A few extracts from Laurie Anderson‘s Stories form the Nerve Bible.
There was a devout nun in the XVth century who decided to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; and she belonged to an order that wore bags over their heads. And the mother superior told the nun that if she walked through the countryside with a bag on her head, she would scare people. But the nun insisted, so the mother superior allowed to her to walk around and around the cloister, every day for three years until she covered the equivalent distance to the Holy City. At the end of her journey the nun was so exhausted that she collapsed. A doctor was called. After examining her he announced that she was too weak to make the return trip. The nun died shortly after.
· · · ‘John Lily’ . . . ⇑ … the guy who says he can talk to dolphins, said he was in an aquarium
and he was speaking to a big whale who was swimming around and around in his tank.
And the whale kept asking him questions telepathically.
And one of the questions the whale kept asking was: do all oceans have walls?
=
•→ ‘The Ugly One With The Jewels‘ ⇐
In 1974, I went to Mexico to visit my brother who was working as an anthropologist with Tzeltal Indians, the last surviving Mayan tribe. And the Tzeltal speak a lovely birdlike language and are quite tiny physically; I towered over them. Mostly, I spent my days following the women around since my brother wasn’t really allowed to do this. We got up at 3am and began to separate the corn into three colors. And we boiled it, ran to the mill and back, and finally started to make the tortillas. Now all the other women’s tortillas were 360°, perfectly toasted, perfectly round; and after a lot of practice mine were still lobe-sided and charred. And when they thought I wasn’t looking they threw them to the dogs. After breakfast we spent the rest of the day down at the river watching the goats and braiding and unbraiding each other’s hair. So usually there wasn’t that much to report. One day the women decided to braid my hair Tzeltal-style. After they did this I saw my reflection in a puddle. I looked ridiculous but they said, “Before we did this you were ugly, but now maybe you will find a husband.” I lived within in a yurt, a thatched structure shaped like a cob cake. And there’s a central fireplace ringed by sleeping shelves sort of like a dry beaver down. Now my Tzeltal name was «Loscha», which loosely translated means “the ugly one with the jewels”. Now ugly, OK, I was awfully tall by local standards. But what did they mean by the jewels? I didn’t find out what this meant until one night, when I was taking my contact lenses out, and since I’d lost the case I was carefully placing them on the sleeping shelf; suddenly I noticed that everyone was staring at me and I realized that none of the Tzeltal had ever seen glasses, much less contacts, and that these were the jewels, the transparent, perfectly round, jewels that I carefully hid on the shelf at night and then put for safekeeping into my eyes every morning.
So I may have been ugly but so what? I had the jewels.
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 it suffers a sea change
Into something rich and strange
And I alone am left to tell the tale
Call me Ishmael
♥ ‘The Mysterious J’ ↓
In the book there are several chapters about women talking and women writing. Now it seems likely that men invented writing and wrote what? Maybe ninety, maybe ninety-five percent of everything that’s ever been written. Oh there’s the recent theory that a woman, the mysterious ‘J’, wrote much of the Old Testament, but only because God was portrayed in this book as patriarchal, tyrannical and inconsistent, the way presumably only a woman would write about a man. But I think I can picture this ‘J’ scribbling away and laughing although the first time I saw the Bible re-enacted was sometime in the 70s and there was a cable TV show in the Midwest and Bible study groups would act out parts of the Bible. But these were pretty low budget productions and shot in a church basement or somebody’s rec-room and all the prophets had towels wrapped around their heads for turbans, but you could see the tags, the ones with the washing instructions, sort of sticking out and back. There were ver! y few women on these tapes. They tended to be the odd shepherdess sort dancing girl bit part.
Then last year I was invited to perform in Israel and I was very excited because I wanted to see Jerusalem where this mysterious ‘J’ had spent her life writing and working and the Gulf War had made me even more curious. So I did some asking around, some informal research, and I talked to an Israeli woman who was living in New York and she was really having a hard time living there, and she was always complaining about American men, and she’d say:
«You know, American men are such wimps, I mean, they’re always talking about their feelings.»
And I said: ‘»They are?»
And she said she really liked Israeli men because they were so tough and because they all had guns and I said: «Guns, you like guys with guns?»
And she said she did and went on about how terrible it was that Clinton wanted to reduce the army and she was so animate about this that I started to get kind of worried. Yeah, I thought, ‘yeah that’s true, what are all these military people going to do when they lose their jobs?’ And then I thought, ‘well, hang on, we’ve got all these service industries now, things like psychotherapy, and the military approach to psychotherapy would really be kind of perfect, really efficient and fast, you know, listen, you are nothing, you are a worm, and if you don’t get that mother complex out by 0400 hours you are dead meat.’
♥ ‘The Cultural ambassador’ ↓
Anyway, I was in Israel as a kind of cultural ambassador and there were lots of press conferences scheduled around the performances. The journalists usually started things off by asking about the avant-garde.
