Lyrics:
Baby was a black sheep. Baby was a whore.
Baby got big and baby get bigger.
Baby get something. Baby get more.
Baby, baby, baby was a rock-and-roll nigger.
Oh, look around you, all around you,
riding on a copper wave.
Do you like the world around you?
Are you ready to behave?Outside of society, they’re waitin’ for me.
Outside of society, that’s where I want to be.(Lenny!)
Baby was a black sheep. Baby was a whore.
You know she got big. Well, she’s gonna get bigger.
Baby got a hand; got a finger on the trigger.
Baby, baby, baby is a rock-and-roll nigger.Outside of society, that’s where I want to be.
Outside of society, they’re waitin’ for me.(those who have suffered, understand suffering,
and thereby extend their hand
the storm that brings harm
also makes fertile
blessed is the grass
and herb and the true thorn and light)I was lost in a valley of pleasure.
I was lost in the infinite sea.
I was lost, and measure for measure,
love spewed from the heart of me.
I was lost, and the cost,
and the cost didn’t matter to me.
I was lost, and the cost
was to be outside society.Jimi Hendrix was a nigger.
Jesus Christ and Grandma, too.
Jackson Pollock was a nigger.
Nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger,
nigger, nigger, nigger.Outside of society, they’re waitin’ for me.
Outside of society, if you’re looking,
that’s where you’ll find me.
Outside of society, they’re waitin’ for me.
Outside of society.
This is a fantastic song. Patti Smith was one of the original punkers too, out of New York City. She was about 29 years old when she hit the scene.
This song sums up what punk rock and the punk movement was all about – “outside of society.” Punk meant being a nonconformist, not conforming to society, basically, being a society dropout, which is what I have done – I dropped out of society a long time ago.
Punk was about breaking the rules as far as how you live your life, how much money you have, how successful you are, how big or expensive your car or house is, whether you are married or not or have kids or not, or even whether you date or not or choose guys or girls. None of those things is important to any true punker, but I have met many a hipster or “punker” who was so conforming and conventional that it was pitiful.
Now mind you, punk did not mandate non-conventionality. They just said it was not necessary. Plenty of punkers lived more or less conventional lives. Many of the folks I grew up with on the scene got married, had kids, got good jobs and moved to the suburbs. You can do all of that and still be a punker – you simply can’t deem that this is necessary and still be a punker.
There was no such thing as a loser, a failure or a social reject on the punk scene. In fact, it attracted those kind of folks preferentially. If you told fellow punkers that you were a social reject, they would usually say nice to meet you. No punker cared one bit about money, and anyone who did was not a real punker. That is, you could be into money, but you could not judge other human beings based on how much money they had. That was just banned. There were no losers or failures on the punk scene. In fact, if you were a loser or a failure, that was the scene you needed to head to right away.
Punkers would talk about what losers they were, and instead of being chastised, they would try to one-up each other. “No way! I’m a bigger loser than you are! You think you’re a loser? Well, I’ve done this, that, and the other, how about that?”
Although the scene had a reputation for homophobia, originally the scene was very welcoming of gays, bisexuals and whatnot. No one cared if you screwed guys or chicks or both or no one. No one cared if you had sex once a year or a decade or six times a day. No one cared if you had sex with one person your whole life or 100 or 200 people. No one cared if you were dating or not or married or not. No one cared if anyone had kids. No one ever asked you what kind of car you drove, whether you had a good job or not, or what your net worth was. None of that was important, and you weren’t supposed to judge people on that stuff.
No one cared if you drank or smoked or took drugs, not particularly. It certainly wasn’t mandatory, and many punkers were straight edgers.