“American label set up in 1972 by the poet John Giorno, the earliest releases were exclusively poetry collections of the ‘Dial-A-Poets’ (John Giorno, William S Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Allen Ginsberg, John Cage etc.): ‘In 1961 I was a young poet who hung out with young artists like Andy Warhol, Bob Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, as well as with members of the Judson Dance Theatre. The use of modern mass media and technologies by these artists made me realize that poetry was 75 years behind painting and sculpture, dance and music. And I thought, if they can do it, why can’t I do it for poetry. Why not try to connect with an audience using all the entertainments of ordinary life: television, the telephone, record albums, etc? It was the poet’s job to invent new venues and make fresh contact with the audience. This inspiration gave rise to Giorno Poetry Systems.’ – John Giorno”
Discogs
Discogs: Various – Big Ego
UbuWeb (Video)
Category: Laurie Anderson
Laurie Anderson – O Superman / Walk The Dog (1981)
“‘O Superman’ is a 1981 song by performance artist and musician Laurie Anderson. … 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 seeing the aria performed in concert by African-American tenor Charles Holland. 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 work 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 A♭ major and C minor, the repeating ‘Ha’ syllable (a C note) acting as a drone. The song’s introduction consists of a repetition of the ‘O Superman / O Judge / O Mom and Dad’ stanza. …”
Wikipedia
O Superman — Laurie Anderson’s experimental hit proved to be uncannily prophetic
Laurie Anderson, Terry Riley, John Zorn (Video)
Selective Synthesis: “O Superman” (Video)
Genius (Audio)
YouTube: O Superman [Official Music Video] (Live)
YouTube: O Superman / Walk The Dog
Punk Scrawled Artist 