Classic Or Dud: Laurie Anderson's "O Superman"

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As recently featured in NYLPM (and as not-so-recently featured in I Hate Music, come to think of it....). Your verdict?

― Tom, Sunday, 17 September 2000 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Oh, a 'classic' and no mistake. I found it chilling and immersive at 13 (mind you, Godley and Creme's "Under Your Thumb" had much the same effect around the same time), one of those radio epiphany moments (others that spring to mind: Nicky Campbell (!) playing "Sour Times", Penderecki's "Threnody" late at night on Radio 3).

On the odd occasion that "Big Science" makes it onto the turntable thesedays, "O Superman" generally gets the full airing. It can be blamed for me floundering around buying Reich, Glass and Tangerine Sodding Dream records in my late teens, trying to find more of the same thing, and mainfestly failing.

Anyone remember what keep it off #1?

― Michael Jones, Monday, 18 September 2000 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

"O Superman" was kept off Number 1 by - ahem - the loathsome Dave Stewart / Barbara Gaskin remake of "It's My Party", a song from 1981's main period of retroism and only at Number 1, presumably, for that reason.

― Robin Carmody, Monday, 18 September 2000 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Ah, "It's My Party". I didn't mind that actually - and Stewart did almost revive Colin Blunstone's career around the same time with "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted".

I only recently discovered that it wasn't *that* Dave Stewart. Does this make me stupid? Or stoopid?

― Michael Jones, Monday, 18 September 2000 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

It makes you stoopid, though of course the chances of there being two absolutely talentless twats ploughing the same classic rock furrow not very good chick in tow with the same name does suggest some kind of conspiracy.

But to O Superman. Even if I take away the fact that Laurie has commited sythn sins since which should have relegated her to Fairlight Hell, and wipe out the Lou Reed connection, i cannot bring myself to not loathe O Superman. "They're American planes. Made in" - wait for it - its a massive revalatiuon here "America". Perhaps its metronomic looped breathy vocal percussion track is haunting, but then ghosts are haunting and my life does pretty well without them.

O Superman. A duddy dud dudster.

― Tanya, Tuesday, 19 September 2000 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

I only demonised "It's My Party" (a song I actually like, at least in Lesley Gore's original version) because of my antipathy to that early 80s bout of Kennedy-era nostalgia. It was this particular revivalist period that gave us (in its rockist form) The Stray Cats; say no more.

I too only recently discovered that it wasn't *that* Dave Stewart. I don't care either way :).

― Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 19 September 2000 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Well, Robin, I'll take the 'revivalist' tag over the 'retroist' one - but can a rather odd, spookily synthetic rendering of an old song be considered either? Or even worth mentioning in the same sense as The Stray Cats?

Yes, it was a cover version (perhaps an implicit criticism of the quality of songwriting in the charts in 1980/81; is that what you mean by revivalist?), but done in an emphatically (even self-consciously over-the-top) modern way. That can't be 'retro', surely?

I think 'novelty hit' might be the best tag. They did, after all, go on to produce flashy studio confections around "Busy Doing Nothing" and "The Locomotion".

You can tell I'll do anything to avoid work at the moment, can't you?

― Michael Jones, Wednesday, 20 September 2000 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

In fact Robin, as a Momus fan you ought to like that kind of thing! Ho ho.

― Tom, Wednesday, 20 September 2000 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Ah yes, Tom, but I don't indiscrimately like reinventions of slightly cheesy old songs (cf the poor, rockist / proggist Moog versions of folk songs I've heard, which conceptually make sense, but which even Momus acknowledges to be musically poor).

My dislike of "It's My Party" and the whole early 80s revivalist thing is mainly down to my loathing of what it *stood* for (the belief that everything had been lovely and simple back in those last few pre-Beatles years, populist nostalgia applied to pop, Happy Days, ad nauseam) rather than what it actually sonically is. On the other hand, now Michael mentions it, the actual *arrangement* of that version wasn't an obvious pastiche of the original; it was actually reshaped and reformed considerably and presumably got a few superannuated Kennedy-pop bores up in arms. Maybe I should seek out an MP3 ...

