Horses

In which the past repeats, thank god.

On November 10 1975, Patti Smith released her first album, ‘Horses’ on Arista records, and it arrived like an earthquake. Musically it was some of the most powerful work on the planet at that time; spiritually and politically it was a call to a new generation to throw off the shackles of the past and create an entirely new kind of rock n’ roll….which they did. It inspired generations of people to fight back against conformity and entrenched power- to create and live life for themselves.

I was part of that generation and I heard that record and heeded that call and lived my life based on it. Many people of my generation did. ‘Horses’ and Patti Smith changed my life like no artist had before or since.

Eden Blue came home from Christmas and stayed with us for several days. Eden is 23, and as such has a line on culture I don’t have. One of the things she does is show us videos on Tik Tok, which I avoid because too much distraction no fun. This means I miss a lot of what’s going on and that’s ok—-I have her to keep me up.

She showed us some videos from a guy named Jesse Welles. Some dude standing outside under some power lines playing a guitar and singing, with a voice like too many cigarettes and late night drives, and our minds were instantly blown. The poetry of his words, the power of his ethics, had our jaws on the floor. We kept asking her to play another one, and another one, and another one. Each new song was more powerful and poetic than the last. They just kept coming and coming and coming.

Someone in the universe found the souls of Woody Guthrie, Walt Whitman, and the current collective anguish of our country and poured them into this person. I’ve heard a shitton of music in my lifetime and most of it it just ok. Rarely do I hear music which causes the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up.

I’m not going to quote lyrics here or show you a picture, because you should simply check it out for yourself. There’s a LOT of it- he released FOUR albums in 2025 alone. Like Patti, Mr. Welles has gotten a lot of flack, and like Patti he doesn’t give a shit, and like Patti, he is inspiring a new generation, Eden Blue’s generation, to take charge and take action.

I’ve barely begun to crack this catalog, but on heavy rotation is ‘Middle’ which was nominated for a Grammy this year.

The first track, which is a powerful call to action in this horrible moment in our nation’s history—which causes the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up as it asks us all to dig deep inside ourselves and fight back, is simply titled:

Horses.

I hope you all fight back somehow today. Smooches.