Patti Smith and Guitarist Lenny Kaye Deliver Performance For NY Voters

Patti Smith and Guitarist Lenny Kaye Deliver Performance For NY Voters | Society Of Rock Videos

via joytothepolls/Instagram

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Punk legend Patti Smith and guitarist Lenny Kaye delivered an impromptu performance of her 1988 classic hit “People Have the Power” to the early voters heading to the polls in New York City. Fans who knew the words to the song even sang along during the chorus. After performing, she told the crowd: “Don’t forget it. Use your voice. Vote!”

Posted by the organization Joy to the Polls on their Instagram account, they wrote on the caption: “Singing to voters in the streets is so punk! We love @thisispattismith bringing people power to the polls with this impromptu performance in NYC earlier this week. You don’t have to be the Godmother of Punk to surprise and delight voters in long voting lines!”

In 2019, Smith told ITV what she thought of President Donald Trump. She said, “It bothers me that a person representing our country, also representing us, is such an uneducated man, lacking empathy, compassion, a sense of history, a sense of the importance of allies, the importance of opening up one’s door to people who are experiencing strife.”

In September, Smith released a socially distanced all-star performance of the same song for Climate Week NYC which featured fellow artists like R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, Cyndi Lauper, Stella McCartney, Joan Baez, Tony Hawk, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner, and The Strokes’ Nikolai Fraiture.

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