Patti Smith on the One Desire That Lasts Forever

 

 

 "So New York was filled with misfits, people who weren’t accepted — including myself and Robert Mapplethorpe and Jackie Curtis. There are so many, many of them dead — so many gifted people, so many tragic people, at the same time.

In terms of what brought us together, I think it started with music. We were all listening to the same music — whether it was “Sgt. Pepper” or Bob Dylan or Neil Young or Janis Joplin, whatever. We were all — or most of us were — against the Vietnam War. All, of course, for civil rights, human rights, gay rights, women’s rights. We were young and conscious that these were rights that we all believed in. There was a kinship. So it was a very unique period.

But I don’t like painting things like it was the best era ever, so that young people in future generations feel like they missed out. Because that’s not fair. Being alive in present tense is the greatest thing you have."

read conversation with PATTI SMITH - conducted by EZRA KLEIN