Pitchfork 500: 9. Patti Smith - Rock N Roll N*gg*r

Probably the most telling reaction I have to this song is the fact that my absolute favourite part is now and always has been, the bit where Lenny Kaye takes over the lead vocals.

Kaye, complier of the classic 'Nuggets,' sings with New York cool, energised in the heat of the moment but still holding some back. But not Patti Smith. Oh no, she holds nothing back and ends up trying way too hard. She oversings like a mother fucker on this track, no subtlety, nothing but pure vamping theatrics.

I imagine for a lot of people that could be the attraction for the song, how she sings it like she'll never get a second chance and if she sounds foolish, then so be it. But an ironic mullet is still a mullet, and she still sings too hard on this track, no subtlety, no holding back. Of course, holding something back makes us want it more. Which I why, fifteen, twenty years after hearing this song for the first time, I still would love to hear Lenny Kaye sing the whole thing.

And of course the subject matter is so over the top as well. Whatever her points about the oppressed, the way she frames the argument is almost eye-rolling. I mean, when John Lennon pulled that same shit with 'Woman is the Nigger of the World', it didn't work then, and it didn't really work, at least for me, with this track. Smith is going out on a limb, pushing things forward, but really, this song is just stupid. Smith was thirty-two years old when this song came out and quite frankly she should have known better. Just because someone is confronting issues, hypocrisy and prejudice, all laudable endeavours, doesn't mean that the way that it is done is any good.

But in Smith and her group's favour, the instrumental track just fucking rocks.