― Robin Carmody, Thursday, 21 September 2000 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

"...but which even Momus acknowledges to be musically poor"

Blimey! *Even* Momus?

Being called 'musically poor' by Momus is like being called loud by Lemmy, or being called a ridiculous hippy by John Lennon, or being called irritating by a barber shop quartet featuring Damon Albarn, Brett Anderson, Liam Gallagher and Robbie Williams.

The mind boggles, primarily at the news that Momus recognises that it is possible to be something other than 'musically poor'. I wonder why he doesn't try it sometime.

― Tanya Headon, Tuesday, 26 September 2000 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

I don't really trust Laurie Anderson, but I suppose there has to be a place for risk-taking. Maybe she occupies that place, maybe not. Anyway, I never disagree with Steady Mike.

But on to Dave Stewart.

1. Could the moniker coincidence be why the Eurythmics one started calling himself 'David A. Stewart'?

2. I heard that version of 'It's My Party' just the other day, having found it on a big Stiff records compilation, for the first time in years and years. It's a marvellous coincidence that it should come up here at the same time. I rather like it, and think I kind of liked it at the time too.

3. I agree with SM that it's not retro at all, for the reasons he gives, and

4. I'm afraid I can't see why Robin particularly sees the early 80s as a retro era. Mightn't we just as well say that 1985 (Back To The Future), 1987 (Stand By Me), 1990 (The Wonder Years - I know these aren't pop things, but they tie in with pop and the surrounding culture of their years), 1995 (Oasis) were more retro than 1981 - which I tend to see, in an admittedly very shaky and hazy retrospect, as a time of some kind of relative futurism and adventure, or at least a load of naff (and not very retro) funk?

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 26 September 2000 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Ah Tanya, I meant that Momus is assumed to love anything that might be called "Analog Folk", I was just pointing out that he doesn't always :).

And Pinefox, there was indeed far more modernist and futurist pop in the charts in 1981 than there was in 1995. Nevertheless, it's easy to forget how big the 1958-63 (or thereabouts) revival was ...

― Robin Carmody, Thursday, 28 September 2000 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

Back to the original question: classic. I like the song "Big Science" even better, the rest is shite though.

― o.munoz, Thursday, 18 January 2001 01:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

Who are you people and what do you want?

I just put on a bunch of mp3's from the 80's. Among others Take Me To The River by The Talking Heads and O Superman. I remember Take Me To The River as being HUGE and was surprised by how tinny and hollow it sounds now. O Superman, on the other hand, seemed mildly interesting at the time but was just captivating now. Enough to go look up what other people had to say about it. It's a thing of its particular moment. I wouldn't put it on for anyone who hadn't heard it in 1982 except as a lesson in musicology. But a very special thing of its moment. For those who heard it then, a classic. For everyone else, the answer to the question who was number 2 when Dave Stewart was number 1.

― Michael, Thursday, 8 February 2001 01:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

This chain has really got me thinking.

Sitting in the bath at the time, as a boy, listening to the UK top 10.

We had in the top 3:- Its my party Oh Superman Under your thumb

This was a defining moment in my life- I have just realised, 20 years later

And WHAT a defining moment. No wonder my taste is fucked up.

― Mark Dooling, Monday, 19 February 2001 01:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

I am twenty years old (making me about 1 when O Superman came out) however I belive it was the first song i ever heard. I think it has possibly influenced me now more than i realise as my current tastes include successors such as the Aphex Twin, Autechre and Plaid. I also make music ( http://www.mp3.com/autofire ) of that ilk. I can't believe "O Superman" even made it into the charts let alone number 2! It's a very special and emotional record to me, especially now i appreciate it for it's nostalgic aspect and it's musical genius... but it's hard to imagine an 8 minute, beatless song that refers to Nietzche and satyrises Massenet going anywhere near the Top 40 today.

― Charles Frame, Sunday, 11 March 2001 01:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

As far as I'm concerned - Dud. I like Laurie's work otherwise, though. And my favorite album of hers is 'Big Science', but. I never have been able to stand that track, ever. Saw her live around '96 or so and...she was great. Still, can't stand that one. Have all her studio albums, but. Nevertheless.

