“Frederick” by Patti Smith

"Frederick" was the lead single from Wave, the Patti Smith Group's 1979 album on Arista, and it's a love song with a name on the envelope: Smith wrote it herself and dedicated it to Fred "Sonic" Smith, guitarist with Detroit's MC5 and the man she would go on to marry. The melody tips its hat to the way Bruce Springsteen had been playing "Prove It All Night" on stage during his 1978 Darkness Tour.

With Todd Rundgren producing her new material, it came out bright and unguarded, and some of her original admirers grumbled that she had sold out and gone pop. Smash Hits had no patience for that, calling the complainers short-sighted and holding the single up as an excellent example of what she and Rundgren were doing now.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.