Patti Smith: ‘I feel embarrassed when people call me a musician because I can’t play anything’

Smith made the comments at the New Yorker Festival on Saturday night (October 3)

Patti Smith said she prefers to see herself as a “performer” rather than a “musician”, speaking at a festival in New York this weekend.

Smith, who releases her new book M Train this week, was at a Q&A session at the New Yorker Festival on Saturday night (October 3).

“I feel embarrassed when people call me a musician, because I can’t play anything,” Smith told the crowd, according to The Guardian.

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“I didn’t have any musical aspirations. I liked being in front of people,” she said before adding that she would rather be called a “performer”.

Smith also discussed her love-hate relationship with poetry, stating that she originally thought poetry readings were “snoresville”.

The published poet – who regularly delivers readings at spoken word events – attributed her growing love of the medium to Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Jim Carroll.

Speaking of her own foray into poetry, she added: “I didn’t have any game plan. It was just to make poetry a little more visceral.”

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Smith recently announced a sequel to her memoir Just Kids, titled M Train, which will be released on October 6. It has been described as a “roadmap” through Smith’s life.

The performer is also currently working on her own small-screen project following the recent announcement that Just Kids will be adapted for TV. The book was published in 2010 and follows the singer’s early life and friendship and relationship with late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. It won the National Book Award that same year.

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US cable network Showtime will produce a limited series adaptation of the book, co-written and co-produced by Smith with screenwriter and television producer John Logan.

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