Patti Smith has had a strange career path. She provocatively launched her career in 1975 with “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine,” yet her big commercial breakthrough^[1]Largely on the back of “Because the Night,” co-written with Bruce Springsteen. in 1978 was an entire album entitled Easter—all of which’s religious imagery, if a little tongue-in-cheek, still feels entirely sincere.^[2]Though boy-howdy, you have to skip track 6! It is a prime example of why absolutely no white person, no matter how well intentioned, should ever use the n-word!

Certainly her recitation of Psalm 23 on the bridge of “Privilege (Set Me Free)” betrays no sarcasm; nor does the repetition of “We shall live again” on “Ghost Dance”^[3]The fact that “Ghost Dance” is structured like a Native American ceremony–icky questions of cultural appropriation aside–should also be of interest to those of us essaying to … Continue reading. The concluding title-track, too, does not shy away from how the “Savior dwells inside of thee”, the “Prince of peace,” the “transfigured child of Cain,” “the salt” of the earth, “the evening star,” “the tears of Christ”—how “we are dying” yet also “we are rising.” This track is by all appearances a genuine attempt at an Easter hymn, in commemoration of the Resurrection.

Apparently, whether she was being intentionally-blasphemous or passionately-sincere, what mattered most for Patti Smith is that she was still wrestling with her religion, not merely dismissing it, nor taking it for granted; either way, she was still singing “Gloria”^[4]She did perform for Pope Francis back on Christmas 2014; performed a rousing rendition of “O Holy Night” with the Vatican choir, reportedly.. In this, she was not too far off from the examples of Jacob and the angel, or her namesake Smith in Liberty Jail, or for that matter Christ Himself in Gethsemane and on the cross. He died for somebody’s sins, maybe hers, too.

Just goes to show you that people are complicated—just like religion—just like God and faith and the cosmos entire. We are indeed all dying; we are indeed all rising.