#

#

Mister Heartbreak

#

#

Tracks:

# Sharkey's Day

# Langue D'amour

# Gravity's Angel

# Kokoku

# Excellent Birds

# Blue Lagoons

# Sharkey's Night

#

#

Sharkey's Day

SHARKEY'S DAY is a classic exploration of that woman in a man's world. Laurie doesn't want to be accused of being a bitter feminist so she attacks the issue in this very creative way. The men with their brilliant machines (like a tree that chops itself down) vacillate between love and fear and all the while "nobody knows [her] name."wilhite@ix.netcom.com (Bryan Wilhite)

never saw a particularly feminist slant in it myself, but I definitely think it is about a technologically-surrounded person's distance from the world and from his own identity. Sharkey has no perspective at all; he thinks things are the size that they appear to be (specks). He'd rather see life on tv than actually experience the strange intensity of living things. ux954@freenet.victoria.bc.ca (Laura Miller)

#

# Sun's coming up. Like a big bald head.

# Poking up over the grocery store.

# It's Sharkey's day. It's Sharkey's day today.

# Sharkey wakes up and Sharkey says: There was this man...

# And there was this road...And if only I could remember these dreams...

# I know they're trying to tell me...something.

# Ooooeee. Strange dreams.(Strange dreams). Oh yeah.

#

# And Sharkey says: I turn around, it's fear. I turn around aagain

# And it's love. Oh yeah. Strange dreams.

# And the little girls sing:Oooee Sharkey.

# And the manager says: Mr. Sharkey? He's not at his desk right now.

# Could I take a message?

# And the little girls sing:Oooeee Sharkey. He's Mister Heartbreak.

# They sing: Oooeee Sharkey. Yeah. He's Mister Heartbreak.

#

# And Sharkey says: All of nature talks to me. If I could just

# figure out what it was trying to tell me. Listen!

# Trees are swinging in the breeze. They're talking to me.

# Insects are rubbing their legs together.

# They're all talking. They're talking to me. And short animals-

I like how she writes "short animals" here. As opposed to tall animals. Those adjectives are not commonly used to describe animals. JimDavies

# They're bucking up on their hind legs. Talking. Talking to me.

# Hey! Look out! Bugs are crawling up my legs!

# You know? I'd rather see this on TV. Tones it down.

In the home of the brave video, William Burroughs says this. JimDavies

Ditto, desfortunadamente. If my browser supported SIGs, I'd use this quote. -- "D" of mukamuk@pacbell.net

# And Sharkey says: I turn around, it's fear.

# I turn around again, and it's love.

# Nobody knows me. Nobody knows my name.

#

# And Sharkey says: All night long I think of those little planes up there.

# Flying around. You can't even see them. They're specks!

# And they're full of tiny people. Going places.

In this misinterpretation of distance, Sharky believes that the planes are small because they look small int the sky. Likewise, the people inside are tiny and they could all land on the head of a pin. JimDavies

# And Sharkey says: You know? I bet they could all land

# on the head of a pin.

There is a phrase that goes "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" This must be a reference to that. In this case, she is comparing airplanes angels. JimDavies

# And the little girls sing: Ooooeee. Sharkey!

# He's Mister Heartbreak. They sing: Oooeee. That Sharkey!

# He's a slow dance on the edge of the lake. He's a whole landscape

# gone to seed. He's gone wild! He's screeching tires

# on an oil slick at midnight on the road to Boston a long time ago.

# And Sharkey says: Lights! Camera! Action! TIMBER!

# At the beginning of the movie, they know they have to find each other.

# But they ride off in opposite directions.

#

# Sharkey says: I turn around, it's fear.

# I turn around again, and it's love.

# Nobody knows me. Nobody knows my name.

#

# You know? They're growing mechanical trees.

# They grow to their full height. And then they chop themselves down.

# Sharkey says: All of life comes from some strange lagoon.

# It rises up, it bucks up to it's full height from a boggy swamp

Note that this is the second instance of the word "buck" in this song. JimDavies

# on a foggy night. It creeps into your house. It's life! It's life!

This song appears to be all about vital, living things, in contrast in Sharkey's mind with his job at a grocery store. JimDavies

# I turn around, it's fear. I turn around again, and it's love.

Following the living nature theme, here Sharkey considers basic instincts, as animals might in the wild. Fear, love. JimDavies

