Editing Horses (album) (section)

==Lyrics==
Fiona Sturges of ''[[The Guardian]]'' described Smith's lyrics on ''Horses'' as being steeped in "intricate phrasing and imagery" that "deliberately blurred the lines between punk and poetry",<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jun/10/patti-smith-where-to-start-in-her-back-catalogue |title=Patti Smith: where to start in her back catalogue |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=June 10, 2020 |access-date=June 20, 2021 |last=Sturges |first=Fiona}}</ref> while [[CMJ]] writer Steve Klinge found that they recalled the energy of [[Beat Generation|Beat]] poetry and the "revolutionary spirit" of French poet [[Arthur Rimbaud]], one of Smith's primary influences.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SioEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA59 |title=Patti Smith Complete: Lyrics, Reflections, & Notes for the Future |magazine=[[CMJ New Music Monthly]] |location=New York |issue=68 |date=April 1999 |access-date=October 8, 2015 |last=Klinge |first=Steve |page=59}}</ref> Smith drew on different sources of lyrical inspiration for ''Horses'', with some songs being autobiographical and others being rooted in dreams and fantastical scenarios.{{sfn|Shaw|2008|p=29}} She left the genders of the songs' protagonists ambiguous, a stylistic choice she said was "learnt from [[Joan Baez]], who often sang songs that had a male point of view", while also serving as a declaration "that as an artist, I can take any position, any voice, that I want."<ref name="Reynolds"/>

Smith's experiences with her family inspired specific songs on ''Horses''.<ref name="Reynolds2">{{cite magazine |title=Let it ride |magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]] |location=London |issue=103 |date=December 2005 |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |page=122}}</ref> "Redondo Beach", whose lyrics concern a woman who commits suicide following a quarrel with the song's narrator,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/redondo-beach-mt0007074236 |title=Redondo Beach – Patti Smith |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=June 21, 2021 |last=Ruhlmann |first=William}}</ref> was written by Smith after an incident involving her and her sister Linda.{{sfn|Wendell|2014|p=34}} The two had gotten into a heated argument, prompting Linda to leave their shared apartment and not return until the next day.{{sfn|Wendell|2014|p=34}} "Kimberly" is a dedication to its namesake, Smith's younger sister, and finds the singer recounting a childhood memory of holding Kimberly in her arms during a lightning storm.{{sfn|Wendell|2014|p=35}}<ref name="Reynolds2"/> In "[[Free Money (song)|Free Money]]", Smith describes growing up in poverty in New Jersey and recalls her mother fantasizing about winning the [[lottery]].<ref name="Reynolds2"/>

Other songs were penned by Smith about notable public figures. "Birdland" was inspired by ''A Book of Dreams'', a 1973 memoir of Austrian [[psychoanalysis|psychoanalyst]] [[Wilhelm Reich]] by his son Peter, and revolves around a narrative in which Peter, at his father's funeral, imagines leaving on a [[unidentified flying object|UFO]] piloted by his father's spirit.{{sfn|Johnstone|2012|p=58}} "Break It Up" was written about [[Jim Morrison]], lead singer of [[the Doors]]; its lyrics are based on Smith's recollection of her visit to Morrison's grave in [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]],{{sfn|Johnstone|2012|pp=37, 58}} as well as a dream in which she witnessed a winged Morrison stuck to a marble slab, trying and eventually succeeding in breaking free from the stone.{{sfn|Smith|2010b|pp=249–253}}{{sfn|Wendell|2014|p=36}} "Elegie" is a requiem for rock musician [[Jimi Hendrix]] and quotes a line from his 1968 song "[[1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)]]".<ref name="Reynolds"/><ref name="Reynolds2"/> It was recorded, at Smith's request, on the fifth anniversary of Hendrix's death, which fell on September 18, the final day of recording.{{sfn|Thompson|2011|p=121}} Smith said that the song was also intended to pay tribute to other deceased rock artists such as Jim Morrison, [[Brian Jones]], and [[Janis Joplin]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title='I Think We Accomplished Our Mission' |magazine=Mojo |location=London |issue=263 |date=October 2015 |last=Aston |first=Martin |pages=78–82, 84}}</ref>

Two songs on ''Horses'' are partial adaptations of rock [[standard (music)|standards]]: "Gloria", a radical reimagining of the 1964 [[Them (band)|Them]] song incorporating verses from Smith's own poem "Oath",<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/apr/17/patti-smiths-horses-the-making-of-the-worlds-punk-poet-laureate |title=Patti Smith: punk's poet laureate heads back on the road for her sins |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |date=April 17, 2015 |access-date=October 8, 2015 |last=Barton |first=Laura |author-link=Laura Barton}}</ref>{{sfn|Padgett|2017|pp=104–113}} and "Land", which features the first verse of [[Chris Kenner]]'s 1962 song "[[Land of a Thousand Dances]]".{{sfn|Paytress|2006|p=260}} In "Land", Smith weaves the imagery of the Kenner song into an elaborate narrative about a character named Johnny—an allusion to the similarly named [[homoeroticism|homoerotic]] protagonist of the 1971 [[William S. Burroughs]] novel ''[[The Wild Boys (novel)|The Wild Boys]]''—while additionally referencing Arthur Rimbaud and, indirectly, Jimi Hendrix, whom Smith imagined to be the song's protagonist, "dreaming a simple rock-and-roll song, and it takes him into all these other realms."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/03/11/the-torch-singer |title=The Torch Singer |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |location=New York |date=March 11, 2002 |access-date=December 27, 2017 |last=DeLano |first=Sharon}}</ref> The characterization of Johnny in "Land" was also inspired by photographer [[Robert Mapplethorpe]]—who was a close friend of Smith and shot the picture of her used for the ''Horses'' album cover—and his experiences in the New York [[sadomasochism|S&M]] scene; in her memoir ''[[Just Kids]]'' (2010), Smith refers to Mapplethorpe and Burroughs, sitting together in CBGB, as "Johnny and the horse".{{sfn|Smith|2010b|pp=243–244, 249}}