Continuing my look at the albums of 1975…
Sometimes I have to acknowledge that a beloved artist just isn’t for me. Such is the case with Patti Smith, whose celebrated debut album Horse was released in 1975.
Smith is praised as the first “art punk” artist, a trailblazer who fused her poetic lyrics with the aggressive, three-chord structure of punk rock. I get that, but I derive no enjoyment from listening to that particular trail get blazed.
Horses features eight songs that start out pretty decent before devolving into a lot of yelling and loud guitar. I guess that’s a pretty apt description of most punk music, which is why it’s a genre I’ve never liked.
This album is considered an all-time classic by many people so I wanted to give it its due as I dig deeper into 1975. No matter how I feel about Horses, it’s still notable that a record with its reputation came out the same year as so many other all-time greats.
But this is the last time I’ll ever listen to it.
Every night before I go to sleep
Find a ticket, win a lottery
Scoop the pearls up from the sea
Cash them in and buy you all the things you need
[Verse 2]
Every night before I rest my head
See those dollar bills go swirling ’round my bed
I know they’re stolen, but I don’t feel bad
I take that money, buy you things you never had
[Refrain]
Oh, baby, it would mean so much to me
Oh, baby, to buy you all the things you need for free
[Bridge]
I’ll buy you a jet plane, babe
Get you on a higher plane to a jet stream
And take you through the stratosphere
And check out the planets there and then take you down
Deep where it’s hot, hot in Arabia, baby
Then cool, cold fields of snow
And we’ll roll, dream, roll, dream, roll, roll, dream, dream
[Chorus]
When we dream it
When we dream it
When we dream it
We’ll dream it, dream it for free, free money
Free money, free money
Free money, free money
Free money, free money
[Verse 3]
Every night before I go to sleep (Free money)
Find a ticket, win a lottery (Free money)
Every night before I rest my head (Free money)
See those dollar bills go swirling ’round my bed
[Refrain]
Oh, baby, it would mean so much to me
Baby, I know our troubles will be gone
Oh, I know our troubles will be gone, goin’ gone
If we dream, dream, dream for free
[Chorus]
And when we dream it
When we dream it
When we dream it
Let’s dream it, we’ll dream it for free, free money
Free money, free money
Free money, free money
Free money, money
Free money, free money, free money, free money
Free money, free money, free money, free money
Free money, free money, free money, free money
Free money (money, money, money, money, money, money, money)
Free money, free money
Free money, free money
Free money, free
Meet Me In Montauk 
Yeah, I’ve never been a fan of Patti Smith or punk music generally – and this repetitive song is hard to take at 6AM or probably any other time.
You’ve convinced me not to have a listen. Thank you