# Nobody knows me. Nobody knows my name.

There are no names for the animals in the wild. JimDavies

#

# Deep in the heart of darkest America. Home of the brave.

# Ha! Ha! Ha! You've already paid for this. Listen to my heart beat.

#

# And the little girls sing: Oooeee Sharkey. He's a slow dance

# on the edge of the lake. They sing:Ooooeeee. Sharkey.

# He's Mister Heartbreak.

# Paging Mr. Sharkey. White courtesy telephone please.

# And Sharkey says: I turn around, it's fear.

# I turn around again, and it's love.

# And the little girls sing:Ooooeee Sharkey. Yeah.

# On top of Old Smokey all covered with snow.

# That's where I wanna, that's where I'm gonna

# That's where I'm gonna go.

And finally here, Sharkey expresses his wish to leave civilization. JimDavies

#

#

#

Langue D'Amour

"Langue" can mean both "tongue" and "language." In this case, both "The language of love" and "The tongue of love" make sense. I think the ambiguity is intentional. JimDavies

LANGUE D'AMOUR is Laurie's interpretation of the events in Eden as written by Moses (one of God's best friends). wilhite@ix.netcom.com (Bryan Wilhite)

#

# Let's see. Uh, it was on an island. And there was this snake.

# And the snake had legs. And he could walk all around the island.

# Yes. That's true. A snake with legs.

# And the man and the woman were on the island too.

She is telling an interpretation of the biblical story of Adam and Eve. JimDavies

# And they were not very smart.

# But they were happy as clams. Yes.

# Let's see. Uh...then one evening the snake was walking about

# in the garden and he was talking to himself and he saw the woman

# and they started to talk. And they became friends.

# Very good friends.

# And the woman liked the snake very much. Because when he

# talked, he make little noises with his tongue, and his long tongue

# was lightly licking about his lips.

# Like there was a fire inside his mouth and the flame

# would come dancing out of his mouth.

# And this woman liked this very much.

# And after that, she was bored with the man.

# Because no matter what happened,

# he was always as happy as a clam.

# What did the snake say? Yes! What was he saying?

# OK. I will tell you.

# The snake told her things about the world. He told her about

# the time there was a big typhoon on the island

# and all the sharks came out of the water. Yes.

# They came out of the water and they walked right into your house

# with their big white teeth.

# And the woman heard these things. And she was in love.

# And the man came out and said: We have to go now!

# And the woman did not want to go. Because she was a hothead.

# Because she was a woman in love.

# Anyway, we got into their boat and left the island.

This song is a beautiful twisting of the original fable. For me the climax of the piece is a single word:
# And the man came out and said: We have to go now!
# And the woman did not want to go. Because she was a hothead.
# Because she was a woman in love.

And then in a quietly offhand voice:

# Anyway ...

That one word speak volumes. Everything after this is denouement. Brian Raiter brianr@connectsoft.com

# But they never stayed anywhere very long.

# Because the woman was restless. She was a hothead.

# She was a woman in love.

# And this is not a story people tell.

# It is something I know myself.

# And when I do my job, I am thinking about these things.

# Because when I do my job, that is what I think about.

Exactly. The job of the artist/storyteller in every society is to create myths, and transform/update the older ones to reflect the current concerns of their society.Brian Raiter brianr@connectsoft.com

#

# Oooo la la la.

# Yeah La La La.

# Voici. Voila'.

# Here. And there.

# Ooo la la la.

# Oh yes.

# Voici le langage de l'amour.

# This is the language of love.

# Oooo la la la.

# Oooo. Oh yeah.

# La la la.

# La la.

# Voici. Voila'. la la.

# Here it is. There it is. La la.

# Voici le langage de l'amour.

# This is the language of love.

#

# Ah! Comme ci, comme ca.

# Ah! Niether here nor there.

# Voila. Voila.

# There. There.

# Voici le langage de l'amour.

# This is the language of love.

# Voici le langage de l'amour.

# This is the language of love.

# Attends! Attends! Attends!

# Wait! Wait! Wait!

# Attends! Attends! Attends!

# Wait! Wait! Wait!

# Ecoute. Ecoute. Ecoute.

# Listen. Listen. Listen.

# Ooooo la la la la.

# Ooooo. Oh yeah.

# Ooo la la la la.

# Oh yeah. Yeah.

# Voici le langage de l'amour.

# This is the language of love.

# Voici le langage dans mon coeur.

# This is the language of my heart.

# Oooo la la.

# Oooo. Oh yeah.

# Voici le langage de l'amour.

# This is the language of love.

# Voici le langage dans mon coeur.

# This is the language of my heart.

# Voici le langage dans mon coeur.

# This is the language of my heart.

#

#

Gravity's Angel

Note the title of this song-- Angels are a major theme in Laurie Anderson's works. JimDavies

