Song of the Day 8/14: Patti Smith, “Summer Cannibals”

A standout track from Patti Smith’s 1996 comeback album “Gone Again,” the song was started by her husband, Fred “Sonic” Smith (of MC5 fame), who wrote the music and had the title before his death from a heart attack; Patti finished it with her menacing but oblique lyrics. Overly literal idiots think it refers to lesbianism, but Fred Smith actually was addressing the vampiric nature of the music industry.

This Letterman clip from 1996 shows the band in top form, with Delaware’s own Tom Verlaine playing slide guitar from his seat at the edge of the lights.