Underground, she released a masterpiece on her first try. 50 years later, the album is a classic that stands as one of the first great Punk, New Wave, and Alt-Rock releases. I would argue that the first track on the album (“Gloria: Excelsis Deo”) is all that was needed to get her inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. It is an iconic rock song that belongs on a short list of rock songs that includes “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” “Rock Around the Clock,” “Maybelline,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction,” “Roadrunner,” Van Morrison’s “Gloria” (of which Smith’s song is an adventurous cover), and the dozen or so other songs that define the sound of rock and roll across the generations. Every song on the album is breathtaking in scope and originality. Ask me to rank my favorite albums of 1975 again in a few years and I could easily place this one near the top of the list. I already think I should have, but that is why making these lists is so much fun!
If you are interested in other years, check out my Year in Review series.
To listen to all of the songs of the day, check out the Radio Faux Show Song of the Day playlist.
The Radio Faux Show 
An excellent choice today! I missed seeing her at the book fair last year, but it would have been nice. Glad she’s out there sharing her unique energy.
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It’s great that she’s still going. I saw her live in the 90s and it was wonderful.
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Oh, wow. I should have made more effort to see her.
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I had to travel a ways to do it. She wasn’t easy to see if you don’t live in NYC.
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Which makes perfect sense. 🙂
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Again, YESSSS! The first time I heard Horses was my first year in college, in 1979. I can say with absolute honesty that it pretty much re-wired my brain in terms of music. (I’d been living in the sticks in SW PA in the mid-to-late ’70’s, and the radio stations there weren’t exactly, um, adventurous! I even called in one day when I was home to request a Patti song–“Because the Night,” which I know Springsteen wrote, and the DJ told me that he wasn’t into playing music by “women who don’t shave their armpits.” I was SO glad to get out of that town!)
Pretty much every song on Horses, Easter, and Radio Ethiopia is transcendent, and Patti’s version of “Gloria” is the best I’ve heard!
In Hoboken, where I live now, Patti’s played at several of our Arts and Music Festivals. The year before last, she wasn’t there, but Lenny Kaye (who actually started following me on Instagram before I quit!) was playing with the Feelies and members of the original Hoboken alternative band the Bongos. It was AMAZING. Lenny himself did a version of “Gloria” that was so raunchy (and great) that I think I actually blushed, and I don’t blush easily!
On February 16th Lenny is playing, telling stories, and reading from his meticulously detailed history of rock, Lightning Striking, at a little local venue here. I got THAT ticket as soon as I found out! The man is, I think, 79, and still does crowd-surfing…
I heard that Patti recently collapsed at a show with Soundwalk Collective, but she came back after a few minutes and said she was fine. I hope so…
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All awesome! Bongos – classic power pop! The Lenny Kaye event sounds amazing.
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Jim Mastro of the Bongos has run a guitar/music store in town forever. That’s where my son took his first guitar lessons when he was about 10, and where I’ve taken guitar, drum, and voice lessons. He’s a seriously nice guy, and still touring a lot with Patti and others.
And yeah–Lenny is great. If you get a chance to read his book, you may be amazed. He writes in such detail that you’d think he was physically present at every important moment in the history of rock (and, in many cases, he was!). He’s also a really nice guy.
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Great to hear they are both good guys. I’ve put the book on my list!
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