#

# You can dance. You can make me laugh. You've got x-ray eyes.

# You know how to sing. You're a diplomat. You've got it all.

# Everybody loves you.

# You can charm the birds out of the sky. but I, I've got one thing.

# You always know just what to say. And when to go.

# But I've got one thing. You can see in the dark.

# But I've got one thing: I loved you better.

#

# Last night I woke up. Saw this angel. He flew in my window.

# And he said: Girl, pretty proud of yourself, huh?

# And I looked around and said: Who me?

It sounds neat with the sample in the background-- "Innahoo" just as she is saying "Who me?" JimDavies

# And he said: The higher you fly, the faster you fall. He said:

# Send it up. Watch it rise. See it fall. Gravity's rainbow.

This refers to Thomas Pynchon's novel "Gravity's Rainbow." In that context, the "rainbow" is the arc formed German V-2 rockets during WWII. -snickell@students.wisc.edu (Scott Nickell)
Yes, yes, yes! That's a wonderful book. It has a definite atmosphere about it. It was one of those things that just kept popping up until I finally got curious enough to read the dang thing! Originally, I knew nothing about the book, I simply knew the phrase "Gravity's Rainbow" from Laurie Anderson's _Gravity's_Angel_. Then, one day as I was blasting down an aisle in Ball State University's library, the book caught just the corner of my eye. I was halfway down the aisle before my brain could process it and tell me to stop. (assimilating visual information ... processing ... processing ... calling interrupt routine ... full stop!) I immediately turned around and examined the book, but I had no time to read it just yet. After that, it's name popped up in several literary references, all referring to it as a shining example of the best of 20th century literature. Finally, it was mentioned in the briefest possible way in a local newspaper. And it was like, stop, stop, OK, I give in, I get the picture, I'll read the book! So I went out the next day and bought the book. I was not at all disappointed. Jeff Usher gypsyJMU@delphi.com

# Send it up. Watch it rise. See it fall. Gravity's angel.

# Why these mountains? Why this sky? This long road. This ugly train.

#

# Well he was an ugly guy. With an ugly face.

# An also ran in the human race.

# And even God got sad just looking at him. And at his funeral

# all his friends stood around looking said. But they were really

# thinking of all the ham and cheese sandwiches in the next room.

# And everybody used to hang around him. And I know why.

# They said: There but for the grace of the angels go I.

Laurie Anderson has said that many of her songs are about the masses of nameless people whose lives go unremarked. Her songs are for them. This is one of those songs. That sentiment is captured obliquely in the refrain, and very clearly in this section. Brian Raiter brianr@connectsoft.com

The line, "They said: There but for the grace of the angels go I. " from the song Gravity's Angel is curious because the phrase is usually "There but for the grace of GOD go I." Is the deceased too much of an also-ran to merit a full prayer? Michael Norwitz blaklion@best.com

# Why these mountains? Why this sky?

# Send it up. Watch it rise. See it fall. Gravity's rainbow.

# Send it up. Watch it rise. And fall. Gravity's angel.

#

# Well, we were just laying there.

# And this ghost of your other lover walked in.

The last several lines from Gravity's Angel: Many of us have had the experience of trying to compete with the "ghost" of a lover's ex-bf or ex-gf. Laurie seems to be trying to remind her lover of her presence (and their present time and place) by posing rhetorical questions. - Mikel Midnight blaklion@best.com

# And stood there. Made of thin air. Full of desire.

# Look. Look. Look. You forgot to take your shirt.

# And there's your book. And there's your pen, sitting on the table.

# Why these mountains? Why this sky? This ong road? This empty room?

# Why these mountains? Why this sky? This long road. This empty room.

#

#

#

Kokoku

In the 50s and 60s "The world is getting smaller" was a common phrase, referring to how the airplane and the telephone had made distances less important. A similar metaphor makes the stars closer. The song chides us gently for our hubris, for thinking ourselves powerful and "tall" because of what we have done, while the aliens look down and call our planet "haunted". We respond as children. Look at us! Lookit! We're so pretty!Brian Raiter brianr@connectsoft.com

#

# I come very briefly to this place. I watch it move. I watch it shake.

# Kumowaku yamano. Watashino sakebi. Watashino koewo.

# Ushano kokoku. Watashiwa sokoni. Watashiwa asobu.

# Mountain with clouds. A cry. My voice.

# Home of the brave. I'm here now. And lost.

#

# They say the dead will rise again. And here they come now.

# Strange animals out of the Ice Age. And they stare at you.

# Dumbfounded. Like big mistakes. And we say: Keep cool.

# Maybe if we pretend this never happened, they'll all just go away.

This is a statement about evolution. The dead rise means that we are discovering these ancient life forms. The idea of evolution is disturbing for some people, and these animals are evidence of it. What some people do is pretend that this evidence does not exist, a denial. JimDavies

