Often heralded as the Godmother of Punk, Patti Smith could also be called the voice of a generation. So it's only fitting that her latest concert featured a cover of The Who's most iconic hit of all time: "My Generation."
A video posted to Instagram by Leather Saints Archive from Smith's Nov. 22 concert at the Beacon in NYC showed the legendary musician, 78, singing and playing guitar on the 1965 classic. According to the caption, it was Smith's first time performing the song on her current tour, and she was backed by a band which included guest guitarist Charlie Sexton from Bob Dylan's band.
Fans in the comments couldn't get over the "mind blowing moment," as one person described it.
"Thank you for sharing this. May or may not have tears in my eyes," a second commenter admitted, with another declaring, "She is ageless."
"Could I love her more?" someone else asked.
Of course, as longtime fans know, Smith has been covering "My Generation" for years. In fact, her 1976 single "Gloria" featured a live version of the tune recorded in Cleveland as a B-side.
Pete Townshend said playing 'My Generation' became a 'burden' for The Who
Just because The Who will always be associated with "My Generation" doesn't mean the band likes to play the song.
"I hate playing it,” Pete Townshend admitted on a March 2025 episode of the Switched on Pop podcast.
“Well, I think for the band members, for me and the band members, it became a burden,” he said. “We were still playing it as our closing song in our late 20s. It felt to us that the conversation was over.”
"When we first went to New York in 1967, there were kids who were being called up for Vietnam, but the Vietnam issue was over and we were still doing ‘My Generation’ on the stage and I was probably smashing guitars and [drummer] Keith Moon was still smashing his drums up and we were still doing that in ’68," Townshend recalled.
While the band was criticized when "My Generation" came out because some felt Daltrey's stuttering vocals were offensive to real-life stutterers, Townshend explained the song wasn't meant to be a "piss-take."
“When you look at early interviews with The Beatles, what they did is every time they were asked a serious question, they made a joke,” he pointed out. “I tried to answer questions seriously, but I knew there were subjects I had to stay away from. I would have defended myself really quite valiantly on the stuttering. It wasn’t meant to be a piss-take about people stuttering. It was meant to be that I grew up in this group of boys who took so much amphetamines that they couldn’t speak.”
Clearly, those early objections to "My Generation" didn't stand in the way of the song becoming a true rock and roll anthem for the ages.
Related: The Who's Roger Daltrey Will Never Play This Song Again for Seriously Spooky Reason
Hence then, the article about pioneering 70s rocker 78 stuns fans with mind blowing cover of classic hit by the who was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Pioneering '70s Rocker, 78, Stuns Fans With 'Mind-Blowing' Cover of Classic Hit by The Who )
Also on site :
- One person in critical condition following two-vehicle collision on SR-126 at Boosey Road
- Atlanta woman makes $100 Camille Rose order. Then she picks up the package from the post office: ‘They are straight robbing people’
- Mom signs up daughter for Angel Tree. Then she sees what she got. Now she’s on the ‘ungrateful’ list: ‘Looks like they came from the Dollar Tree’