— So, what’s so good about new? they’d ask.
— Well, new is… interesting.
— And what, they would say, is so good about interesting?
— Well, interesting is, you know… it’s… interesting. It’s like… being awake, you know, I’m treading water now.
— And what is so good about being awake? they’d say.
Finally I got the hang of this: never answer a question in Israel, always answer by asking another question. But the Israelis were vey curious about the Gulf War and what Americans had thought about it, and I tried to think of a good question to ask and answer to this, but what was really on my mind was that the week before I had myself been testing explosives in a parking lot in Tel Aviv. Now this happened because I had brought some small stage bombs to Israel as props for this performance and the Israeli promoter was very interested in them. And it turned out that he was on weekend duty on one of the bomb squads, and bombs were also something of a hobby during the week.
So I said: — Look, you know, these bombs are nothing special, just, just a little smoke
And he said: — Well, we can get much better things for you.
And I said: — No really, these are fine…
And he said: — No but it should be big, theatrical. It should make an impression, I mean you really just the right bomb.
And so one morning he arranged to have about fifty small bombs delivered to a parking lot, and since he looked on it as a sort of special surprise favor, I couldn’t really refuse, so we are on this parking lot testing the bombs, and after the first few explosions, I found I was really getting pretty… interested.
They all had very different characteristics: some had fiery orange tails, and made these low paah, paah, paah, popping sound; others exploded mid-air and left long smoky, slinky trails, and he had several of each kind in case I needed to review them all at the end, and I’m thinking:
‘Here I am, a citizen of the world’s largest arms supplier, setting off bombs with the world’s second largest arms customer, and I’m having a great time!’
So even though the diplomatic part of the trip wasn’t going so well, at least I was getting some instruction in terrorism. And it reminded me of something in a book by Don DeLillo about how terrorists are the only true artists left, because they’re the only ones who are still capable of really surprising people. And the other thing it reminded me of, were all the attempts during the Gulf War to outwit the terrorists, and I especially remember an interesting list of tips devised by the US embassy in Madrid, and these tips were designed for Americans who found themselves in war-time airports. The idea was not to call ourselves to the attention of the numerous foreign terrorists who were presumably lurking all over the terminal, so the embassy tips were a list of mostly don’ts …
Things like: Don’t wear a baseball cap; Don’t wear a sweatshirt with the name of an American university on it; Don’t wear Timberlands with no socks; Don’t chew gum; don’t yell “Ethel, our plane is leaving!” I mean it’s weird when your entire culture can be summed up in eight giveaway characteristics.
And during the Gulf War I was traveling around Europe with a lot of equipment, and all the airports were full of security guards who would suddenly point to a suitcase and start yelling:
— Whose bag is this? I wanna know right now who owns this bag.
And huge groups of passengers would struck fanning up from the back, just running around in circles like a SCUD missile on its way in, and I was carrying a lot of electronics so I had to keep unpacking everything and plugging it in and demonstrating how it all worked, and I guessed I did seem a little fishy; a lot of this stuff wakes up displaying LED program readouts that have names like Adam Smasher, and so it took a while to convince them that they weren’t some kind of espionage system. So I’ve done quite a few of these sort of impromptu new music concerts for small groups of detectives and customs agents and I’d have to keep setting all this stuff up and they’d listen for a while and they’d say:
— So uh, what’s this?
And I’d pull out something like this filter and say:
— Now this is what I’d like to think of as the voice of Authority.
And it would take me a while to tell them how I used it for songs that were, you know, about various forms of control, and they would say:
— Now, why would you want to talk like that?
And I’d look around at the swat teams and the undercover agents and the dogs and the radio in the corner, tuned to the Super Bowl coverage of the war. And I’d say:
— Take a wild guess.
Finally of course, I got through, with this after all American-made equipment, and the customs agents were all talking about the effectiveness, no the beauty, the elegance, of the American strategy of pinpoint bombing. The high-tech surgical approach, which was being reported by CNN as something between grand opera and the Super Bowl, like the first reports before the blackout when TV was live and everything was heightened, and it was so… euphoric
* * *
Daddy – daddy it was just like you said now that the living outnumber the dead where I come from it’s a long thin thread across an ocean down a river of red now that the living outnumber the dead SPEAK MY LANGUAGE . . .
It was one of those black cat night
The moon had gone out and the air was thin
It was the kind of night the cat would drag in.
I’ll never forget it, we had a fight.
Then you turned around turned on the light. You left our bed.
Then you moved downstairs to live with her instead.
Yeah just one floor and a shout away.
I guess I should have moved but I decided to stay.
Did I drink some poison that I don’t remember now?
Did I drink some poison that I just don’t remember now?
I let a cold dark wind blow through.
I play loud organ music and I talk to myself and dream of you.
Uh oh! I hear voices coming up through the pipes.
