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Patti Smith was clearly happy to get a nod from Taylor Swift in the chorus to her title track from The Tortured Poets Department. Shortly after Taylor, 34, dropped the album, Patti, 77, shared a short post on Instagram to show her approval on Friday, April 19. She was clearly flattered to get mentioned in the same line as the late poet Dylan Thomas in Taylor’s song.
Patti shared a pair of black-and-white photos of herself, reading Dylan Thomas’ book Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog. “This is saying I was moved to be mentioned in the company of the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas,” she wrote. “Thank you Taylor.”
In “The Tortured Poets Department,” Taylor mentions about Patti and the poet in the chorus. “You’re not Dylan Thomas. I’m not Patti Smith/This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel. We’re modern idiots,” she sings.
Dylan Thomas was a poet who lived from 1914 to 1953. He wrote the popular poems “Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night” and “And Death Shall Have No Dominion.” He died at 39, after a night of heavy drinking. Patti Smith is a musician, known for hits like “Because the Night” and classic albums like Horses. She lived in the Chelsea Hotel shortly after moving to New York. She also wrote the National Book Award-winning memoir Just Kids, which was released in 2010.
Patti isn’t the only one thanking Taylor for The Tortured Poets Department. Her “Fortnight” collaborator Post Malone also penned a sweet message, thanking her for working with him on social media. “It’s once in a lifetime that someone like @taylorswift13 comes into this world. I am floored by your heart and your mind, and I am beyond honored to have been asked to help you with your journey,” he wrote. ” I love you so much. Thank you Tay.”
After The Tortured Poets Department dropped, Taylor penned a reflection on what the album means to her on social media. “This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up. There is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed. And upon further reflection, a good number of them turned out to be self-inflicted. This writer is of the firm belief that our tears become holy in the form of ink on a page. Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it,” she wrote in part. “And then all that’s left behind is the tortured poetry.”