Edward Piercy

Remembering Laurie Anderson

Monday, 20. July 2009, 20:07:59

Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson.

(Photo by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.)

(Just clic on the pic to play the video on youTube.)

I saw Laurie Anderson when I was a young man, it must have been
something like 1984 or early 1985. She played at a theater in downtown
Dallas, a rather small place. Given what Anderson did back then I don't
know if "concert" would be the right word for it. "Performance" would
have been what it was called -- performance art.

In subsequent years the term performance art was dropped and basically
replaced with a line of question marks. And then, eventually and finally,
nobody really cared what it was called. It was creative, it involved words
and sometimes music, who cares.

In any case it was a great experience seeing her. I left both uplifted
and a little bit numb in the brain.

After that I don't know what happened, but I didn't listen to her again
until the 90s when Bright Red came out. It was/is an outstanding album.
And then I forgot about Anderson for another long while.

Until today.

"Tightrope"

(L. Anderson)

Last night I dreamed I died and that my life had
been rearranged into some kind of theme park.
And all my friends were walking up and down the boardwalk.
And my dead grandmother was selling
cotton candy out of a little shack.
And there was this big ferris wheel
about half a mile out in the ocean,
half in and half out of water.
And all my old boyfriends were on it.
With their new girlfriends.
And the boys were waving and shouting
and the girls were saying "Eeek!"

Then they disappeared under the surface of the water
and when they came up again they were laughing
and gasping for breath.

In this dream I'm on a tightrope
and I'm tipping back and forth trying to keep my balance.
And below me are all my relatives
and if I fall I'll crush them.
This long thin line. This song line. This shout.

The only thing that binds me to the turning world below
and all the people and noise and sounds and shouts.
This tightrope made of sound
This long thin line made of my own blood.
Remember me is all I ask.
And if remembered be a task forget me.

Remember me is all I ask.
And if remembered be a task forget me.
This long thin line. This long thin line.
This long thin line. This tightrope.

What's With iJustine Anyway?The Politics of Jupiter

Comments

Darko # 20. July 2009, 20:44

"Remember me is all I ask.
And if remembered be a task forget me.
This long thin line. This long thin line.
This long thin line. This tightrope."

So much said there

Stardancer # 20. July 2009, 20:51

Interesting song in the video.

Why today, Edward?

Edward Piercy # 20. July 2009, 21:31

@ Darko.

It's a great song.

@ Star.

I was watching some videos on youTube and she just popped into my head.

PainterWoman # 21. July 2009, 02:10

Ed, this reminds me of an improvisational performance I might have heard in a beatnik coffee house in the 50s.....if I had been allowed to go. I think I was between 12 and 14 when I wanted to be a beatnik.

I really liked this. Loved her voice and how low she could go. Very different.

Edward Piercy # 21. July 2009, 02:47

Glad you liked it Pam. Laurie and Lou worked so well together. I wonder if they had a thing going?

Coffee houses...I only know them from movies and such. Unless you are talking Starbucks.

You might be intereded but I used to hang out in the student inion at ASU after I got off work. It was on my way home, ususlly kind of quiet in the early evening like that and I could read, nice girls to look at, cheap burgers and cokes. No body reading poetry or anything, but I did meet a painter who I became good friends with. And I met my girlfriend Machelle there -- she was the one cooking up the burgers!

PainterWoman # 21. July 2009, 03:13

I mean the old time independent coffee houses like in the movies. I went to one with a boy (Bill) when I was 18, can't remember what the place was called, but it was far away, dark inside, everyone was sipping espresso and some guy was playing a guitar. Just like in the movies. I hated coffee at the time so espresso about gagged me. There's very few of these places nowadays. Starbucks doesn't cut it.

I spent a few hours every now and again in the Union but with 60,000 students, it's not very quiet now. They got Subway, McD and several other chains inside. Not cheap anymore.

Angeliki # 21. July 2009, 03:24

I love thi one Eddie,
thanks for sharing your memories and the video

Edward Piercy # 21. July 2009, 03:52

Thanks for your updated story Pam. But better to talk with Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchel about that stuff! I truly had no equivalent in my day.

Richard # 23. July 2009, 00:43

I saw her perform in St. Louis about four years ago. It was a mesmerizing show, with her calm voice intoning a startlingly creative musical palette. A great talent indeed.

Edward Piercy # 23. July 2009, 00:49

How great that you could see her, Richard.

.

I sometimes wonder if over the years whether she has gotten the broad acclaim that she deserves.

Richard # 23. July 2009, 01:10

I don't believe she has. Perhaps just a little too offbeat for popular acclaim, although I still wonder at the phenomenal success of "O Superman" in England when it first came out. Got to #2 on the UK singles chart!!