In Their Own Words: Patti Smith

Patti Smith shaped the New York City punk rock scene with her debut album 'Horses'. She's a poet, an artist, a singer and a songwriter who's pushed boundaries in everything she's ever done.

6 Music offers an intimate portrayal of this fascinating artist through her own words from interviews recorded across her career.

Patti arrived penniless in New York in 1967 and met her future muse and partner, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. She shares their relationship and what went on behind the scenes when he took that famous photo of her for the album cover of 'Horses'. She describes the thought process behind her poetry and songwriting and her feelings about artists like Janis Joplin and Barbra Streisand.

She reveals her love of poetry and how she thinks of music as war. And the pivotal theme of God and religion emerges again and again throughout the music of her epic and varied career.

First broadcast in 2018.