Patti Smith, godmother of punk, releases new memoir M Train

Patti Smith, the "godmother of punk,"delves into her daily rituals of life and sharesthe many losses she has experienced inher new memoirM Train.

With a career that has spanned more than four decades,Smith is a rare artist who has won acclaim as a musician, performer, writer and visual artist.

Her 1978 songBecause the Night, co-written with BruceSpringsteen, reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart andhas been widely covered by other artists.Smith was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Three yearslater, shewon the National Book Award for her earlier memoirJust Kids, about her relationship with provocativephotographer RobertMapplethorpe,who died of AIDS-related complications in 1989.

An exhibition of her photography, titledCamera Solo, touredto the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2013.

With herseminal debut album Horsesnow 40 years old,she's currentlytouring to celebrate that milestone in between dates promotingher new book.

But Smith, now age 68, is not just a nostalgia act. She wrote and performed the song Capital Letter on the Hunger Games: Catching Fire movie soundtrack, whichintroduced her to a whole new generation of younger fans. Still, she's never had a problem connecting with the kids:Smith told CBC News that recent concert tours in Europe had many young fans in attendance.

"It's fantastic because their energy is so great, but also their enthusiasm, their idealism, their questioning, their desire for communication," she said.

"It's always gratifying for me when younger generations are interested in my work"

Writing of loss, loves and art

In M Train, she details other losses in her life, including her husband Fred "Sonic" Smith, who played in the Detroit rock band MC5and died of heart failure in 1994.

"We're always going through a certain amount of loss," Smith said.

"Whether we lose our favourite scarf or someone that we love. It's just a natural process of life."

Smithalso writes of her favourite cafe where she used to go every day to write, and of her love of coffee and detective shows, as well as her devotion to artists she admires, including Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, poet Sylvia Plath, and French writers Jean Genet and Arthur Rimbaud. She describes pilgrimages she made to their former homes and graves where she takes her trademark polaroid pictures.

Patti Smith tackles memories in M Train

9 years ago

Duration 2:47

The rocker, writer and photographer revisits her past, her loves and her art in her latest memoir

Despite her acclaim and the success of Just Kids (for whichshe hasplanneda sequel),Smith said she set no expectations for the new book.

"My first concern is that I do whatever it is whether it's an album or a book or a photograph or a drawing as best as I can and then we'll see."

"Really for this book, I had no agenda at all, I just wanted to be free, I just wrote. That's why it's called M Train. It's sort of a trinity of memory and also the mind. It's like a mental trainand I just wrote what I felt like writing."

As for the continuing fascination with Smith's music her last album Banga was released in 2012 the singer-songwriter is nothing if nothumble.

"I don't walk around thinking of myself as a rock star or a musician," she said.

"I just think that, you know, I have a band and I go out and I serve the people, but in my daily life I write, I read, feed my cats, roam around the world and drink coffee."