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

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amateurist uh...

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:22 (twenty-one years ago)

what? is it not minimalism?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 5 May 2005 04:45 (twenty-one years ago)

you could raise your eyebrow clear over the top of your shaved head, but don't

― milton parker (Jon L), Thursday, 5 May 2005 05:00 (twenty-one years ago)

A flagrant whistlehead, eh? That's me and Roger Whittaker, then. Not bad.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 5 May 2005 06:36 (twenty-one years ago)

four months pass...

OK, this does sound really good even though I'm still not sure I get the lyrics. I think I just used to be biased because her movie always weirded me out when I was 9 or 10. It seemed like it was on MuchMusic all the time in the late 80s when I would have preferred proper melodic rock music videos.

― Sundar (sundar), Saturday, 17 September 2005 00:10 (twenty years ago)

Just listened to it again now by semi-whim only to find Sundar had recently revived the thread (agree with you on Talking Heads BTW). The post-9/11 reading of the lyrics are a perhaps inevitable skewing but not only do I not mind it, frankly I'd rather have them than any direct commentary on the event after the fact (similarly the piece of music I most associate with the day was Pärt's "Cantus," which again has nothing to do with the event).

But that aside...the concluding part just makes me think ultimately of giant robots, anime gone hyperreal/hypersorrowful. And why not?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 04:46 (twenty years ago)

And I just put on M.A.N.D.Y.'s version of it while I searched the archives to read more on Ms. Anderson, only to find a recent revival. And now this!

― jergins (jergins), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 04:53 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

I read an analysis of the lyrics last night and could barely get to sleep because it frightened me out of my wits.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 20 November 2005 19:36 (twenty years ago)

Of COURSE it is Classic. GET WITH THE PROGRAM!

― Who is Bimble? Your CHAUFFEUR or something? (Bimble...), Sunday, 20 November 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

is that analysis online, curtis?

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 20 November 2005 19:51 (twenty years ago)

http://condellpark.com/kd/osuperman.htm

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 20 November 2005 22:03 (twenty years ago)

i didn't read on when i saw that the analyst spelled her name "andersen". come on that song is not a fairy tale.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Sunday, 20 November 2005 22:13 (twenty years ago)

I don't care for this song.

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

haha

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

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 (twenty years ago)

Probably top 10 songs of 1981.

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

two 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 (twenty years ago)

six months pass...

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

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

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

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

sweet classic beautiful melancholy

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

i wonder if derrick may listens to laurie anderson

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

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

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

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

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

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

"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 (nineteen years ago)

True.

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

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

best 9/11 premonition song ever.

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

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 (nineteen years ago)

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

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

'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 (nineteen years ago)

I see you are a ninja of the obvious.

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

http://www.whiteninjacomics.com/images/comics/hairy.gif

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

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 (nineteen years ago)

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

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

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 (nineteen years ago)

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

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

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

Can I be a ninja of the obvious too?

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

COME JOIN THE COVENANT

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

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 (nineteen years ago)

three 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 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

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

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

I think I need to turn repeat on.

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

nabisco ridiculously otm.

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

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

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

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