Laurie Anderson, "Example #22"

My girlfriend introduced me to Big Science, an album that I am very, very pleased to have procured. If anything, it has become ridiculously apparent that Laurie Anderson has got los huevos, in large part for having an actual hit song with the strange eight-minute spoken-word (mostly) vocoder-laden "O Superman". Spoken word! The critics called it "avant garde" and the public liked it!

But this track isn't "O Superman". This is "Example #22", where she sings about the sun, the birds, and hitting her lover up for whatever it is Laurie Anderson hits her lovers up for. Throw in a wind section, a bagpipe, bang-on-whatever's-there percussion, and some wild wailing and you have yourself one genuinely weird song. Not so weird, though, that it fails to be extremely catchy - it sounds like something The Books would try (and probably fail) to do with samples and guitar. She's very obviously the best at doing what she does, and I guess that entails, well, being Laurie Anderson.

(yes, i realize there's a smartass connection between this and "German Girl" when you play one next to the other. no, it wasn't intentional. really, i swear!)