― michael g. breece, Thursday, 5 July 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Okay, okay, somebody has to stand up for *that* Dave Stewart (of & Gaskin fame). Though one wouldn't know it from that agreeably blech version of "It's My Party", he's an amazing keyboardist with a harmonic sense above and beyond what's typically out there in the field. Listen to "Hell's Bells" off of Bill Bruford's One of a Kind, or maybe "Starlight on Seaweed" from National Health's Missing Links for a taste of what he can do. And the rest of the album that has "It's My Party" ain't so bad (I think there's a version of Thomas Dolby's "Leipzig" on there, fares better)...

― Joe, Thursday, 5 July 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Oh, I didn't answer the question. Classic, of course, but goes on a bit too long, and I think she should have made the lyrics less enigmatic and more concretely creepy.

― Joe, Thursday, 5 July 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Golly - have just reread this entire thread. Have forgotten how 'interesting' it was. We were so young and innocent then.

― the pinefox, Thursday, 5 July 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

O Superman: I always thought of it as a lonely computer singing a song to itself. Twenty years old now. Still sounds crystalline, magical, and, thanks to Mr Bush, thoroughly, depressingly, relevant.

Great hair, too.

I tend to pair "O Superman" with that other great New York Female Artist 80s Pop Hit: "Kissing With Confidence" by Will Powers. Photographer Lynn Goldsmith + vocoder to make her sound male + quotes from selp-help books + Carly Simon + Todd Rundgren + Steve Winwood = pop genius.

Altogether now: "Will I spoil it / with my overbite..."

― Dickon Edwards, Thursday, 12 July 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Thank you for reminding us all of Will Powers--the first real virtual popstar. (If you don't count The Archies.)

― X. Y. Zedd, Thursday, 12 July 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

Well I think understanding is not quiet comprehending & vica/versar (hmm....is that spelt right?).....Ms Anderson's "O Superman" in my mashed, alcoholic(currently that is) mind is a mesmerising classic...hhhhmm shame I didn't buy it at the time, might have helped to No1....yeah on average the 80's wasn't a classic year for records in the charts...but it was experimental enough to allow this & others (like, party fears two) ...to be hits ...unlike todays charts which is all about hearsay...etc...say no more

― Kev, Tuesday, 14 August 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

what?

― Jeff Guidry, Wednesday, 21 November 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

apparently it harks back to the days when laurie was going out with dean cain. teri hatcher doesn't know about it so keep schtúmm

― bob snoom, Wednesday, 21 November 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

The TV Cream cartel hate "O Superman", incidentally, because it dares to interrupt their idea of what the early 80s were like. It still fucks off the right people. For that alone, more uber-classic than ever.

― Robin Carmody, Wednesday, 21 November 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

O Superman = classic, proven by the fact that when some long- forgotten act tried to do a pisstake of it a few months later it totally sucked.

hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu...

― Jeff W, Wednesday, 21 November 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

Revive!

Cos I just found the 7" in a pile of old, er, 7"s and slapped it on, nonchalantly, only to have my brain accidentally realligned by its planet-conquering GREATNESS. God, it's like drugs, *proper* drugs, disorienting and euphoric and scary and wide-eyed and legless and...fucking hell.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Thursday, 28 August 2003 15:10 (9 years ago) Permalink

yeah.

― mitch L=lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Thursday, 28 August 2003 15:34 (9 years ago) Permalink

(oops - the name thing was a fuckup, not a hyperobscure nietzche reference or anything)

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Thursday, 28 August 2003 15:37 (9 years ago) Permalink

(Fr.Nietszche? Jack Nietzsche? Fite?)

