youtube/watch?v=Hd7XnOnSkkA O Superman From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia O Superman Single by Laurie Anderson from the album Big Science B-side Walk the Dog Released 1981 Format 7 vinyl, 12 vinyl Recorded 1981, The Lobby, New York City[1] Genre Avant-garde Length 8:21 Label Warner Bros. Writer(s) Laurie Anderson Producer(s) Laurie Anderson Laurie Anderson singles chronology O Superman O Superman (For Massenet) is a 1981 song by experimental performance artist and musician Laurie Anderson. Part of the larger work United States, O Superman, a half-sung, half-spoken, almost minimalist piece unexpectedly rose to #2 on the UK Singles Charts in 1981.[2] Prior to the success of this song, Anderson was little known outside the art world. First released as a single, the song also appeared on her debut album, Big Science. The song topped the 1981 Village Voice Pazz & Jop singles poll. Contents 1 Structure and release 2 Chart performance 3 Covers, remixes and quotes 4 Recording details 5 References 5.1 Listening 6 External links Structure and release In writing the song, Anderson drew from the aria Ô Souverain, ô juge, ô père (O Sovereign, O Judge, O Father) from Jules Massenets 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. The first lines (O Superman / O Judge / O Mom and Dad) especially echo the original aria (Ô Souverain / ô juge / ô père). Susan McClary suggests in her book Feminine Endings that Anderson is also recalling another opera by Massenet; his 1902 opera, Le jongleur de Notre-Dame. The opera is one in which the arms of the mother—the Virgin Mary—embrace/bless the dying Rodrigo. Overlaid on a sparse background of two alternating chords formed by the repeated spoken syllable Ha created by looping with an Eventide Harmonizer, the text of O Superman is spoken through a vocoder. A saxophone is heard as the song fades out, and a sample of tweeting birds is subtly overlaid at various points within the track. The two chords of the song are C major and Ab major, the repeating Ha syllable (a C note) acting as a pedal point.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 08:48:19 +0000
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