Summer Cannibals

Lunch with Robert Frank

In early 1994, my late husband Fred Sonic Smith and I were preparing a second album together. We had several songs in mind, one being Summer Cannibals. While strumming the chords, Fred told me a story of his youth in the MC5. He woke up early one morning at a stopover in Georgia, feeling a lot of conflicting emotions. He loved playing music and was a true musician, but the stress and excess of being on the road was taking its toll. He already felt, at the age of twenty, as if he was being devoured. From his story I wrote the lyrics to the song he had in mind. As was our process, in songs like People Have the Power, he had the title and the chord structure. It was my task to write the lyrics.

Originally Fred had conceived it as a blues song, but it evolved as a rock song. Fred passed away in November of that same year. When I recorded the album Gone Again in 1996, in Fred’s memory, the song was included. Clive Davis desired a music video. Having lunch with the photographer Robert Frank, and asked if he would consider directing one. It was our honor to work with him and he chose Summer Cannibals as the song he wanted to direct. We filmed at Frank’s place near the Bowery and the experience will remain one of my proudest collaborative moments. MTV did not find the video to their liking so it seemed to fade away. But museums and YouTube have kept it playing. Here it is, a cautionary tale, in memory of two great men.

Recommended: Robert Frank’s The Americans