-Welcome back. It's always great to see you.
-Thank you. You too. -And thank you for being here.
-Springsteen takeover week, which I thought was perfect
because "Because the Night."
That's your and Bruce's song. -Because "Because."
-Because "Because." Because "Because."
Because of the wonderful things you do.
Can you tell me the story behind you and Bruce working together?
-Sure. Well, actually, we sort of worked separately together.
But I was doing Easter in 1978.
And I had just had a serious accident.
And Jimmy Iovine was producing it.
And we were sort of a few songs short.
And Jimmy was engineering Bruce's work.
And Bruce was having some difficulty or else --
I don't know -- doing the verses of a certain song.
And Jimmy begged him for it.
And, truthfully, Jimmy brought me the cassette
and said, "I want you to listen to this song."
And I was like, "Well, I want to write our own songs.
I want to do our own songs."
So I put it on my mantel.
Every day, Jimmy would call me up.
"Did you listen to the song? Did you listen to the song?"
And I was like, "I'm gonna listen to it,"
'cause I kept trying to write my own.
And then I was having a long-distance relationship
with my husband-to-be, Fred "Sonic" Smith.
-Absolutely.
-And back then, you know, we didn't have much money,
and long-distance calls were really expensive.
So we talked once a week.
I mean, it really kills me when people say,
"My boyfriend hasn't called me in three hours."
I'm just like, "Geez."
-You're like, "You have no idea."
-So... [ Cheers and applause ]
-Once a week, buddy, yeah.
-So, I was waiting for my weekly phone call.
I would, like -- I mean, it was my most exciting thing.
And I was waiting. He was supposed to call at 7:00.
He didn't call. 7:30, he didn't call.
8:00, he didn't call.
And I was getting really restless, really agitated,
and I didn't know what to do with myself.
And I saw that little cassette sitting there
and I thought, "Ugh.
I'll listen to this darn song."
So I put the song on, and I listened to it and went,
"It's one of those darn hits," you know?
And then I thought, "Well, what am I gonna do, you know?
It's, like, obviously a great song."
It was in my key, perfectly produced.
It had a great chorus and no verses.
So, I was in such a state, and Fred didn't call me
till like midnight, but by then, I had written all the lyrics,
including this verse -- or these lines --
♪ Have I doubt when I'm alone? ♪
♪ Love is a ring, the telephone ♪
Because I was waiting for a phone call from Fred.
[ Cheers and applause ] -That's the best.
That's the best story. I love that.
-So, thanks to Jimmy, thanks to Bruce,
I had my first and probably --
Well, one of my -- Well, my only big hit.
-That was a -- Yeah.
-No, I have one more that did pretty good --
that Fred wrote.
It's "People Have the Power."
-Yeah, exactly.
But you've actually got to perform with Bruce.
I've seen you guys perform this song.
-Oh, I mean, we performed it, I think, at the Bottom Line.
We performed it then, like since '78.
And, yeah, it's awesome.
We've done it, you know, throughout the years, and --
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-I love your books and I love anytime you get to come on.
This one I love.
"A Book of Days" is the name of the book.
And, so, explain the idea behind this,
'cause it's just really cool photos
and stories underneath the photos.
-Well, I did it during the pandemic.
I was, again, very restless.
I was, you know, confined.
And I wanted to -- I was writing,
but I needed a project that I felt would reach
the people, because I had a whole world tour,
and it was cancelled.
So, on my Instagram, it was the one aspect
where I got to have some commune with the people.
So I thought that I would do a book inspired by it.
But it's wholly original.
I mean, there are some pictures that are on the Instagram,
but I just put it together and --
-This one here is you --
-They saw that last time.
-You and Keanu Reeves.
And you posted this, and everyone went nuts.
The Internet went crazy.
-Well, my Instagram was fairly new.
And I met him and his girlfriend in California,
and they were so nice.
But he was -- A friend of mine who had passed away,
who's -- There's a little picture of him, Sandy Pearlman,
who produced the Blue Oyster Cult and The Clash.
-Yeah. -And Sandy loved him.
And then he passed away, and I got to meet him.
And I thought, "I have to get my picture taken for Sandy."
It's like one of those proximity things.
-Yeah.
-And I just threw it on my Instagram,
and, oh, my gosh, like rabid dogs, the people came.
I mean, there was like over 80,000.
I remember I told you, "This guy is really popular."
Like -- -It's Keanu Reeves.
Yes, he's very popular.
-But, you know, I did research since the show.
-You have seen his --
-I saw all the "John Wick" movies.
I love them. They're so awesome.
-Yeah, good. Alright. Good. I'm glad you saw them.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-No, I do. And now I get it.
Now I get it, why everybody loves him.
But he's also a really nice fella.
-He's such a cool guy. Yeah, he's great.
I was talking to you backstage.
I go, "It's a photo for every day of the year."
-Yeah. And, also, for anyone born on leap year,
because I was thinking, you know,
if you got the book and you wanted to see what happened on
your birthday and you were born on February 29th, you know,
how terrible if it wasn't in there.
-Yeah. That's right.
It actually -- You're right. You didn't -- So, yeah.
But it was so interesting.
You were telling me this, and before you told me this,
I was going to tell you this.
I grabbed the book and immediately went to my birthday.
-Well -- Oh, what's your birthday?
-September 19th.
-That's right near Fred's birthday.
-Oh, really? -Yeah. He's 14th.
-And I went to September, and it's a young Elvis Presley.
-Yes. -On my birthday.
And I loved that and I immediately go --
-That's his high-school yearbook picture.
I just put him in there when I was working on it
because I was thinking about when I was a kid, culturally,
he just helped explode our culture when I was a kid.
I used to see all the teenagers. They all went crazy for him.
And he's given -- He's done such a --
given such a great contribution.
And I just thought he should be -- Imagine this kid.
He's, like, a teenager in the '50s,
when it was so conformist and, you know,
it was so hard to be different, going to school
like a greaser with pink suits.
I mean, you know, people don't even realize
that he was a young boy, you know --
-Yeah, but I looked at it and I saw that photo
and I go, "Oh, yeah,"
and then, immediately, I want to do more research again,
'cause I love him.
I'm a giant Elvis fan.
But I'm like, He dyed his hair. He was blonde.
You know, Elvis -- that's why he has blue eyes --
blonde hair, blue eyes.
But I was like, "Oh, yeah, I should do --"
Did he dye his hair here? And I'm, like, thinking.
Then I go -- Then I look at another photo
and I go, "Oh, you know what?
I should watch "John Wick" or something.
Or I go, "You know what?
I should do some more research about
Electric Lady Studios and Jimi Hendrix.
And you go, "Yeah, that's kind of what I want people to do."
You want this to be on their bedside, right?
-Yeah. I thought, you know -- I imagine it's on people's --
by their bed, and then they just pick it up
and want to look at something,
and, you know, something attracts them.
And then they watch -- look at a couple more.
And then they fall asleep and wake up, and it's still there.
But, no -- -That's what you want.
It's "A Book of Days."
-It's a friend. -Yes, it is a friend.
Congratulations on the new book. Thank you for being here.
Patti Smith, everybody. -Thank you, everybody.
"A Book of Days" out now.
Bruce Springsteen performs for us after the break.
Stick around.