Patti Smith on "Kids Are People Too"

The legendary Patti Smith interviewed by young people and singing "You Light Up My Life," accompanied by composer and accused serial rapist Joseph Brooks, on "Kids Are People Too" in 1979. (Thanks, Gil Kaufman!)

• [Anonymous]

  Wow…the girl at 1:33 is Saoirse Ronan, gone back through a time warp.

• [Anonymous]

  Why was the crowd all girls??

• [Anonymous]

  wackadoo… damn, you beat me dross1260

  Finally a post I understand. This makes up for all the pokemon ones where I’m WTF.

• [Anonymous]

  Wonderama came before Kids Are People, Too and was hosted by Bob McAllister (when I watched it as a kid). Wonderama was cancelled, and Kids was offered to McAllister, but he didn’t like the focus on teens.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderama
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_Are_People_Too

• [Snig]

  Brooks has still not been indicted for composing “You Light Up My Life.”

• [Xeni Jardin]

  OMG best/creepiest post ever.

• [David Pescovitz]

  I think her version of the song is fantastic. I love when musicians I love transform sickeningly sweet songs into creepy cool covers.

  • [Xeni Jardin]

    Totally agree. I’ve never enjoyed this song more. Come to think of it, I’ve just never enjoyed this song before.

• [Soupytwist]

  Wow – that was super amazing. I loved the interview portion, those kids asked some really good questions.

• [MollyMaguire]

  Holy crap, that’s awesome. But I bet if I was a kid in that audience I would have been like ‘Horses! Horses!’ and wouldn’t have appreciated the song at all.

• [Dedzig]

  Wow. That is as surreal a thing as I have ever seen on acid, and no teeth clenching afterward. And Molly, I second the “Horses” sentiment. I feel a bit befuddled right now. Did I really just see that?

  • [jeligula]

    @ Dedzig

    If you have done a lot of teeth clenching, you obviously were dosed with “street acid” aka strychnine. Or just had some blotter that was not stored properly, which is pretty much everything. Heat will eventually produce strychnine in the blotter. In 1987, I had sampled some original Owsley Orange Sunshine that had been stored, completely forgotten, in a walk-in freezer since 1967. No teeth clenching nor any degradation whatsoever. Always remember – you are what you eat.

• [jfrancis]

  For some reason I am reminded of the time Johnny Carson as a bit recited the lyrics to ‘Blister in the Sun.’

• [nandorocker]

  Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This made my day. Patti is such a badass. And this is pretty hilarious too.

• [dross1260]

  wacka-doo, wacka-doo, wacka-doo
  Where’s my Lender’s Bagels necklace?

  • [Anonymous]

    Help me out here…how was this show related to “Wonderama?” I know the lyrics “Kids are People Too” was in the theme song. I remember the bagels and the wacka-doo, but I thought it was called Wonderama.

• [The Thompson Five]

  Funny thing is, while I do not remember watching the Patty Smith segment, I do remember watching the Count Dracula segment the host refers to at the end of the clip. I think this demonstrates the interests and priority’s of a ten year old boy pretty accurately.