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

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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 (twenty-two years ago)

one of the best Saturday Night Live performances evah

― Aaron A., Thursday, 28 August 2003 16:09 (twenty-two years ago)

msp to thread

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 28 August 2003 16:34 (twenty-two years ago)

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 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 28 August 2003 17:09 (twenty-two years ago)

One of the least poor songs of the 1980s.

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 28 August 2003 17:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Am I allowed to wish there was a beat?

― Tom Breihan (Tom Breihan), Thursday, 28 August 2003 18:11 (twenty-two years ago)

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

― Evan, Thursday, 28 August 2003 18:26 (twenty-two years ago)

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 (twenty-two years ago)

uh oh

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 28 August 2003 18:45 (twenty-two years ago)

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

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Thursday, 28 August 2003 18:46 (twenty-two years ago)

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

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 28 August 2003 18:49 (twenty-two years ago)

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 (twenty-two years ago)

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 (twenty-two years ago)

I smell a remix. And an awful one.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 29 August 2003 01:23 (twenty-two years ago)

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 (twenty-two years ago)

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 (twenty-two years ago)

i have a theory that this would be a really good song to drop in a dj set.it goes really well mixed into some noise/soundscapes,then having some idm or whatever mixed out of it..ive never really tested it outside of my house,but someday.

― juiceboxxx (juiceboxxx), Friday, 29 August 2003 04:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I love it a lot, but I disagree re: Momus's entire catalog and think that was a poor thing to say

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Friday, 29 August 2003 04:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it was one of the least poor things said in the 1980s.

― Jesse Fuchs (Jesse Fuchs), Friday, 29 August 2003 04:38 (twenty-two years ago)

he was just trying to draw attention to the fact that someone was slagging the track off upthread saying *even* momus thought it was poor, or something. Anyway - im sure any sane person would make the same decision re OSuperman.

― jed_e_3 (jed_e_3), Friday, 29 August 2003 08:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Odd how this was recently revived. Picked up the Laurie Anderson Rhino 2CD comp over the weekend and now, at long last, am finally hearing "O Superman" for the first time. Astoundingly beautiful, just flat out astounding. The fact that it went #2 anywhere boggles my mind.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Ned, I am astounded that you've never heard it till now. Song is of course classic.

How is the comp?

― H (Heruy), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Lots of things slip through my nets! I first encountered Anderson in a clip from what I guess was Home of the Brave era stuff on some sort of PBS special in 1986 -- it wasn't in fact a special on her, it was either part of a one-off thing or maybe a series on something else, I can't remember what. Some kind of scientific documentary! I was sufficiently bemused/rattled enough by the results to not know what to think of it and never really investigated further, though friend Stripey has long been a fan. So far this comp is pretty good, it samples the seven albums through The Ugly One With the Jewels.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

You can sing it even if you can't sing: Classic.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 15:40 (twenty-two years ago)

The Ugly One with the Jewels is absolutely great! I'm a sucker for tell-me-a-story spoken word albums, though. Ken Nordine's work probably got me started down that path.

The first time I saw Laurie Anderson was when she had six clips on a CD-ROM for Macintosh Quicktime, when she goes off on weird tangents about the national debt and televised school lunch menus. I fell in love right then and there.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 20:48 (twenty-two years ago)

big science is an amazing record. let x = classic!

it shocking to me that suck a strange tune would be such a pop hit. it just goes to show you that your average radio listener could like songs that escape the usual formulas.

if only the industry at large would be as bold today. (and it tries and succeeds sometimes, i know, i know. but but but...)

― msp, Thursday, 11 September 2003 18:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I will never forget the moment I first heard this song. It seems so quirky and funny at first, a typical Anderson parody of American consumerism.

And then this last verse:

"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 electronic arms."

