It's a common misconception that this song is about a lesbian couple -- I even thought so for a time!
In Patti Smith Complete, Ms. Smith says that she wrote this song in 1971 after a "rare" argument with her sister Linda. Linda left after the argument. Patti describes what she herself did: "Worried... I took an F Train to Coney Island and sat on the beach until the sun rose. I came back, wrote the draft and fell asleep. When I awoke, she had returned. I showed her what I had written and we never quarreled again."
What a beautiful counterpoint! One, a song of regret, of lost opportunity, pain, guilt, remorse. The other, of forgiveness, reconciliation, an embrace full of future possibilities to be cherished...
It's a common misconception that this song is about a lesbian couple -- I even thought so for a time!
In Patti Smith Complete, Ms. Smith says that she wrote this song in 1971 after a "rare" argument with her sister Linda. Linda left after the argument. Patti describes what she herself did: "Worried... I took an F Train to Coney Island and sat on the beach until the sun rose. I came back, wrote the draft and fell asleep. When I awoke, she had returned. I showed her what I had written and we never quarreled again."
What a beautiful counterpoint! One, a song of regret, of lost opportunity, pain, guilt, remorse. The other, of forgiveness, reconciliation, an embrace full of future possibilities to be cherished...
-Pie