No, the ‘Daisy Jones & the Six’ Opening Isn’t an Original Song (It’s Better)
Apparently, a lot of people are wondering when the intro song to Amazon’s Daisy Jones & the Six will be released for streaming. This both greatly amuses me and makes me a little sad, because as soon as I heard the song “Dancing Barefoot,” I was flying to the edge of my seat, grinning. While the song’s sound might be ever so slightly reminiscent of the fictional Six’s sound, ultimately, it’s its own thing. And it’s been banging around for years.
Guys, that’s not Daisy Jones, that’s Patti Fucking Smith—Patti Smith of the NYC rock scene of the ’70s, Patti Smith, “godmother of punk” and bestselling author. They honestly couldn’t have picked a better person for the intro of this particular show.
Like Daisy, Patti had to really get scrappy to make it. As laid out in her autobiographical novel Just Kids, Patti’s journey as an artist was a fruitful, tumultuous, and wildly exciting one, filled with fascinating characters and experiences. No matter what obstacles were in her way, Patti persevered, and she didn’t let gendered expectations get in her way. She was this androgynous, potty-mouthed force of nature, and even now, when she performs, you can see that spirit carry her forward.
More to the point, I absolutely love that they chose “Dancing Barefoot” in particular as the opener. There’s a couple elements here that are making my heart sing. For one, being a history buff and a romantic, Patti wrote this song inspired by the troubled relationship between early 1900s artists Jeanne Hébuterne and Amedeo Modigliani. On the album sleeve, she goes further to dedicate it to all women who’ve ever felt like a “mistress” to a man who was just out of reach.
But the other side of it is that she dedicated the song, all the same, to her late husband, Fred “Sonic” Smith. Their relationship was so profoundly meaningful in her life that she scarcely talks about it; when I saw her read in December, she smiled and made passing allusions to their life together, but that was the most I’d ever heard of their relationship. Such bonds don’t need words, after all.
So, here we have two contextual layers to this song: an ode to women who yearn, and an ode to the men we love. These layers are reflected in the lyrics, which in turn reflect Patti’s honestly unreal talent as a songwriter.
All in all, that’s pretty Daisy Jones. But let’s not discredit ourselves by forgetting the source.
(featured image: Amazon Prime Video)
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