It just chilled me to the bone. Still does.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 11 September 2003 20:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I enthusiastically second The Ugly One with the Jewels! Yes, it's technically a "spoken word" album, but it's remarkably atmospheric.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 11 September 2003 21:26 (twenty-two years ago)

No doubt, Alex. "John Lilly" is like a mini-suite, the way it's structured. The wobbly two-chord undulations underneath "Maria Teresa Teresa Maria" do as much to create the mood as Laurie's wonderfully chosen verbal images.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 11 September 2003 21:30 (twenty-two years ago)

when i was 14, a schoolteacher subjected me (and the rest of the class) to all of home of the brave (the film)! i still don't like it, but i like "o superman" as noted above.

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 12 September 2003 06:50 (twenty-two years ago)

There's a nice little segment on program #14 of the radio series American Mavericks about Laurie, and it discusses the inspiration for "O Superman," Massenet's "O Souverain" which has the line:

O souverain, o juge, o père

("O sovereign, o judge, o father")

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Friday, 12 September 2003 15:25 (twenty-two years ago)

has anyone fallen as far as she? I regrettably made my girlfriend sit through the Moby Dick disaster of cheesiness she did a few years ago. Egads. Although I heard the performances immediately after 9/11 were more a return to form. The last album I bought was Bright Red and only like the eno production. Otherwise, she is beginning to seem like a casualty of the 80's, which is too bad.

O Superman though, outstanding.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Friday, 12 September 2003 16:51 (twenty-two years ago)

has anyone fallen as far as she?

Her boyfriend, Lou Reed.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 12 September 2003 16:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, just listen to that old people sex record he did about them. Yuck.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 12 September 2003 17:33 (twenty-two years ago)

i refuse to believe that both of them are not gay

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Friday, 12 September 2003 17:42 (twenty-two years ago)

whatever, man

'mister heartbreak' is a wonderful album. 'big science' and her tracks on 'you're the guy I want to spend my money with' as well.

― jl (Jon L), Friday, 12 September 2003 18:04 (twenty-two years ago)

This song got to number 2?!

Could Schneider TM & Kpt.Michigan - "The Light 3000" get to number 2? In the City of Sound perhaps.

I think this is the saddest song.

― David. (Cozen), Saturday, 13 September 2003 08:54 (twenty-two years ago)

vinyl as pop art

― george gosset (gegoss), Saturday, 13 September 2003 09:39 (twenty-two years ago)

pretty relevant these days -- "petro-chemical arms" anyone ?

― george gosset (gegoss), Saturday, 13 September 2003 09:40 (twenty-two years ago)

can those western fossils really hear all their answering machines ?

― george gosset (gegoss), Saturday, 13 September 2003 09:43 (twenty-two years ago)

"I think this is the saddest song. "

I saw Laurie Anderson live about 1 or 2 days after 9/11/2001 and When she sang this song just listening to the lyrics was so overwelming. "Here comes the planes, They're American Planes, Made in America"

Also, this is one of my alltime favorite songs.

― A Nairn (moretap), Saturday, 13 September 2003 20:22 (twenty-two years ago)

"Here comes the planes, They're American Planes, Made in America"

That just gave me the chills.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 13 September 2003 20:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought the exact same thing as I listened to this sitting on a train platform in Kilwinning today. I know reading post-Sept 11 resonance into lyrics which are clearly not meant thus is an irretrievable dud but it is quite poignant. The way she sings "Made in America... Smoking..." then that pause, you think she's talking about planes on fire. It's the first time I've ever felt anything about Sept. 11.

― David. (Cozen), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow. Wildly out of context, yes, but stil.....creepy.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 13 September 2003 21:37 (twenty-two years ago)

classic. the first time i ever heard this song, i was getting into my car to go to school on a very cold canadian winter morning. it was on a university radio station. my car was parked in a spot that i never park in, only because my usual spot was taken. my stereo was turned up all the way from the previous night. the "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA" at the beginning scared the hell out of me because of the extreme volume and its repetative nature.

