Patti Smith Collected Lyrics, 1970-2015: Lyrics, Reflections & Notes for the Future

To honor the fortieth anniversary of her seminal album Horses, a revised and updated version of the iconic artist’s collected lyrics.

This extraordinary collection from “rock and roll’s poet laureate” is a testimony to the fierce passion and uncompromising originality of Patti Smith’s music and writing. Building on the collection originally published in 1998, this new edition features more than thirty-five new songs, new artwork, and an introduction from Patti Smith herself.

As relevant, fresh, and searing as when they were originally written, Smith’s lyrics capture her unique voice, raw in beauty, grace, and authenticity. Sharing a message of dedication, love, and compassion that speaks across the ages, Smith’s words empower fans and reveal the strong yet vulnerable heart of woman defined by her art.

On the fortieth anniversary of patti smith's seminal album Horses, a revised and updated version of her powerful collected lyrics

An American original, Patti Smith is a multi- disciplined artist and performer. Her work is rooted in poetry, which infused her 1975 landmark album, Horses. A declaration of existence, Horses was described as "three chords merged with the power of the word"; it was graced with the now-iconic portrait by Robert Mapplethorpe, the subject of her award-winning memoir Just Kids.

Initially published in 1998, Patti Smith's Complete Lyrics was a testimony to her uncompromising poetic power. Now, on the fortieth anniversary of the release of Smith's groundbreaking album, Collected Lyrics has been revised and expanded with more than thirty-five addi-tional songs, including her first, "Work Song," written for Janis Joplin in 1970, and her most current, "Writer's Song," to be recorded in 2015. The collection is liberally illustrated with original manuscripts of lyrics from Smith's extensive archive.

Patti Smith's work continues to retain its relevance, whether controversial, political, romantic, or spiritual. Collected Lyrics offers forty-five years of song, an enduring commemoration of Smith's unique contribution to the canon of rock and roll.

Praise for the Original Edition: “The first great rock’n’roll collection to be published since Dylan’s Lyrics: 1962-1985.” - Salon

“Her influence in music today is undeniable. There’s not anybody I know in a band anywhere who does not revere the records she put out. There was a rawness and energy to Horses that I had not heard in any other music. From then on, my life was changed.” - Michael Stipe, R.E.M.

“Patti Smith is not only a great performer, she is a shaman—that is, someone in touch with other levels of reality.” - William S. Burroughs

“Collected Lyrics shows [Smith’s] living energy as words…” - Los Angeles Times

“The shamanic impulse-invocation of spirits, channeling of the voices of dead poets, prayer to unknown forces-pulses through the three hundred pages or so of Smith’s Collected Lyrics, 1970-2015…” - New York Review of Books

“Smith presents a comprehensive gathering of her searing, caring, and exalted lyrics. . . To see Smith’s galvanizing lyrics on the page, without musical embellishment, is to encounter the essence of her art-the radiant spectrum of her concerns, the razor-edge of her wit, and the depth of her emotions.” - Booklist

“To see Smith’s galvanizing lyrics on the page, without musical embellishment, is to encounter the essence of her art-the radiant spectrum of her concerns, the razor-edge of her wit, and the depth of her emotions.” - Booklist