"Frederick" is a song written by

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

, and released as the lead single from Patti Smith Group's 1979 album ''

Wave In physics, mathematics, engineering, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from List of types of equilibrium, equilibrium) of one or more quantities. ''Periodic waves'' oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium ...

''. The song is dedicated to

Fred "Sonic" Smith Frederick Dewey Smith (September 14, 1948 – November 4, 1994), known professionally as Fred "Sonic" Smith, was an American guitarist and member of the rock band MC5. He married and raised two children with poet and fellow rock musician Patti S ...

, guitar player of the Detroit band

MC5 MC5 was an American rock music, rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan, in 1963. The classic lineup consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis (bassist), Michael Davis, and drummer ...

and Smith's future husband. The melody of "Frederick" is an homage to

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

's live arrangement of " Prove It All Night" from the then-recent Darkness Tour of 1978.

Reception

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' said, "Patti has been getting a lot of stick from her original admirers for 'selling out' and going pop. I think they're being short-sighted (not to mention cloth-eared). This is an excellent sample of her new work with producer

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Nazz and Utopia. He is known for his sophistica ...

Covers

The song was covered by Sandie Shaw in 1986. The B-side was entitled "Go Johnny Go", and had been written by Shaw as a tribute to

Johnny Marr John Martin Marr (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Maher; born 31 October 1963) is a musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has sinc ...

Charts

Patti Smith Group

References

External links

Frederick by Patti Smith Group
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

1979 singles 1986 singles Patti Smith songs Sandie Shaw songs Songs written by Patti Smith Song recordings produced by Todd Rundgren 1979 songs Arista Records singles {{1970s-single-stub