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 28 August 2003 15:44 (9 years ago) Permalink

O...h -- "O Superman"=Classic, 'fcourse

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 28 August 2003 15:46 (9 years ago) Permalink

classic

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 28 August 2003 15:50 (9 years ago) Permalink

I like this song, except I always wish there was more of the synth counterpoint stuff that comes in at the end.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 28 August 2003 15:51 (9 years ago) Permalink

one of the best Saturday Night Live performances evah

― Aaron A., Thursday, 28 August 2003 16:09 (9 years ago) Permalink

msp to thread

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 28 August 2003 16:34 (9 years ago) Permalink

its totally classic. The lyrics are stupendous

So hold me, Mom, in your long arms.
So hold me,Mom, in your long arms.
In your automatic arms. Your electronic arms.
In your arms.
So hold me, Mom, in your long arms.
Your petrochemical arms. Your military arms.
In your arms.

they was she refers to the military industrial complex while superficilly also talking about physical intimacy and more specifically finding safety in your mothers arms in very moving i think.

But then i always cry at songs featuring robots.

― jed_e_3 (jed_e_3), Thursday, 28 August 2003 16:43 (9 years ago) Permalink

Classic.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 28 August 2003 17:09 (9 years ago) Permalink

One of the least poor songs of the 1980s.

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 28 August 2003 17:32 (9 years ago) Permalink

Am I allowed to wish there was a beat?

― Tom Breihan (Tom Breihan), Thursday, 28 August 2003 18:11 (9 years ago) Permalink

Do the words mean anything? I don't think the words mean anything.

― Evan, Thursday, 28 August 2003 18:26 (9 years ago) Permalink

Closer to dud than classic I'd say, although not quite annoying enough that I'd bother to hate it that much.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 28 August 2003 18:37 (9 years ago) Permalink

uh oh

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 28 August 2003 18:45 (9 years ago) Permalink

but geir it's like beatless orbital! (kinda)

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Thursday, 28 August 2003 18:46 (9 years ago) Permalink

and we all know Geir can't live without them beats

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 28 August 2003 18:49 (9 years ago) Permalink

Maybe you could say it sounds a bit like what Orbital might have sounded like if they had nothing else to use than a Commodore 64. :-)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 29 August 2003 00:10 (9 years ago) Permalink

Am I allowed to wish there was a beat?

Line of the day, young Tom...line of the day.

And in answer to your query, yes you are! But trust me, it'd be awful.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 29 August 2003 01:22 (9 years ago) Permalink

I smell a remix. And an awful one.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 29 August 2003 01:23 (9 years ago) Permalink

I've never liked anything by Laurie Anderson. Maybe I should listen again - I haven't listened really closely or in a long time - but I'll say dud for now. The lines quoted above are sort of an example of why. She turns me off the same way the Talking Heads turn me off. Like this dorky smartass but fundamentally corny 'quirky' 'wit' that says nothing at all to me but that arts profs always just love to death. And the music just never seemed to compensate.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Friday, 29 August 2003 02:42 (9 years ago) Permalink

Classic with a capital C. I played this for my girlfriend, who was born a year after this song came out, had never heard it before, and pretty much regards Laurie Anderson as "Lou Reed's girlfriend," and she was mesmerized. It stands up as a piece of music, in my mind, as well as any song recorded in the 80s. And, if forced to make a choice between listening to Momus's entire catalog and listening to this song on repeat for an equivalent length of time, I could make my decision in a microsecond, as I'm sure which one I'd get more out of.

― Jesse Fuchs (Jesse Fuchs), Friday, 29 August 2003 02:46 (9 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 75 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I don't care for this song.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Sunday, 20 November 2005 22:51 (7 years ago) Permalink

haha

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 20 November 2005 23:04 (7 years ago) Permalink

Giant-size classic, of course. I don't hear it as wannabe-quirky at all - it's far, far too SAD for that. Aching. The "hold me, Mom" part especially. The whole album is pretty good too, with "From the Air," "Let X=X" and whatever it is that the latter segues into being downright excellent.

Anyone ever taken on the entire United States Live box? I own it but have never been quite willing to set aside the, what, four hours it calls for...

― Doctor Casino, Monday, 21 November 2005 00:28 (7 years ago) Permalink

Probably top 10 songs of 1981.

