Song Quotes by Patti Smith

My mother loved rock and roll. She loved high-energy music.

— Patti Smith

Often the simplest song is the hardest to write.

— Patti Smith

Punk rock is just another word for freedom.

— Patti Smith

Ornette Coleman is a real musician. He takes all of the things he's thinking about in the world - which is a…

— Patti Smith

A lullaby should be timeless because it's a timeless concept - the birth of the child.

— Patti Smith

I never really wanted to be a singer - not with any longevity. But I always wanted to be a writer.

— Patti Smith

My mom loved rock 'n roll. My father hated it. We couldn't play it when he was around.

— Patti Smith

To me, punk rock is the freedom to create, freedom to be successful, freedom to not be successful, freedom to be who…

— Patti Smith

If your label won't let you have the cover you want or sing the songs you want, then leave!

— Patti Smith

I just know that young people suffer, and I also know music is one of the things that help you get through…

— Patti Smith

“Happily there seemed to be an actual human choosing songs with abandoned disconnect.”

— Patti Smith

When I was a teenager, I dreamed of being an opera singer like Maria Callas or a jazz singer like June Christy…

— Patti Smith

We all make choices. Believe me, I would like to write the hit of the world. It's not like I have any…

— Patti Smith

What I've always tried to do is to express the highest point of me, and rock 'n' roll is the first and…

— Patti Smith

Poetry is a solitary process. One does not write poetry for the masses. Poetry is a self-involved, lofty pursuit. Songs are for…

— Patti Smith

John Coltrane, he talks to god. He starts playing his solo, he might play for 14 minutes. For 14 minutes, it seems…

— Patti Smith

I can't bear working with a click track, we're not click track people. But for "Mercy Is ..." we all got in…

— Patti Smith

I sang 'O Holy Night' with the Vatican orchestra, but also a Blake - a lullaby that William Blake wrote for the…

— Patti Smith

When I started making music, we'd lost a lot of our great people. Rock was moving in a direction I didn't like.…

— Patti Smith

If I have any regrets, I could say that I'm sorry I wasn't a better writer or a better singer...When I was…

— Patti Smith

“[Jimi Hendrix] dreamed of amassing musicians from all over the world in Woodstock and they would sit in a field in a…

— Patti Smith

My father hated rock and roll - hated it. My first real argument with my father was over the Rolling Stones. And…

— Patti Smith

I'm not a critic. I'm not a journalist. I'm not a philosopher. Arguing that punk has run its course is like saying…

— Patti Smith