“People Have The Power” by Patti Smith

"People Have the Power" was the lead single from Patti Smith's 1988 album Dream of Life, out on Arista. She wrote the words and shares the songwriting credit with Fred "Sonic" Smith, who also produced it, and the title reads like a banner hoisted over a crowd. Robert Mapplethorpe shot the cover photograph, and NME placed it 22nd among its singles of the year.

It has had a long life on stage since. U2 walked on to it through most of their 2015 Innocence + Experience Tour, with Smith joining them for it in London and Paris; at the Paris finale that December they brought out Eagles of Death Metal to play it, the first time that band had played in public since their Bataclan concert was attacked in November. In 2019 Smith sang it with 250 volunteer singers at The Public Theater.

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