#

# Watashiwa sokoni. Watashiwa asobu. Mewotoji. Mewotoji.

# Kikunowa kotori. Watashino sakebi. Watashino koewo.

# I am here in this place. Losing. My eyes are closed. Closed.

# Birds are there. Hearing something. Shouting. My voice.

# (And yet, we could all be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.)

Back to the evolution idea, she is admitting that we might be wrong, and that evolution might be true. I assume "We" don't believe in evolution because of the earlier line: "Maybe if we pretend this never happened they'll all just go away." JimDavies

#

# Kumowaku yamano. Watashiwa sokoni. Watashiwa asobu.

# Kumiwaku yamano. Kikunowa kotori. Watashino sakebi.

# Mountains with clouds. I am there. Lost.

# Mountains with clouds. Birds are there. Hearing something. A shout.

#

# They say the world is smaller now. Small world.

If the world is the universe, then this is incorrect, since the universe appears to be expanding. If the world is the earth, then it must be a metaphor. We can communicate with almost everyone on the globe, and can travel anywhere as well. Deee-Lite says: "The planet shrinks at the speed of communication." JimDavies

# They say that man is taller now. Tall man.

Man is indeed taller now. Possible explanations are evolution by sexual selection (people tend to mate more with tall people) and better health and nutrition. JimDavies

# They say the stars are closer now. Thank you, lucky stars.

Technically wrong, but correct if metaphorically taken to mean that the stars are closer because of better technology brings us physically closer to stars, and gives us more knowledge about their nature. JimDavies

# You come very briefly to this place.

# Jikanwa tomaru. Ushano kokoku.

# Time is stopped. Home of the brave.

#

# And on a very distant star, slimy creatures scan the skies.

# They've got plates for hands. And telescopes for eyes. And they say: Look! Down there - a haunted planet, spinning round.

# They say: Watch it move. Watch it shake. Watch it turn. And shake. One of the central themes of KoKoku is how the earth "wobbles" on its axis..."watch it move...watch it shake"...that's why she chose the koto-like Japanese instrument I can't remember the name of for the solo section...it has a "wobbly" sound.Allen Green (Atlanta) ACGJr@aol.com

# Watashiwa sokoni. Watashiwa asobu. Kumowaku yamano.

# Watashino sakebi. Watashino koewo. Mewotoji. Mewotoji.

# I am there. Lost. Mountains with clouds.

# A cry. A shout. My eyes are shut. Shut.

# And we say: Watch us move. Watch us shake. We're so pretty.

# We're so pretty. We say: Watch us move now. Watch us shake.

# We're so pretty. Shake our hands. Shake our heads. We shake our feet.

# We're so fine. The way we move. The way we shake.

# We're so nice.

#

#

Excellent Birds

the male voice is a man named PETER GABRIEL on his album SO he has his own version. He is also the man voice on GRAVITY'S ANGLEL. Frank & Chris Wallace-Ailsworth (cfwa@wenet.net)

That version on So is called "this is the picture." JimDavies

#

# Flying Birds. Excellent Birds. Watch them fly. There they go.

This song is about being a cat. The cat watches the birds. Cats eat birds. JimDavies

# Falling snow. Excellent snow. Here it comes. Watch it fall.

# Long words. Excellent words. I can hear them now.

# This is the picture.

Cats hear the words but cannot understand them. They think in pictures. JimDavies

# I'm sitting by the window. Watching the snow fall. I'm looking out.

Don't cats love to sit on the windowsill? JimDavies

# And I'm moving. Turning in time. Jump up!

# And I can land on my feet. Look out! This is the picture.

This "land on my feet" business is the strongest clue that the song is about being a cat. JimDavies

# This is the picture. This is the picture. This is the picture.

#

# Looking out. I'm watching now. But when I see the future,

# I close my eyes. I can see it now.

# I see pictures of people rising up. I see pictures of people falling down.

# I see pictures of people, they're standing on their heads. They're ready!

# I see pictures of people rising up. I see pictures of people falling down.

# I see pictures of people, they're standing on their heads. They're ready!

#

# They're looking out. Look out! They're watching out. Watch out!

# They're looking out. Look out!

# They're watching out. Watching watching out.

#

# I see pictures of people. I see pictures of people.

# They're watching. They're watching out. Watch out.

# I see pictures of people. They're watching. They're watching out.

# I see pictures of people. Watching. Watch out. They're watching.

# I see pictures of people. Watching out. Watch out.

# Pictures of people. They're watching out.

#

#

Blue Lagoon

The song evokes how quickly one can forget about the rest of humanity by being separated from it long enough. She "remember[s] rooms" because if she didn't she'd quickly forget what they were, or why she once considered them important. Does she want to be rescued? Note how, in the version of this song on United States III, it is preceded by a someone describing a dream in which they had become a place. I think this song is about becoming a desert island.Brian Raiter brianr@connectsoft.com

