How Laurie Anderson created “O Superman”

“I tell stories. And those look like paintings sometimes. They look like songs. They look like films.”
Laurie Anderson takes Anderson Cooper into her studio and shows him how she created her 1981 hit song “O Superman.” cbsn.ws/3NNcubu
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[@xbrandi12345x]

I literally just discovered her tonight and I am hooked. She's so original and so far everything I have listened to I have absolutely loved. Her style is a little different than what I normally listen to but she's fantastic and unique and I love it!

[@SweetMat]

Do you have any recommendations ?

[@maha77]

Check out her album *BRIGHT RED* one of my favorite, another great one is a live album called *The Ugly One With The Jewels* , and of course her breakout album *Big Science*

[@GlennTillema]

I recommend watching "Home of the Brave," the whole piece is on KZbin if you search for "Home of the brave laurie anderson." It's absolutely brilliant and has a lot of songs with great hooks.

[@ronkirk5099]

This lady is still very cutting edge and very creative.

[@Michael-dy7zp]

I love how at the end of this clip she got him to "sing" the lyrics.

[@bernlin2000]

She gives me strong "music professor" vibes. Someone who clearly went into music to excite and inspire people, not to "score big hits". O Superman feels almost like a tutorial into modern electronic music.

[@SocialistStrike]

I love that she tried doing something human for that robotic ghost that interviewed her. She didn't have to flatter him like that. He knows he has no personality.

[@spike120]

​@@SocialistStrikeMore than you have

[@MissAkashiya]

@@spike120 lol, acting like you haven't seen this man be so boring with everyone else

[@RothkoFridgeMagnet]

That "hi mom" on the original breaks my heart...

[@KGBeast.]

I don't know why as a kid when I first heard this song I cried so hard

[@deanfowles3707]

The song is hideous

[@SpuroWasDead_WakeMeUpWhen]

Lowkey first time hearing it it just hits. Like top picks for you by injury reserve

[@ro2xl]

Lmao

[@jacobmartinez8414]

if u cried as a kid that means it’s not good, she said it’s bout technology which turned into AI, we know a lot more as kids

[@jdc6681]

A primary indicator of a great work of art.

[@ecto1225]

This song stuck with me from the age of 3. I am now 45 and still love the song

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

It is, a sticky song 🙃

[@thetruenolan6655]

I am 71 -- and yes, I still love this too!

[@dragon-lf9ow]

Me too

[@abraxasjinx5207]

I didn't discover it till my 30s but I'm 44 and it still punches me in the gut.

[@randomfella8084]

Pretty innovative for 1982. Her song is back as a tiktok trend.

[@topangacreek]

Got this album from the library because of the cover art and brought it home. It blew my brain apart. As much as a hit as it was I never heard it anywhere else. Never spoke to anybody about it ever, was my own experience. It has stuck with me for 40 years, deep cut.

[@bernlin2000]

That song is seriously out of time...just stunning, wildly influential.

[@abraxasjinx5207]

Tf are you on? It's perfectly in time. She even described the difficulty getting the loops to circulate with each other so perfectly. It's called polyrhythmic, read a book. Edit, do you mean timeless?

[@natbb9]

I love you, Laurie! Even though O Superman is not in the Music Appreciation book from which I teach, I make sure to teach it anyway. It's important, and there is prophecy. When 911 hit, it took a deeper meaning -- "They're American planes, made in America..." And with Katrina a few short years later, "When love is gone, there's always justice, and when justice is gone, there's always force, and when force is gone, there's always Mom... Hi, Mom!" Mom, in this case, being Mother Nature. Thank you for giving the world this piece. It's beautiful.

[@brentchambers511]

She's as charming as I had hoped...great interview clip.

[@CrownRider]

Some songs from the past pop up from time to time. This is one of them. Laurie is still awesome after all these years.

[@williamwilson6499]

I bought the album in 1984 when I was 25. Played it many times. That was 40 years ago. Still listening.

[@khonsuthecore4788]

Oh he looked so happy when she gave him the mic.

