PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER
“People Have the Power” is a rock song written by Patti Smith and Fred “Sonic” Smith, and released as the lead single from Patti Smith 1988 album Dream of Life. The cover photograph is by Robert Mapplethorpe. The song was ranked number 22 on NME magazine’s list of the “Singles of the Year”. For most of U2’s Innocence + Experience Tour, the group used “People Have the Power” as its entrance music. Smith herself joined them to close their show with the song at London’s O2 Arena on October 29, 2015, as well as the December 6, 2015 show at Accorhotels Arena in Paris. On December 7, to close their show at Accorhotels Arena, U2 invited The Eagles of Death Metal to sing this song, for their first public live performance after the slaughter which occurred during their show at the Bataclan in Paris on November 13, 2015. (More from Wikipedia)
In 1988, Patti Smith released a well-received album called Dream of Life that included a hit song, “People Have the Power” – in that song, she seemed to anticipate the momentous changes that were coming in the world, including the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but not just that.
(February 2014)
