Dancing Barefoot is the full and true story of Patti Smith, widely acknowledged as one of the most significant American artists of the rock ’n’ roll era, a performer whose audience and appeal reach far beyond the parameters of rock. An acclaimed poet, a respected artist, and a figurehead for many liberal political causes, Patti Smith soared from an ugly-duckling childhood in postwar New Jersey to become queen of the New York arts scene in the 1970s. This book traces the brilliant trajectory of her career, including the fifteen reclusive years she spent in Detroit in the 1980s and ’90s, as well as her triumphant return to New York. But it is primarily the story of a performer growing up in New York City in the early and mid-1970s. Dancing Barefoot is a measured, accurate, and enthusiastic account of Smith’s career. Guided by interviews with those who have known her—including Ivan Kral, Tom Verlaine, Richard Lloyd, John Cale, and Jim Carroll—it relies most of all on Patti’s own words. This is Patti’s story, told as she might have seen it, had she been on the outside looking in. “Dave Thompson knows how to tell a gripping, carefully researched story. This one is about a young woman from the swamps of New Jersey who became an artist’s muse, then a rock star, then a wife and mother, then an award-winning author, and—most importantly—one of the major American poetic champions of her generation.” — Stephen Davis , author of Hammer of the Gods and Walk This Way “Dave Thompson made me love and understand Patti more than any other writer ever did, including Patti herself.  But then again, he did it by using mostly her own words.  Brilliant!” — Cherry Vanilla , author of Lick Me “Dave Thompson expertly captures the mood and magic of the period—there were moments when I felt as though I were reliving a part of my life, not simply reading a book about it.” — Ivan Kral , Patti Smith Group "From raucous and indelible performances to her retreat to raise a family in Detroit to crushing tragedies to her glorious resurgence, Thompson reveals Smith's profound impulse to celebrate, memorialize, and inspire others. More comprehensive portraits will owe a debt to Thompson's blueprint biography."— Booklist "Thompson's vivid re-creation of the music scene in New York City in the 1970s captures an exhilarating moment in music history."— Publishers Weekly "[ Dancing Barefoot ] must be on the shelf of every serious Patti Smith fan, indeed anyone fascinated with classic '70s rock."— PopMatters.com "[The book] bring[s] a deeper insight to the artist’s motivations and a great deal of much-needed perspective on the era in which she blossomed... Dancing Barefoot will broaden the understanding of even the most ardent Patti Smith fans.”— Glide Magazine "Between Thompson's descriptive storytelling and interview snippers (dating from the late '60s to present) with peers, members of the Patti Smith Group and Smith herself, her story emerges both vivid and real"— American Songwriter Magazine Dave Thompson is the author of London's Burning: True Adventures on the Front Lines of Punk 1976-1977 , I Hate New Music: A Classic Rock Manifesto , and biographies of David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, and Eric Clapton. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Spin, Mojo, Q, Record Collector, and many other publications. Dancing Barefoot The Patti Smith Story By Dave Thompson Chicago Review Press Incorporated Copyright © 2011 Dave Thompson All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-56976-325-4 Contents Preface, 1. The Sheep Lady from Algiers, 2. Anna of the Harbor, 3. Ballad of a Bad Boy, 4. Death by Water, 5. The Amazing Tale of Skunkdog, 6. Picasso Laughing, 7. Ha! Ha! Houdini, 8. Neo Boy, 9. Christ! The Colors of Your Energies, 10. Babelfield, 11. High on Rebellion, 12. The Salvation of Rock, 13. Burning Roses, 14. Thread, 15. Scream of the Butterfly, 16. A Fire of Unknown Origin, 17. Sandayu the Separate, 18. Babelogue, Appendix: Patti Smith on Record, Bibliography, Index, CHAPTER 1 THE SHEEP LADY FROM ALGIERS SHE WAS BORN Patricia Lee Smith, Tricia to her friends and family, in Chicago on December 30, 1946. World War II had been over for eighteen months, and Christmas for five days, but the remnants of both were still visible everywhere. The very air, it seemed, crackled with optimism and hope, a tangible sense that after so many years of hardship — the Great Depression preceded World War II; the Great War preceded that — the United States was finally poised to embrace its long-postponed destiny. The American Dream was coming, and from the upper echelons of society to the lowest rung of the economic ladder, the mantra that suddenly anything was possible was coming true. Grant and Beverly Smith, a skilled pattern- and model-maker and his homemaker wife, certainly believed in the dream. Born in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on July 29, 1916, Grant H. Smith was thirty and newly discharged fr