People Have the Power

"People Have the Power" is a rock song written by Patti Smith and Fred "Sonic" Smith, and released as a lead single from Patti Smith's 1988 album Dream of Life. The cover photograph is by Robert Mapplethorpe. The music video is filmed mostly in black-and-white and features Patti Smith singing, writing and walking.

"People Have the Power"
Single by Patti Smith
from the album Dream of Life
B-side	"Where Duty Calls", "Wild Leaves"
Released	June 1, 1988 (1988-06-01)[1]
Recorded	The Hit Factory
Genre	Rock
Length	5:07
Label	Arista
Songwriter(s)	Patti Smith, Fred Smith
Producer(s)	Fred Smith, Jimmy Iovine
Patti Smith singles chronology
"So You Want to Be (A Rock 'n' Roll Star)" (1979) "People Have the Power" (1988) "Looking for You (I Was)" (1988)
Audio sample
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The song was ranked number 22 on NME magazine's list of the "Singles of the Year".^{[citation needed]}

Live performances

In 2019, Smith performed the song with 250 volunteer singers at The Public Theater.^[2] For most of U2's 2015 Innocence + Experience Tour, the group used "People Have the Power" as their entrance music.^{[citation needed]} Smith herself joined them to close their show with a performance of the song at London's O2 Arena on October 29, as well as the December 6 show at Accorhotels Arena in Paris. On December 7, to close their show and the tour at Accorhotels Arena, U2 invited Eagles of Death Metal on-stage to perform the song with them. It was Eagles of Death Metal's first public performance since the attack on their 13 November 2015 concert at the Bataclan in Paris that resulted in 89 fatalities.

Lyrical content

According to Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove the song including the lyrics "People have the power to redeem the work of fools" was performed frequently as a protest song during the Iraq War.^[3] Mark Tushnet included this quote in the Preface for his book Taking the Constitution Away from the Courts.^[4]

Charts

Chart (1988)[5][6]	Position
Mainstream Rock Tracks	19
UK Singles Chart	97