{"id":27896,"date":"1988-07-11T11:00:00","date_gmt":"1988-07-11T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/?p=27896"},"modified":"2026-02-22T13:26:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T21:26:24","slug":"matr-patti-smith-and-bruce-springsteen-aint-it-strange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/1988\/07\/11\/matr-patti-smith-and-bruce-springsteen-aint-it-strange\/","title":{"rendered":"Ain&#8217;t It Strange"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In <em>Love Goes to the Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever<\/em> (recommended reading for its deep dive into the New York music scene from 1973 to 1977, of which Bruce was a big part), Will Hermes calls Patti Smith&#8217;s &#8220;Ain&#8217;t It Strange&#8221; &#8220;an abstracted reggae groove that gradually accelerates as Smith howls and sputters, speaks in poetic tongues, scat-sings gibberish, spits phonemes like a free-jazzer, and reaches for a gold-ring epiphany just beyond her grasp.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To that perfect description, I dare not add a thing.<\/p>\n<p>Patti Smith released her standout track &#8220;Ain&#8217;t It Strange&#8221; on her poorly-received 1976 album, <em>Radio Ethiopia.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"758\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QIl3r-ZTyQs?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>If the studio track was transcendent, Patti&#8217;s live performances took &#8220;Ain&#8217;t It Strange&#8221; to another plane entirely.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The song had become a shamanic ritual,&#8221; Hermes continues, &#8220;Smith spinning like a Sufi, Kaye engaging her in what he called a sort of &#8216;ballet&#8217; during the song&#8217;s shape-shifting second half. At one of the November Bottom Line shows, Smith chased Kaye through the crowd during the song, walking across tables, knocking over drinks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bruce Springsteen was at one of those Bottom Line shows in November 1976. Two of them, actually&#8211;he sat in with The Patti Smith Group for both shows on November 26th. He didn&#8217;t lend his vocals that evening (Patti was one of the only performers who could overpower and overshadow Bruce on stage), but he played a supporting role on guitar throughout Patti&#8217;s eleven-minute performance of &#8220;Ain&#8217;t It Strange.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"758\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Pa1ckDQQfZk?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>That&#8217;s one performance I dearly wish we had video for.<\/p>\n<p>Patti&#8217;s stream-of-consciousness renditions of &#8220;Ain&#8217;t It Strange&#8221; continued to grow in power and length throughout the waning weeks of 1976 as her few inhibitions fell by the wayside. Just weeks after her performance with Bruce, Patti had become a veritable dervish, and during an uncontrolled on-stage spin in Tampa, she slipped, tripped, and fell fourteen feet from the stage onto the concrete floor, landing on her neck and breaking her face and several vertebrae.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My doctor told me not to worry,&#8221; Patti told\u00a0<em>Circus Magazine<\/em>, &#8220;It happens to everybody.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But she did worry, and so did her doctors, who privately doubted Smith would ever perform again. She recuperated at home, her friends doing their best to lift her spirits. Bruce spent time with Patti at her home, listening to records and talking about music.<\/p>\n<p>Smith wouldn&#8217;t release another album until 1978, but when she did it would include an unfinished song that Bruce had been working on but which felt out of place on his own upcoming album. Patti finished and recorded the song, and it became the most well-known and -loved track in her catalog.<\/p>\n<p>But that&#8217;s a roll of the dice for another day.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ain&#8217;t It Strange<br \/>\nFirst performed:<\/strong> November 26, 1976 (New York City, NY)<br \/>\n<strong>Last performed:<\/strong> November 26, 1976 (New York City, NY)<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 June 25, 2021<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One time only: Bruce lends his support to the Patti Smith Group on an epic, stream-of-consciousness performance of &#8220;Ain&#8217;t It Strange.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,3612,5],"tags":[3228,1071,3227],"class_list":["post-27896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover-me","category-great","category-meeting-across-the-river","tag-aint-it-strange","tag-patti-smith","tag-patti-smith-group"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/aintitstrange.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9w3Lk-7fW","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32611,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/1988\/09\/06\/matr-patti-smith-and-bruce-springsteen-free-money\/","url_meta":{"origin":27896,"position":0},"title":"Free Money","author":"Ken","date":"September 6, 1988","format":false,"excerpt":"One time only: Bruce Springsteen joins The Patti Smith Group on one of Patti's earliest songs.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cover Me&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cover Me","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/cover-me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/freemoney.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/freemoney.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/freemoney.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/freemoney.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/freemoney.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7525,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/1988\/03\/12\/matr-patti-smith-and-bruce-springsteen-picture-hanging-blues\/","url_meta":{"origin":27896,"position":1},"title":"Picture Hanging Blues","author":"Ken","date":"March 12, 1988","format":false,"excerpt":"Now here's a true rarity: Bruce Springsteen backing Patti Smith on piano, gamely trying to keep up with her as she improvs her way through one of her earliest poems.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cover Me&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cover Me","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/cover-me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/bruce-patti-e1549663209429.jpg?fit=493%2C397&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":56288,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/26\/kingdom-of-days-march-26-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":27896,"position":2},"title":"March 26","author":"Ken","date":"March 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The live debuts of \"Frankie\" and \"Ain't Got You\" both happened on this date in history. More highlights inside.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Kingdom of Days&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Kingdom of Days","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/kingdom-of-days\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/19880326_2_front.jpg?fit=801%2C691&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/19880326_2_front.jpg?fit=801%2C691&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/19880326_2_front.jpg?fit=801%2C691&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/19880326_2_front.jpg?fit=801%2C691&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 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