History of Sorts

Every so often I do deviations on my usual heavy historical blogs. This will be one of those deviations.

It is really about one song. A song that really should never have become a hit for more then one reason. Yet it did, and also became one of my all time favourite songs.

“O Superman”, aka “O Superman (For Massenet)”, is a 1981 song by performance artist and musician Laurie Anderson. 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)

“O Superman” begins with a fast vocal riff — “ah ah ah” — that establishes itself as the song’s rhythm, a…