― I.M. (I.M.), Monday, 21 November 2005 00:31 (7 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

The breathy backing track would be very useful in holotropic breathwork.

This is a heartbreaking commentary on sadness -pity some peopl
e miss this.

― Brian Naughton, Tuesday, 14 February 2006 18:49 (7 years ago) Permalink

6 months pass...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hhm0NHhCBg

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Monday, 28 August 2006 06:04 (6 years ago) Permalink

I saw Peanut Butter Wolf open a DJ set with this once!

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Monday, 28 August 2006 07:20 (6 years ago) Permalink

sweet classic beautiful melancholy

― nicky lo-fi (nicky lo-fi), Monday, 28 August 2006 07:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

i wonder if derrick may listens to laurie anderson

― the art ensemble of chicago house (vahid), Monday, 28 August 2006 08:13 (6 years ago) Permalink

i like "born, never asked" a lot more than "o superman"

― the art ensemble of chicago house (vahid), Monday, 28 August 2006 08:14 (6 years ago) Permalink

"Example #22" has always been my favorite song on that album, for some reason.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Monday, 28 August 2006 08:23 (6 years ago) Permalink

When it came out, i bought it, just another 45 that had had a good write-up.
Now i think of it as a great little package, an objet d'art, the 45 that blitzed the medium.

I wrote elsewhere here about how i thought the "b-side" was so cool, with no indication of speed on the label, so "walk the dog" was too fast at 45 and too slow at 33. Such a playful song.

as though the a-side is the "serious art", respectful of minimalist tastes and suitably poised, a bit like a requiem or hymn, at home in the concert hall

and the other side, "walk the dog", is the playful, rock'n'roll, extended mix of that unique sound, musings on culture, what's accepted as "music" these days, etc. etc..

So that little 45 provided multiple contexts, a mini anderson show across two sided, a work-out for the new musical ideas...

So i have to take "o'Superman" as a modern double a-side, an art event on 45 that includes _both_ songs as balanced parts, ..

ie "Walk the Dog" should always be considered included in discussions of "O Superman", Laurie Anderson's extraordinary first single.

― george gosset (gegoss), Monday, 28 August 2006 09:01 (6 years ago) Permalink

I love this song. Caught it on TV at random and hurried to find it online after. I'm not such a huge fan of Big Science but this track is just really haunting and powerful. Classic!

― Kv_nol (Kv_nol), Monday, 28 August 2006 09:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

"Born, Never Asked" is beter than "O Superman", but "O Superman" is still classic

I remember in fourth grade, for P.E. class, we had to make up some sort of dance and perform it in front of the class (no, I don't understand it either -- maybe they were just trying to see if they could somehow make P.E. even more embarrassing?) and I did mine to "Born, Never Asked". I think that officially makes me the dorkiest fourth-grader ever.

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Monday, 28 August 2006 10:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

True.

― Kv_nol (Kv_nol), Monday, 28 August 2006 10:35 (6 years ago) Permalink

Classic. Just incredibly moving. Album is about 3/4 very good too. I saw her NASA show a couple years ago & I thought it was fantastic.

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 28 August 2006 11:59 (6 years ago) Permalink

yeah, that NASA show was really good. I have seen her once a decade since the 80's (i.e. 3 times).

I also like what George said upthread about how the song needs to be looked at in the context of "double a-side" single.

― sleeve version 2.0 (sleeve testing), Monday, 28 August 2006 15:48 (6 years ago) Permalink

Classic, especially for the descending bass synths during the 'in your petrochemical arms' section, although From The Air is even better. Born Never Asked was better served by the good folk of Spiritualized.

― Zeno Piston's Cruel Cartoon (Haberdager), Monday, 28 August 2006 15:55 (6 years ago) Permalink

best 9/11 premonition song ever.

― Public Radio (public_radio), Monday, 28 August 2006 19:18 (6 years ago) Permalink

ah-ah, The The's Armageddon Days (are here again) is just about the most OTM premonition of the entire conflict ever written...and it was written in (correct me if I'm wrong) 1988.