[@garrettkelly5568]

There was a version we used to listen to in the mid to late 90's after we had come back from the nightclubs .. it was like a trance or rave version .. but ive never been able to find that particular version again no matter how hard i try 😢

[@gabb05]

classic tune...lovely segment

[@Marius-eu8dh]

Gotta love Laurie Anderson

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

It is easy.

[@ijustneedmyself]

I first heard this song in a documentary about the artist Louise Bourgeois. Such a wonderful song and a wonderful lady 💗

[@violetdreams1799]

so good to see she's still working 👍

[@gaudiumdesign7433]

I love her more after this interview! She is amazing!!!!

[@tydusrain4476]

i absolutely adore her and her stories. thank you for your art, laurie anderson💕

[@jameslawson9315]

Thank you Anderson for allowing Laurie to decifer this Song, which is implanted in AMERICAN HISTORY

[@calebwoods9029]

Love you Laurie, and you too Lou!

[@visualthinking]

I do some of my best thinking listening to this track on repeat. Thank you, Laurie Anderson.

[@GriffinDuyThespian]

One of my favorite songs ever made 💓

[@oppositeofh8]

god, i love this woman. i discovered her around '81 & have been grateful ever since. she did outstanding work in "swimming to cambodia" with spalding gray. her strong smile is lit with the energy of creativity. 😻😻😻😻😻 5/5 lovin'-it kitty-catties

[@calliespltn]

she’s so dope

[@zimmakimma7007]

Her way to convey her art is genuinely amazing

[@Sapsche]

I visited an exhibition of hers in Stockholm last year - it was there that I found out, that she released an underground comic with/via Leo's father George DiCaprio, which was part of the exhibition :) The art really drew me in, I liked it quite a bit.

[@acetaminophetus]

I always hear echoes of Robert Ashley in Laurie Anderson's work. Both of them, just stunning musicians.

[@Mimikyu_Lov3r]

Recorded in 1980?! WHAT?! O.O

[@jakemoeller7850]

One of my all-time favorite artists! I saw her in San Francisco...MEMORABLE PERFORMANCE

[@stephenbrown1622]

When I first heard this I thought wow It’s so good It brain washes you you can’t move until It finishes

[@dragon-lf9ow]

This has always been my favorite

[@kidMclean]

Loved it then and love it now , epic

[@daizocapalbo8755]

I love her ❤

[@davids7912]

Haunting yet mesmerizing song A++++

[@jerryrichardson2799]

Her segments for _Alive from Off Center_ were pretty smart and funny. I always liked her work.

[@tescherman3048]

Alive from Off Center was a great show! Among the best things to come out of Minneapolis-St.Paul (along with Prince and dozens of other bands of course :) )

[@seungminisamaterialgirl1420]

0:55 I first heard it when I was 14 too…….today 😂

[@JillKnapp]

She is brilliant and absolutely gorgeous, too. ❤

[@abraxasjinx5207]

Why does this song always make me cry?

[@user-sw2xj3mp3l]

It's strangely comforting ngl

[@katecoffee4744]

Laurie has been happiness for me for decades - Lou Reed rocks! The two of them…magic!

[@genusrosaceous]

I, now, need a version with Anderson!

[@johnp1911]

Way ahead of her time

[@noneya6052]

She is epic

[@leerush6978]

Cool!

[@SANITIZEDINC]

Legend.

[@lilisama93]

Love her

[@wideawake5630]

Two national treasures.

[@freshtony030]

❣

[@crush3095]

1:40 I could cry

[@ErinT80]

I think she’s kinda cool.

[@joeruger5858]

May God Almighty bless Laurie Anderson

[@SadeWatkins]

“& when force is gone, there’s always mom” May God Bless her in Jesus Name This song is so Powerful it makes me weep anytime I Hear it

[@joebombero1]

A lot of essays after 9-11 about this song, that she somehow had seen the "attacks". Really amazing stuff at the time.

[@kristinaF54]

I'm pretty sure they used a vocoder on Star Wars for the voices of Darth Vader and Stormtroopers.

[@Confuzer]

What an interesting human being she is :)

[@rubbernun66]

Love Laurie A. Love White Lily.

[@8thchaosemerald678]

TikTok finally got to this song

[@aprilk141]

In Her long arms.

