"O Superman" | ||||
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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 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 8:21 | |||
Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Writer(s) | Laurie Anderson | |||
Producer(s) | Laurie Anderson | |||
Laurie Anderson singles chronology | ||||
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"O Superman" is a 1981 song by performance artist and musician Laurie Anderson. Part of the larger work United States Live, the song became a surprise hit in the United Kingdom after it was championed by DJ John Peel, rising to #2 on the UK Singles Charts in 1981. 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 (1982).
The song topped the 1981 The Village Voice Pazz & Jop singles poll.
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, 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 A♭ major and C minor, the repeating "Ha" syllable (a C note) acting as a pedal point.