O Superman by Laurie Anderson
“Just listening to this again and realising how weird and exciting it was that a 7 minute avant garde performance piece about the military industrial complex reached no 2 in the charts. This back when the charts were, I think, more important to pop culture than they are now.”
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but hughmcguire was first
Just listening to this again and realising how weird and exciting it was that a 7 minute avant garde performance piece about the military industrial complex reached no 2 in the charts. This back when the charts were, I think, more important to pop culture than they are now.
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American experimental performance artist, she's worked with David Bowie, Peter Gabriel...etc.. #80sWeek
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I was fortunate enough to hear this in 1981 and have probably listened to my copy every year since, just to remind me of its message. In writing the song, Anderson drew from the aria "Ô Souverain, ô juge, ô père" (O Sovereign, O Judge, O Father) from Jules Massenet's 1885 opera Le Cid. She got the idea after listening to a recording of the aria made by African-American tenor Charles Holland, whose career was hampered for decades by racism in the classical music world. A live performance of "O Superman" was recorded in New York City the week following the 9/11 attacks. In this context, certain lyrics appeared to many to take on a more topical significance: "This is the hand, the hand that takes / Here come the planes / They're American planes. Made in America / Smoking or non-smoking?" To learn more about the piece you can follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Superman #ThoughtfulClassics
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I love this song deeply, and if I don't manage to change it out before the site goes away, that is okay with me.
