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

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"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)

Relax, Bilbo, I was just giving as good as I was getting.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 16 September 2003 11:34 (twenty-two years ago)

All lives need ghosts

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 16 September 2003 11:46 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

what the fuck was I saying upthread about the D. Stewart / B. Gaskin "It's My Party"? it's an amazing deconstruction of the original song, a *comment* on it, and therefore quite a remarkable number one. Tom called that one right.

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Saturday, 15 November 2003 17:44 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

is this one of the earliest ilm threads?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 05:58 (twenty-one years ago)

aside from being frightening and moving and spellbinding, this song almost got me laid

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 06:01 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm not convinced i'll ever hear this song in the way i did before 9/11/2001

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 06:04 (twenty-one years ago)

"hi mom!"

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 06:07 (twenty-one years ago)

This is the first thread I ever saw on ILM.

― dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 07:56 (twenty-one years ago)

"O Superman" is absurd, monotonous, pretentious, tuneless nonsense, and in terms of melodic content compares unfavourably to other hit singles of the period, such as "Endless Love" by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie.

― Comstock Carabinieri (nostudium), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 08:01 (twenty-one years ago)

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

Ha, totally agree. Still classic of course.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 08:34 (twenty-one years ago)

one night back in - o - 82 a mate and i listened to this on repeat while on acid for several hours. when i put on the second side of rock bottom he demanded i take it off and we put this back on.

classic.

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 08:45 (twenty-one years ago)

"Who are you people and what do you want?"

― Baaderonixxxorzh (Fabfunk), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 09:25 (twenty-one years ago)

and in terms of melodic content compares unfavourably to other hit singles of the period, such as "Endless Love" by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie.

You need a mouth diaper, `cos you talk an awful lot of shit.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 10:49 (twenty-one years ago)

No, you need a new pair of ears because you are the awful lot of shit if you cannot see that "O Superman" is repetitive, non-melodic and arty-farty. You should listen to some proper pop music of that period, such as Kim Carnes and REO Speedwagon.

― Comstock Carabinieri (nostudium), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 10:53 (twenty-one years ago)

No, you need a new pair of ears because you are the awful lot of shit

Brilliant.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 11:06 (twenty-one years ago)

some proper pop music of that period, such as Kim Carnes and REO Speedwagon.

And with one simple comment, Comstock was freed from the tiresome burden of ever having to be taken seriously.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 11:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Of course I understand why you are inimical to music. Because of the rhythm-dominant, unmelodic rock of Killing Joke you are deaf.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 11:28 (twenty-one years ago)

(I was going to post that as Comstock Carabinieri but I thought it best to let Alex down lightly)

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 11:29 (twenty-one years ago)

You're a flagrant whistlehead.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 13:54 (twenty-one years ago)

SO THE SONG THEN

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 13:59 (twenty-one years ago)

HOW BOUT IT

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 14:00 (twenty-one years ago)

no this is so much better

― lemin (lemin), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)

The song is an absolute classic, and has the same resonance for me now that it did when I first heard it, which is a simple, distilled feeling of melancholy.

The REO Speedwagon props above were a joke, right? Please tell me that they were a joke...

― John Justen (johnjusten), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

The song inspired one of Greil Marcus' more unfortunate allusive/elusive pieces; but, yeah, classic. I wish "Big Science" was as good as the single.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 15:10 (twenty-one years ago)

"From the Air" is quite good.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

the whole records it great.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

wait was that marcello who insulted alex?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:08 (twenty-one years ago)

and yes, this song is repetitive. IT'S MINIMALISM, ASSHOLES.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:08 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah i think Marcello probably forgot to log out to re-insult him?

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

this song is awesome. i like the M.A.N.D.Y. versions too!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:21 (twenty-one years ago)

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)

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