― Zeno Piston's Cruel Cartoon (Haberdager), Monday, 28 August 2006 19:24 (6 years ago) Permalink

I see reading ability escapes you (ie, 9/11 vs. 'entire conflict').

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 28 August 2006 19:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

'entire conflict' incorporates 9/11, that being the first action of the aforementioned contretemps.

― Zeno Piston's Cruel Cartoon (Haberdager), Monday, 28 August 2006 19:33 (6 years ago) Permalink

I see you are a ninja of the obvious.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 28 August 2006 19:36 (6 years ago) Permalink

― Zeno Piston's Cruel Cartoon (Haberdager), Monday, 28 August 2006 19:44 (6 years ago) Permalink

Ninja of the obvious? That's about as poorly formed an insult as "I see reading ability escapes you"

― Public Radio (public_radio), Monday, 28 August 2006 22:04 (6 years ago) Permalink

He's varying his wit to suit his targets, innit.

― Obvious Ninja (Haberdager), Monday, 28 August 2006 22:08 (6 years ago) Permalink

hmm... oh that wasn't even directed at me. sorry, my reading ability escapes me sometimes.

So back to the song: This song is such a classic! I wish I could find other songs that compared to it. So haunting, so great.

― Public Radio (public_radio), Monday, 28 August 2006 22:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

I find it reminiscent in many ways of Pink Floyd's Welcome To The Machine.

― Obvious Ninja (Haberdager), Monday, 28 August 2006 22:56 (6 years ago) Permalink

i like "born, never asked" a lot more than "o superman"

me too!! but 'o superman' still classic.

― IT'S MINIMALISM, ASSHOLES. (haitch), Monday, 28 August 2006 23:04 (6 years ago) Permalink

In the 80s, an ex-girlfriend of mine saw a woman who looked just like Laurie Anderson in an airport, so she approached her, and the woman said, "No, I'm not Laurie Anderson, but people tell me I look a lot like her," in THAT VOICE. Are you really going to call Laurie Anderson on denying she's Laurie Anderson? No. So they had a lengthy conversation following on from that premise, discussing, among other things, the music career of Laurie Anderson.

Such a Laurie Anderson thing to do.

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 15:57 (6 years ago) Permalink

Can I be a ninja of the obvious too?

― factcheckr (factcheckr), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 22:49 (6 years ago) Permalink

COME JOIN THE COVENANT

― Obvious Ninja (Haberdager), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 22:53 (6 years ago) Permalink

i like all those other songs people are mentioning but none of them are as good as O Soop.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 22:53 (6 years ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

I'm surprised at Sundar's skepticism about the lyrics! People here have already rooted out some of the great stuff about them, so I won't go too far into it. But the bit of them that seems to have the most resonance in the current decade isn't the planes, so far as I can tell -- it's that asking to fall into the loving embrace of the big strong American automatic/electronic/petrochemical mom, and of course the stuff that leads up to it: "When love is gone, there's always justice; and when justice is gone, there's always force; and when force is gone, there's always mom."

Having just watched the video again, though, I think the amazing thing about this isn't really in lyrics or meaning or symbols, or anything. We can kind of hint around the "atmosphere" or the "sound" of the thing, bu it's hard to describe exactly what's going on with it: I think its stillness and repetition -- and the odd way it feels soothing where you'd think it'd feel incredibly tense and irritating -- have this strange effect of sensitizing you. You very quickly stop experiencing it with the attention span of a normal pop song, and instead slow things down, focusing on each little gesture in turn, concentrating on a whole different level -- hence, in the video, she can use this language of really minimal gestures, where watching her (say) make a fist seems like all you need for the moment. It's a really enjoyable mindset to get into.

― nabisco (nabisco), Saturday, 23 September 2006 18:26 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

And the voice said:
This is the hand, the hand that takes

― onimo, Wednesday, 17 October 2007 21:55 (5 years ago) Permalink

I think I need to turn repeat on.

― onimo, Wednesday, 17 October 2007 21:56 (5 years ago) Permalink

nabisco ridiculously otm.

