Hotel Chelsea Blog
Patti Smith divulges the origins of her song "Gloria," in a recent interview with Simon Reynolds.
Gloria, says Smith, it’s a song about her sister Linda, a sort of morbid fantasy rooted in remorse: the pair, rooming together in the Chelsea Hotel, quarrelled, and Linda disappeared, causing Patti much anguish. Written in 1971, the verses languished in a drawer for several years, until they were pulled out and given an incongruously jaunty reggae backing.
Patti in her room at the Chelsea.
Patti Smith still stays at the hotel when she needs to. She stayed there in the 1990s for quite a while between apartments. I met her in the elevator one day and told her how Ilistened to easter every morning to power me up for wwriting. She asked if it helped. “Yes,” I said. She was very nice. I later saw her sing at two friends’ memorial services, that of Herbert Hunke and Gregory Corso. She has always been solid for the Chelsea and her old friends there.
Debbie Harry also sang at those memorials. Chelsea memorials are the most interesting and moving I’ve attended.
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