Aesthetics: Fine Arts: Post-Modern: Laurie Anderson

My educational upbringing, excepting the institutional portions, was largely self-taught. The first types of the humanities to come into my consciousness aside from fiction and literature were products of modernism and post-modernism. And as I have had bits of time over the decades to read history, I can even see the threads of modernism in some of the intellectual achievements of the 17th through the 19th centuries. In the 1980's I discovered more artifacts of this post-modern era in the form of the artist-musician, Laurie Anderson. After a brief biographical search and sample of some of her other works, I conclude that the album, "Big Science", shall remain in my library. The album, like understanding folk literature, must be viewed in context. You must hear the musical portions with the lyrics. In Laurie's case, one should also view the visual performance with the music and lyrics. Because of the RIAA and other associated fascists, it is difficult for me to set forth in this blog a full multimedia representation of some of the songs that I quote here. So get the album.

The following lyrics are from the song, "O Superman":

O Superman. O judge. O Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad.
O Superman. O judge. O Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad.
Hi. I'm not home
right now. But if you want to leave a
message, just start talking at the sound of the tone.
Hello? This is your Mother. Are you there? Are you
coming home?
Hello? Is anybody home? Well, you don't know me,
but I know you.
And I've got a message to give to you.
Here come the planes.
So you better get ready. Ready to go. You can come
as you are, but pay as you go. Pay as you go.
And I said: OK. Who is this really? And the voice said:
This is the hand, the hand that takes. This is the
hand, the hand that takes.
This is the hand, the hand that takes.
Here come the planes.
They're American planes. Made in America.
Smoking or non-smoking?
And the voice said: Neither snow nor rain nor gloom
of night shall stay these couriers from the swift
completion of their appointed rounds.
'Cause when love is gone, there's always justice.
And when justive is gone, there's always force.
And when force is gone, there's always Mom. Hi Mom!
So hold me, Mom, in your long arms. So hold me,
Mom, in your long arms.
In your automatic arms. Your electronic
arms.
In your arms.
So hold me, Mom, in your long arms.
Your petrochemical arms. Your military
arms.
In your electronic arms.