― astroblaster (astroblaster), Saturday, 13 September 2003 22:25 (twenty-two years ago)

uh, don't forget her song "from the air" that's designed to be the first song you hear after you've heard the single and now bought the album -- that's about aeroplanes too y'know, and if you're american/ a smoker then probably another round of "chills"

(new zealand doesn't have that problem, well not since the french tried to blow up a Greenpeace protest boat, the bomb designed to explode when the boat would have had everybody aboard it, the Greenpeace people very luckily somewhere else by coincidence)

― george gosset (gegoss), Monday, 15 September 2003 06:59 (twenty-two years ago)

that's about aeroplanes too y'know, and if you're american/ a smoker then probably another round of "chills"

And there I was thinking New Zealand was the land of Hobbits, not patronizing smartasses. Silly me.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 15 September 2003 11:51 (twenty-two years ago)

i didn't think hobbits only lived in new zealand, or sorry, was that a skinny ?

― george gosset (gegoss), Tuesday, 16 September 2003 02:17 (twenty-two years ago)

alex, on sept. 13th you seemed to be enjoying creepy

― george gosset (gegoss), Tuesday, 16 September 2003 11:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 110 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Ah, Zoo-era totp. See also TVC-15.

― koogs, Saturday, 25 November 2017 10:00 (eight years ago)

The whole theatre looked in my direction as I fumbled into my pocket. Richard III stopped acting and looked at me and said "did you set your alarm to wake you up after two hours so you could see the end of the show?".

new ilm posts which will continue to haunt your thoughts.

― Luna Schlosser, Saturday, 25 November 2017 12:31 (eight years ago)

i really wanted to see that production at the barbican, but I was away

― plax (ico), Saturday, 25 November 2017 13:33 (eight years ago)

one year passes...

This is kinda amazing, I had no idea -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQBlvyE460A

― MaresNest, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 15:34 (six years ago)

wow, thanks!

― Funky Isolations (jed_), Wednesday, 14 August 2019 16:53 (six years ago)

Wow

― flappy bird, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 17:06 (six years ago)

Oh my!

― Michael Jones, Thursday, 15 August 2019 11:30 (six years ago)

lots of elements of 'Walk The Dog' in the first bit too

― frame casual (dog latin), Thursday, 15 August 2019 12:16 (six years ago)

This is really something. Part II in particular. Chills. Wow and flutter adding to the queasiness of the strings.

Also...May 17 1980. I remember that weekend (and not just because England got thrashed by Wales) :/

― Michael Jones, Thursday, 15 August 2019 12:50 (six years ago)

this is crazy

― na (NA), Thursday, 15 August 2019 14:18 (six years ago)

For dessert - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXfMpZeiKtk

― MaresNest, Thursday, 15 August 2019 14:40 (six years ago)

this is all great, thanks!

― tylerw, Thursday, 15 August 2019 14:51 (six years ago)

Sooooo good. Damn

― flappy bird, Sunday, 18 August 2019 05:31 (six years ago)

yes, incredible. thank you. i'd like to know more about the making of it. the youtube description - "Shortly before beginning work on what would become her magnum opus 'United States Parts I-IV', Laurie Anderson began receiving commissions for new music from several American orchestras. Unfortunately, she had no previous experience writing for orchestras, having preferring to work with small ensembles and electronics in her performance art. The result was an uncomfortable mix of prerecorded tape, electronic instrumentation, and unorthodox orchestral writing" - is kind of pejorative, but the results are stunning. i love work like this that doesn't have an obvious "home" for performance

― Karl Malone, Sunday, 18 August 2019 06:13 (six years ago)

also the part 7 minutes in is unexpectedly gnarly and heavy

― Karl Malone, Sunday, 18 August 2019 06:14 (six years ago)

it sounds like work product, which it is - fascinating for fans, by no means something for people who have never heard LA before

― flappy bird, Sunday, 18 August 2019 21:55 (six years ago)

nine months pass...

AH AH AH AH MA MA MA MA DILL DILL DILL DILL OH OH OH OH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgU5Cztx490

― ernestp, Monday, 18 May 2020 21:54 (six years ago)

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