Patti Smith’s ‘Horses’ Turns 50

Fresh Air

NPR

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.4 • 34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

50 years ago next week, Patti Smith released her debut album, ‘Horses,’ ushering in a new era of rock and roll. We’re listening back to portions of our interviews with Smith, from 1996 and 2010. She talks about her early days in New York City, when she was trying to find her way as a poet, performer and later songwriter. When it came to ‘Horses,’ she says, “I thought I would do this record and then go back to my writing and my drawing and return to my somewhat abnormal normal life. But ‘Horses’ took me on a whole different path.” And Ken Tucker reviews the new anniversary edition of the album.

Also, we remember actress Diane Ladd in an excerpt of an interview with her daughter, Laura Dern. And David Bianculli reviews ‘Pluribus,’ the new series from ‘Breaking Bad’ creator Vince Gilligan.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, it's Carrie.
0:02.5	Our co-host, Tanya Mosley and I will be doing an end of the year Fresh Air Plus bonus episode,
0:08.0	answering listener questions about the show and about ourselves.
0:11.2	You can send the questions now to Fresh Air Plus at NPR.org, with Plus spelled out.
0:18.2	That's Fresh Air Plus at npr.org.
0:23.8	This is Fresh Air. I'm David B. Incouly.
0:26.9	Patty Smith is now considered one of the wise women of rock and roll, an eloquent chronicler of her life in music and in a series of acclaimed memoirs.
0:36.0	But 50 years ago, she was a scrounging poet who wanted to be a rock star on her own very
0:41.8	literary terms, and her debut album, Horses, announced a unique artist.
0:48.2	Today, we're going to listen back to portions of two of Terry's interviews with Patty Smith,
0:53.0	about her early days as a poet and performer.
0:56.2	But first, rock critic Ken Tucker takes a look back and tells us about the new anniversary edition
1:01.8	of Horses, which is supplemented with previously unreleased music.
1:10.7	Music Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine
1:21.6	Miltner part thieves Walk 50 years, Patti's
1:29.3	while cord
1:32.2	of my sleeve.
1:35.2	50 years on,
1:36.2	Patty Smith's horses
1:37.2	still sounds like nothing else
1:39.0	before or since its arrival in 1975.
1:42.3	At the time,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.