The song can't possibly be discerned in any logical manner, for it is about a momentary aberration, a step sideways to an internal, boundless "space", reached only by unconscious means. The song achieves a more lucid scope when it gives reference to Ariel's (it is not Ferdinand as someone said, she only hears the song) song in The Tempest, the lyrics of which have no inherent meaning in relation to the song, just a reference to Shakepeare's world in the play- once again, "other worldly". As is the same with Melville- it is a reference to his "insular Tahiti", form which we are all cast out of whence we surface, whence we awaken, whence we see order and boundary amongst us. Laurie's song is perhaps a mark of her genius. She does not explain the song, she simply creates an aural, as well as psychological world, that defies any spatio-temporal logic. The letter in the song is in reply to a letter she receives while on an island, it washed ashore, as another's did- Prospero's books which washed ashore in The Tempest. More than this, she probably dreamed that this happened (While at work? She remembers offices and buildings in the song. You know- daydreaming at work). But there may be a distinction between the day dream and the night dream. Hence, she remembers "diving by the wreck" (i.e. New England perhaps, swimming as a child over the summer)- this is perhaps what we day dream about. But the night dream is a "blue lagoon"- it's perfectly "dreamy"! There are many levels of consciousness present in the song, each has a certain element which is alluded to. For instance, the plane she hears overhead: Perhaps she woke up when she heard this? Planes are loud, and they are a sign of modernity.Other instances are the rooms and cities, she is conscious here. She remembers them from the island. That's all! Brian T. McCall btmccall@u.arizona.edu

#

# I got your letter. Thanks a lot.

# I've been getting lots of sun. And lots of rest. It's really hot.

# Days, I dive by the wreck. Nights, I swim in the blue lagoon.

# Always used to wonder who I'd bring to a desert island.

#

# Days, I remember cities. Nights, I dream about a perfect place.

# Days, I dive by the wreck. Nights, I swim in the blue lagoon.

# Full fathom five thy father lies. Of his bones are coral made.

# Those are pearls that were his eyes. Nothing of him that doth fade.

# But that suffers a sea change. Into something rich and strange.

This is one of Ferdinand's lines from The Tempest by Bill Shakespeare. JimDavies and terry griner terry_griner@health.ohio.gov

This passage is of course by Shakespeare (Eliot may have alluded to it, but he certainly didn't write it), but it is one of Ariel's songs, not a one of Ferdinand's lines. Kevin Townley kevint@sundbergassociates.com

# And I alone am left to tell the tale.

# Call me Ishmael.

#

# I got your letter. Thanks a lot.

# I've been getting lots of sun. And lots of rest. It's really hot.

# Always used to wonder who I'd bring to a desert island.

# Days, I remember rooms. Nights, I swim in the blue lagoon.

This letter expresses the simplicity of living on the island. JimDavies

#

# I saw a plane today. Flying low over the island.

# But my mind was somewhere else.

This is a disturbing image. She's trapped on a desert island, and presumably wants to leave. A plane flies overhead, but she does not try to signal is, because her "mind was somewhere else." A simpleminded woman? Insanity perhaps? JimDavies

# And if you ever get this letter. Thinking of you.

# Love and kisses. Blue Pacific. Signing off.

#

#

#

Sharkey's Night

#

# Sun's going down. Like a big bald head.

# Disappearing behind the boulevard. (Oooeee.) It's Sharkey's night.

# Yeah. It's Sharkey's night tonight. And the manager says: Sharkey?

# He's not at his desk right now. (Oh yeah.) Could I take a message?

#

# And Sharkey says: Hey, kemosabe! Long time no see.

# He says: Hey sport. You connect the dots. You pick up the pieces.

# He says: You know, I can see two tiny pictures of myself

# And there's one in each of you eyes. And they're doin' everything I do.

# Every time I light a cigarette, they light up theirs.

# I take a drink and I look in and they're drinkin' too.

# It's drivin' me crazy. It's drivin' me nuts.

#

# And Sharkey says: Deep in the heart of darkest America.

# Home of the brave. He says: Listen to my heart beat.

# Paging Mr. Sharkey. White courtesy telephone please.