Pure Punk Picks
Gloria (In Excelsis Deo) – Patti Smith Group
“(“Gloria In Excelsis Deo” is a hymn that the angels sang when announcing the birth of Christ to the shepherds).”
“Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine.”
This song starts very slow and ominously and then moves into a jaunty, strutting pace with a snarly vocal, much like the original version.
“Melting in a pot of thieves, wild card up my sleeve. (Great line!) Thick, heart of stone. My sins, my own they belong to me…me.”
But the beat slowly builds up until it’s pretty fast, with two hard accents on the first two beats and some rockabilly like yelps on the word “door”, much like Little Richard or Jerry Lee Lewis sang on songs before!
Meanwhile, while the energy climaxes- Patti spits out each letter of the girls name, passionately. “Gee- el- ohhhh- arrrre- eye,eye,eye,eye,eye,eye,eye- G-L-O-R-I-A!”
And when the background vocals explode with the title and rockets shoot straight at your heart. The rhythm guitar sparks out in ecstatic energy, much like what Lou Reed played on Velvet Underground songs. This is pure musical, aural orgasm that makes my ears hard and wet, simultaneously.
There were a lot of good poets in the early New York punk scene such as Richard Hell and Jim Carroll, both who went on to devote their lives to writing and poetry. But there was also a woman who was a poet before she became a minor rock star, and she was probably the best poet of the three- and that was Patti Smith.
I love how influential Joan Jett is to young, female rock musicians- no one can match her influence. But, for me, Patti is the female equivalent of Iggy Pop. Meaning- these are the two proto-punkers that led me, and I’m sure a ton of others, towards the acceptance of the coming new music- punk rock.
Hey, throw my favorite rock lyricist in there as well, Lou Reed. But please don’t bother to tell him as he is such a bitchy Queen!
1975 is the year that this album, that this song is from. A year I was still a teenager and still going to arena shows.
Some of them were quite good like Bowie, Reed, Alice Cooper and Blue Oyster Cult. But the first time I experienced true punk energy was seeing The Patti Smith Group live, where that band had songs that were exciting and really kicked ass! (The Rat was just a couple of years away for me!)
Her style was mixing improvisational beatnik poetry with sixties garage rock. Admittingly, this didn’t always work, but when it did, like in this song- it was pure magic. I understand why some punkers might find her too indulgent, too pretentious. But when she hit the bullseye, I feel, she was perfect in emotion, expression and art.
“I move in this atmosphere where everything’s allowed.” I know she was a fan of the beat writer William Burroughs, and the line “Nothing is true, everything is permitted,” is often credited to him. But it’s an ancient line that came from The Assassin Order, this line is also quoted by Jim Carroll in his song “Ask The Angels.”
“And I go to this here party and I just get bored. Until I look out the window, see a sweet young thing…Oh, she looks so good. Oh, she looks so fine. And I’ve got this crazy feeling that I’m going to make her mine.”
I should’ve already pointed out that this is a cover of a Van Morrison & Them song that was a minor hit in the sixties but a garage rock classic. And it sounds quite different from the original and also reflects, a case of lesbian lust which Patti was not so inclined.
Though she was portraying the ambiguous, androgynous sign of the times, with the glitter/glam rock that had recently occurred.
“I let my eyes rise to the big tower clock and I heard those bells chiming in my heart (great line)…And, oh, you were so good. Oh, you were so fine. And I’ve got to tell the world that I made her mine, made her mine, made her mine, made her mine, made her mine. G-L-O-R-I-A!
There’s so much finely sculptured words and poetry in these lines, so much powerful passion leading us onto another glorious-in excelsis deo- chorus.
This song may sound like a song of unbridled lust and a turning away from God and religion. But I hear it as an embrace of energy, excitement and fun and the embrace of music, art and poetry at its peak. And if there is a song more passionate than this- please direct me towards it.
I hear this song as a desire for creative freedom, of breaking down the barriers between art and entertainment, between music and poetry, between what can be thought and imagined and everyday life.
I also hear it as a sign post for a new music. A warning of a new music to come. Artists often look towards the future and tell us about it. They’re like look-out scouts that way.
And Patti, you were so good. Yeah, you were so fine. That I can truly tell the world you’ve held yourself up equally to the heroes that inspired you. Whether they were Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, Jackson Pollock or Rimbaud.
And you made us yours, made us yours, made us yours, made us yours- so brilliantly.
(Slimedog)