[@ChristianBurnett]

It sounded like he was going to ask her what the lyrics mean so she just gave him a mic instead 😂

[@williambarry8015]

That song is the musical equivalent of the MLK sculpture.

[@DeHashModeBowie]

101th comment!! Hello fellow 80s/90s/00s/10s/20s/+ kids :]

[@LauraMoncur]

Seems a little short sided to not mention her effect on TikTok and that's WHY this song has become a hit again.

[@bulcyob]

Always found this to be unsettling. Serial killer Dennis Nilsen used to play this frequently in his apartment. Creepy.

[@abfab7830]

I always thought Laurie Anderson was from Belgium. Actually I learned she's american

[@PeterChoyce]

O superman was the first use of the VOCODER, which since then has been corrupted into AUTOTUNE

[@zaimusic_150]

They’re so similar it almost doesn’t matter tho. You could look at both as a “cheat”

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

@@zaimusic_150 But, what regulation did she infringe?

[@BlueManIan]

Wendy Carlos used it about a decade before she did

[@z.verdadero]

both statements of that sentence are false

[@Bikewithlove]

“This is a song about how, basically, technology cannot save you.” - she says to a news actor working for billionaires with plans to ‘save the world’ by using technology to starve the world’s population - and she knows it. Her professional matter-of-factness about it went right past Anderson Cooper. Props to him though, for digging her music. It looks like he had a great time on this assignment & he seems relaxed & natural here. Good stuff :)

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

Right out of his comfort zone, went to the inner child to, shyly and reverently wiped his fear and exposed his vulnerable, seldom exposed voice to the world and an idol. Then, his light grew 7 times bigger 🥲

[@Bikewithlove]

@@PandemoniumMeltDown - I have no idea what you mean, but I like it.

[@deanfowles3707]

What technology to starve people are you talking about

[@Bikewithlove]

@@deanfowles3707 - I’m very sorry that you still believe in news and mass media.

[@Bikewithlove]

@@deanfowles3707 - I rest my case. ☕️

[@anthonynuttall9691]

Acid definitely acid

[@LucyLoulovesyou]

my God Anderson, you couldn't've put soul into that!?

[@greg3284]

Idiot. Someone doesn't have a soul here, too dumb to have one.

[@marashdemnika5833]

well you don't know me but I know you

[@lodgerxlodger6525]

Perhaps, after Andy Warhol, the most important American artist of all time.

[@SocialistStrike]

I love this woman. She owned the interview. Sucks that the honor went to Cooper to sit down with her. I had a snarl above my nose as he spoke. Man has no personality. Can't even belt out a few lyrics. She flattered him with that praise.

[@GeorgiaGrowGuy]

hope you get better

[@SocialistStrike]

@@GeorgiaGrowGuy how so?

[@user-bc9fh3jv3b]

its not about technology

[@alphaomega3499]

O Superman, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

[@citizensnid3490]

I listened 🎶to O Superman 🦸‍♂️when I was 8 years. Found it a bit tedious at this age

[@1jbunceiii]

Never heard of her....and I was born in 1970....

[@Tacoman1967]

Did you grow up in Merica?

[@Mark-zu6oz]

And now you have.

[@williambarry8015]

You're so lucky.

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

It is never too late.

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

@@williambarry8015 YES!

[@swampeh]

It's odd I'd rather listen to her just talk than listen to that 'song'... her voice is tonally pleasant to me. But the song drives me up the wall... like nails down a chalkboard

[@blankvellummmmok4613]

Okay?

[@chrispile3878]

I like Laurie. Cooper not so much.

[@GeorgiaGrowGuy]

hope you get better

[@Chinouk]

I am probably the only who doesn’t like this song 😭

[@Pixistixandmaadtrix]

Do you understand it?

[@Chinouk]

@@Pixistixandmaadtrix Yes I do, but I just don’t like it sorry

[@Pixistixandmaadtrix]

@@Chinouk that’s alright. Synth stuff isn’t for everyone

[@Chookity-Pok]

I remember playing this song on repeat while playing Subnautica and it was comforting yet eerie, those who played will know and those who didn't? I highly recomend you do without watching anything about the game first.

[@brianwyse5810]

Grey