Was the Hoedown Hall you describe in your book "Woolgathering" in the back of your mind when you wrote the lyrics to "Jubilee"?

PATTI SMITH: i was raised across the street from hoedown hall - a square dance hall - and that music is part of me. the fiddlers call. the peoples response. i thought the spirit of jubilee merited a fiddle. And our engineers mother, rebecca weiner played fiddle on libby's song on gung ho.

I noticed that in your manuscript page for "Jubilee," there isn't a reference yet to William Blake's painting, Glad Day. Did you add that as a last minute inspiration?

PATTI SMITH: i can't remember. i only remember thinking later they were good words to begin the album with. i wanted the first line to be joyous ("Oh glad day to celebrate").

As Lenny Kaye notes, in the book of Leviticus, God told Moses that the Hebrew slaves were to be freed every 50 years, and during that Jubilee year, the land was to remain fallow. Was that an idea you wanted to bring indirectly into "Jubilee," relating, as it does, back to the slave theme of "Strange Messenger"?

PATTI SMITH: that is possible.

It's ironic that President Bush keeps talking about "letting freedom ring" in Iraq, which is now the only reason he has left to justify going to war there. Do you think the next President should commit to unilaterally withdrawing the majority of US troops in Iraq and turning control over to a UN peacekeeping force?

PATTI SMITH: i'm not qualified to answer that question; a panel of Iraqi leaders should be consulted. i am better at knowing when to prevent a mess than at cleaning one up.

The "Doves multiplying" lyric in "Jubilee" resonates back to the cover image of "Wave," as well as to the doves lyrics in "Frederick" and "When Doves Cry." When Robert Mapplethorpe took the cover photograph of you for "Wave," was it hard getting the doves into position?

PATTI SMITH: it was not difficult. the doves were very friendly

mother rose
"Mother Rose" is a heartfelt ballad that pays tribute to Smith's departed mother, Beverly, who for many years personally answered queries from Patti's many admirers. Smith has wisely given the song a wide universality, by casting all mothers, as "golden moms."

Was the poem "Golden Mother" that you read in Pittsburgh at the Warhol museum (in September of 2002), an early version of "Mother Rose"?

PATTI SMITH: the words in mother rose - at the tail - are an excerpt from a longer poem i wrote for my mothers memorial and i later read it in pittsburgh, but the song was not yet written. i added the poem lines when we recorded it and they fit nicely.

I'm sure people would love to see the complete poem, especially since Beverly wrote to a lot of people who expressed interest in your work.

PATTI SMITH: i could post it (to my website) if i can find it amongst my debris. i will certainly make an effort.

Were roses Beverly's favorite flowers?

PATTI SMITH: my mother was allergic to roses. the flower was used for the double use of the word "rose." my mother loved flowers but she was very allergic.

Did Beverly also enjoy Robert Mapplethorpe's pictures of flowers and roses?

PATTI SMITH: yes, she liked robert very much.

Did you want to make "Mother Rose" a universal song for all Mothers and children?

PATTI SMITH: i wrote the lyrics very quickly not thinking why. it just came. it was all for my mom but i think its a very universal song, like peaceable kingdom.

You've often said your Mom loved doing housework while playing "Rock 'n' Roll Nigger." So was "Easter" her favorite album, or was she diplomatic and say she liked them all equally?

PATTI SMITH: my mom wasn't album oriented. she was song oriented and she liked the up tempo songs: land, gloria, rock n roll nigger and people have the power. she would have liked gandhi and stride of the mind. she was high energy.

Can you remember anything about your drawing entitled "To the divine Mother of sorrow and love." Was it related to Beverly in any way?

PATTI SMITH: I'm not sure what drawing you mean. it was probably "sorrow and love." it may have been "jesus christs mother mary." i would have to see the drawing. it actually sounds like an inscription of a drawing done of me by the artist louis del sartre. where did you see it?

(After Patti sees the drawing) - oh, this is an incomplete work of a child tending a garden. it possibly relates to robert louis stevenson's a child's garden of verses, but the title you mentioned is not its title. it remained incomplete and untitled.

Was there ever a conscious moment when you became aware that the mother theme or point of view was going to be so central to "Trampin' "?

PATTI SMITH: the connections between the songs were intuitive and surprised me at the end. the mother theme evolved organically and i was not aware of how much it dominated the album until it was finished.