I recently revisited Laurie Anderson's O Superman, after many years. I remember hearing it as a child and nervously taking the piss (but also being a bit weirded out) - but now, as an adult, the breathing/surviving backdrop speaks to me, and the vocodered ansaphone vocals retain disturbing emotional plangency. Listening to it, I think of someone drowning, in an incredibly organised manner. I've a feeling this is more-or-less how I absorbed (or didn't absorb) O Superman as a child.
How do you react to O Superman, then and now? |
