We Three - Video

by Dick Mac

Seven years ago, I went to  Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) with Helen, Elizabeth, and Rodney to see Patti Smith.  She was doing a series of concerts to celebrate the thirtieth annivesary of the release of her debut album "Horses."

Yeah!  Now it's been thirty-seven years since it was released.  Seems impossible.

It was a great concert.  They played the entire album from the first note of "Gloria" to the closing note of "Elegie" in order, just like the record.  After the end of "Free Money" she announced:  "now we flip the record over."  And they broke into "Kimberly" for side two.

The band was great.  In fact, she had Flea on bass.  Yeah, that Flea.  But he was wearing clothes, so it was hard to recognize him.

After the ovations for her performance of the entire album, we all settled-in for a sort of "Greatest Hits" set.

It seemed as though the band had a list of songs they were going to perform, but not a particular order in which they would do them.  After each song, Patti would consult briefly with one or more bandmates, then announce the title of the next song.

There were some awkward, though no unpleasant silences between songs, and during one break I experienced that phenomena we all notice on occasion:  I was in an auditorium with hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, and there was a moment of perfect silence.  No whispering, no shuffling of feet, nothing.

I shoulted:  "We Three!"

Patti walked right up to the microphone and in a very stern voice said "No" and walked away.

The place erupted in laughter, she went back to chatting with the band, returned to the microphone and said:  "OK!"  And the band played the opening strains of "We Three" and I was very happy.

I'll bet you didn't know that's how it works!

If you have one of those magical silences in a crowd, anything you shout will come true.

Try it!

Until then, please enjoy this live recording of Patti Smith singing "We Three."

Oh!  And tonight I am going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see Patti perform in conjunction with the Met's Andy Warhol exhibit.

I am so lucky!  I love living in New York!


7 novembre 2011, Marseille, le Silo. Patti Smith, We Three (1978)