Songfacts®:

• One of the more outré songs in Patti Smith's catalog, "Seven Ways Of Going" is a collaboration with the four members of her Patti Smith Group: Lenny Kaye (guitar), Richard Sohl (piano), Ivan Kral (bass) and Jay Dee Daugherty (drums). They all have writing credits on the song along with Smith.
  
  Smith's lyrics are often influenced by historical events or works of literature, transformed into poetry and put into song. Lenny Kaye offered this explanation of the song meaning when he was interviewed by New York Rocker in 1979.
  
  "'Seven Ways' was originally about the Ninja of Japan, who were these 16th-century assassins, like a martial arts offshoot in Japanese medieval times," he said. "They wore black, and they developed these techniques where, for instance, they could walk in the snow without showing which direction they were walking in, or they could go against that wall and become that wall. That kind of transformation is really what we're into."
• The song builds into a flurry of sound, complete with a timpani. Smith and her group worked up the song in the studio (Bearsville in Woodstock, New York) with lots of experimentation. Their producer, Todd Rundgren, stepped back and gave them room to work.
• When played live on the 1979 Patti Smith Group tour, "Seven Ways Of Going" became very improvisational, with a different version every night. Smith has many more popular and accessible songs to choose from, but this one was a good way for the band to express their talents on stage, and Smith's fans were happy to hear it. She included the song in the setlist for some of her later tours as well.
• "Seven Ways Of Going" is part of Smith's album Wave, released in 1979, the year after she landed an elusive hit with "Because The Night." The two singles from the album, "Frederick" and "Dancing Barefoot," both seemed hit-worthy but didn't land ("Frederick" stalled at #90 in the US and "Dancing Barefoot" didn't chart at all).
  
  After the tour, Smith broke up the band and married Fred "Sonic" Smith of the MC5. She left New York City and moved to Detroit, where they raised two daughters. Patti stayed out of view for most of the '80s before returning with the album Dream Of Life in 1988.