"Gloria" is a rock song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, and originally recorded by Morrison's band Them in 1964. Patti Smith recorded it for her album Horses.
Based on the Morrison tune, the lyrics are reinvented for the nascent punk rock movement, retaining little more than the chorus, and adding possibly ironic allusions to the sacred allusions of the title.
Smith's spoken intro begins "Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine".
According to Janovitz, "Smith's intermingling of lascivious sex and religious guilt (or lack thereof) certainly foreshadows similar sacred/profane juxtapositions from ultra-feminine Madonna and androgynous Prince.