When poets and musicians were friends

You may have heard, but Taylor Swift released an album called Tortured Poets Department, with nods to Patti Smith and the Chelsea Hotel

Apr 24, 2024

In case you’ve been on an isolated spiritual retreat or in a six-month coma, Taylor Swift just released her 11th studio album The Tortured Poet’s Department, which, in addition to a weird nod to racism in the 1830s, includes references to famous writers, film stars, and musicians like Patti Smith.

The invisible string (pun intended) between the literary and music worlds is something I’ve wanted to discuss for some time. Now, Miss Americana finally gave me an excuse (*cough cough* SEO boost) to do so.

I first pondered the faded friendship between music and literature when reading Patti Smith’s autobiography Just Kids. The singer writes about the historic Chelsea Hotel, boasting a guest list of Smith, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Mark Twain, Jack Kerouac, and many others.

It makes sense that authors and poets would run in the same social crowds as musicians or film stars, as they once did. Music is poetry, after all. Bob Dylan won a Nobel Prize in literature, and Kendrick Lamar has a Pulitzer.

But books are no longer a preferred medium of entertainment to the general public. They’re less accessible than music, TV, or film, and harder to digest. Not only is no one raising authors to celebrity status anymore, but few authors want to be A-listers. To me, the literary world has become even more private, keeping to themselves at underground poetry slams and in underfunded lit mags or MFA departments.

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I don’t mean any of this to say authors don’t achieve fame anymore. I mean to say even if they did, they wouldn’t be dining with DiCaprio and Downey Jr. There are celebrity writers, like Stephen King, and then there are celebrities. They don’t run in the same crowds.

Still, all creatives, whatever their preferred medium, have plenty in common. Smith’s account made me wonder if I missed a golden period when writers like Joan Didion were welcomed into the same spaces as singers and rockstars. Or, maybe I just sound like Taylor Swift saying she wants to live in the 1830s (Do I think the lyric is that deep? No. Am I still confused? Yes).

Will we ever again see a Sally Rooney-type at a party in Beverly Hills? Will a Colleen Hoover ever make a Met Gala appearance? Probably not, and maybe it’s for the best.