Patti Smith Reacts to Taylor Swift Name-Dropping Her on 'The Tortured Poets Department'

Patti Smith is reciprocating the love to Taylor Swift after she was name dropped in the title track of Swift's The Tortured Poets Department. 

On "The Tortured Poets Department," Swift pokes fun at herself and a lover by cutting through any airs of pretentiousness, paying respects to both Smith and the Welsch poet Dylan Thomas. 

"And who's gonna hold you like me? / And who's gonna know you, if not me?" she begins the chorus. "I laughed in your face and said / 'You're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith / This ain't the Chelsea hotel, we're modern idiots.'" 

She continues, "And who's gonna hold you like me? / Nobody / No f**king body / Nobody." 

The 77-year-old singer-songwriter and punk rock legend offered her gratitude for the recognition by sharing photos of herself reading a copy of Thomas' collection of short stories, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, in a social media post tagging Swift. 

"This is saying I was moved to be mentioned in the company of the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas," she wrote, breaking the text up in the appropriately poetic form of several lines. "Thank you Taylor."

New York City's famed Hotel Chelsea also celebrated its honorable mention by sharing a throwback image of Smith inside her room at the hotel. Smith even wrote a bestselling book about her and artist Robert Mapplethorpe's time at the hotel called Just Kids.

Smith and Thomas, who died in in 1953 at the age of 39, have each held residence at the historic venue -- alongside a laundry list of other historical figures including Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Jack Kerouac, Stanley Kubrick, and Madonna, to name just a few. 

Regarding their connection, Smith has performed a number of times at Thomas' old boathouse on Laugharne in Carmarthenshire, United Kingdom, in recent years. 

As The Tortured Poets Department continues to break records, a source told ET that Swift "is so excited" about the release.

"She has put her heart and soul into the music, just like with everything she does," the source said, "and can't wait for her fans to listen to it and to share it with them."