― Turangalila, Wednesday, 17 October 2007 22:11 (5 years ago) Permalink

still one of the best hit songs of all time and yes, nabisco otm.

― the next grozart, Thursday, 18 October 2007 00:42 (5 years ago) Permalink

Laurie Anderson is such a legend.

― I know, right?, Thursday, 18 October 2007 09:07 (5 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

nabisco deserves a medal or something for that post

― Trik Turner Fan Club President (Tape Store), Saturday, 29 November 2008 07:54 (4 years ago) Permalink

dud

― The Saving Grace of Gospel House (The Reverend), Saturday, 29 November 2008 08:06 (4 years ago) Permalink

^^^ Crazy talk

― Me and Ruth Lorenzo, Rollin' in the Benzo (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 29 November 2008 09:20 (4 years ago) Permalink

Quite possibly my #1 track (single or otherwise) from 1981.

― Soundslike, Saturday, 29 November 2008 15:48 (4 years ago) Permalink

Think outside the box, Rev.

― Watch Beer, Drink People (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Saturday, 29 November 2008 22:13 (4 years ago) Permalink

Fascinating facts: This track was first aired on UK radio on John Peel producer John Walters' Saturday afternoon arts show Walters' Weekly. Apparently a big favorite with UK serial killer Dennis Nilsen.

― Soukesian, Saturday, 29 November 2008 22:44 (4 years ago) Permalink

Being called 'musically poor' by Momus is like...being called irritating by a barber shop quartet featuring Damon Albarn, Brett Anderson, Liam Gallagher and Robbie Williams.

LOLOLOL

― roxymuzak, Saturday, 29 November 2008 22:48 (4 years ago) Permalink

momus is great

― Trik Turner Fan Club President (Tape Store), Saturday, 29 November 2008 22:55 (4 years ago) Permalink

i love momus, im mainly loling at the barbershop quartet here

― roxymuzak, Saturday, 29 November 2008 22:55 (4 years ago) Permalink

3 years pass...

this song's been in my head a lot lately.

― make like a steak and beef (dog latin), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 10:08 (7 months ago) Permalink

I'm surprised at sund4r's skepticism about the lyrics! People here have already rooted out some of the great stuff about them, so I won't go too far into it. But the bit of them that seems to have the most resonance in the current decade isn't the planes, so far as I can tell -- it's that asking to fall into the loving embrace of the big strong American automatic/electronic/petrochemical mom, and of course the stuff that leads up to it: "When love is gone, there's always justice; and when justice is gone, there's always force; and when force is gone, there's always mom."
Having just watched the video again, though, I think the amazing thing about this isn't really in lyrics or meaning or symbols, or anything. We can kind of hint around the "atmosphere" or the "sound" of the thing, bu it's hard to describe exactly what's going on with it: I think its stillness and repetition -- and the odd way it feels soothing where you'd think it'd feel incredibly tense and irritating -- have this strange effect of sensitizing you. You very quickly stop experiencing it with the attention span of a normal pop song, and instead slow things down, focusing on each little gesture in turn, concentrating on a whole different level -- hence, in the video, she can use this language of really minimal gestures, where watching her (say) make a fist seems like all you need for the moment. It's a really enjoyable mindset to get into.
― nabisco (nabisco), Saturday, 23 September 2006 19:26 (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Completely OTM. This is one of the first songs I can remember ever hearing, but obviously as a tiny infant I didn't realise how remarkable a record it was until I was much older. The whole piece sounds strangely soothing and womblike to me, but in the same way one might feel if placed inside a hermetically sealed bubble and wrapped in white towels by, well, assembly-line robotic arms. The double-entendres of "military arm/petrochemical arm" only struck me the other day while listening back.

It's strange to return to it with critical adult ears, having grown up listening to it in a totally decontextualised, unprejudiced way. But there are certain images that I'm not sure I imagined as a kid or if they're definitely there. The bit wear she says "Smoking or non-smoking" sounds so perfectly syncopated that it phases in exactly the same way as the effect you hear when on a passenger flight.

― make like a steak and beef (dog latin), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 10:29 (7 months ago) Permalink

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