Patti Smith's Horses [Paperback]

Described as the perfect fusion of poetry and garage band rock and roll (the original concept was rock and Rimbaud ),Horsesbelongs as much to the world of literary and cultural criticism as it does to the realm of musicology. WhileHorsespays homage to the record's origins in the nascent New York punk scene, the book's core lies in a detailed analysis of Patti Smith's lyrics and includes discussions of lyrical preoccupations: love, sex, gender, death, dreams, god, metamorphosis, intoxication, apocalypse and transcendence. Philip shaw demonstrates howHorsestransformed the possibilities of both poetry and rock music; and how it achieved nothing less than a complete and systematic derangement of the senses.Philip Shaw is a Reader in the Department of English at the University of Leicester. His previous publications includeWaterloo and the Romantic Imagination(2002) andThe Sublime(2006). He writes songs and plays guitar in the group Alberteen: www.myspace.com/alberteenmusic