Through all the springs in my bed and up through the lights.
The volume goes up then it drops back down
I can hear the two of you playing records
Moving furniture and fooling around.
Did I drink some poison that I just don’t remember now?
Did I do something in another lifetime that was really really mean?
Think I’m going crazy, I gotta get out.
I run into the street and start to shout
Get out of my way! Get out! Get out!
Did I drink some poison that I just don’t remember now?
Did I do something in another lifetime that was really really mean?
And your heart just grows around it. . .
⇐
∞→’Only An Expert‘ + ‘Falling’
Maybe if I fall… Maybe if I fall asleep.
There’ll be a party there.
Maybe if I fall… Maybe if I fall.
Americans unrooted blow with the wind
But they feel the truth if it touches them…
* * *
∇ Sharkey’s Day ⇐
∇ Sharkey’s Night ⇓
Disappearing behind the boulevard
(Oooee.) 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»
Hey says, «You know, I can see two tiny pictures of myself and there’s one in each of your 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
∇ ‘A Cat Named Mouse’ ⇓
∇ w/ The Kronos Quartet ⇓ ‘Bodies In Motion’
We embody the spirit of motion.
We’re bodies in motion . . .
We dig down in the ocean. Swing up to the stars.
We own the moon and the earth. We’re masters of Mars.
We’re bodies in motion. We embody the spirit of motion.
Our ancestors cowered in caves
Afraid of the dark and the thunder.
Wrapped up in black magic and rage
They were slaves to their hunger.
Now we fly across mountains in planes
We know all about time and big numbers.
We’re bodies in motion.
We embody the spirit of motion.
I love you with all my heart You have my devotion.
I loved you from the start. We’re bodies in motion.
We embody the spirit of motion.
Ooo the weight of the world. Eternal spin.
Puts a dent in my shoulder.
A burn in my spin. A burn in my spin.
Some say the future is crowds fighting for water and space.
Chaotic and dark and loud, everything used up and taken.
But I say the future’s within the still point of the mind.
Where we escape the bounds of earth
And break the bonds of time.
If somebody asked me to design a religion
I would make it all about snow.
No good or evil and no suffering.
Just perfect crystals spinning
In ecstasy ecstasy ecstasy ecstasy.
Ooo the weight of the world. Eternal spin.
Puts a dent in my shoulder.
A burn in my spin. A burn in my spin …
We dig down in the ocean. Swing up to the stars.
We own the moon and the earth. We’re masters of Mars.
We’re bodies in motion. We embody the spirit of motion…
♦→ ‘The Beginning of Memory’ ⇐ [«Homeland»_2010]
There’s a story in an ancient play about birds called The Birds
And it’s a short story from before the world began
From a time when there was no earth, no land.
Only air and birds everywhere.
But the thing was there was no place to land.
Because there was no land.
So they just circled around and around.
Because this was before the world began.
And the sound was deafening. Songbirds were everywhere.
Billions and billions and billions of birds.
And one of these birds was a lark and one day her father died.
And this was a really big problem because what should they do with the body?
There was no place to put the body because there was no earth.
And finally the lark had a solution.
She decided to bury her father in the back of her own head.
And this was the beginning of memory.
Because before this no one could remember a thing.
They were just constantly flying in circles.
Constantly flying in huge circles.
• ‘New York Social Life’ ↑ (from 1983 performance «United States«)
‘Oh fine. You know, just waking up but it’s fine, it’s going OK, how’s yours?’
‘Oh a lot of work, you know, I mean, I’m trying to make some money too. Listen, I gotta get back to it, I just thought I’d call to see how you are …’
And I said: ‘Yeah, we should really get together next week. You know, have lunch, and talk.’ And she says: ‘Yeah, uh, I’ll be in touch. OK?’
‘OK.’
‘Uh, listen, take care.’
‘OK. Take it easy.’
‘Bye bye.’
‘Bye now.’ And I get up, and the phone rings and it’s a man from Cleveland and he says: ‘Hey, hi! How are you? Listen I’m doing a performance series and I’d like you to do something in it. Uh, you know, you could make a little money. I mean, I don’t know how I _feel_ about your work, you know, it’s not really my style, it’s kind of trite, but listen, it’s _just_ my opinion, don’t take it personally. So listen, I’ll be in town next week. I gotta go now, but I’ll give you a call, and we’ll have lunch, and we can discuss a few things.’
And I hang up and it rings again and I don’t answer it and I go out for a walk and I drop in at the gallery and they say: ‘Hey, hi. How are you?’
‘Oh fine. You know.’
‘How’s your work going?’
‘OK. I mean …’
‘You know it’s not like it was in the sixties. I mean, those were the days, there’s just no money around now, you know, survive, produce, stick it out, it’s a jungle out there, just gotta keep working.’
And the phone rings and she says: ‘Oh excuse me, will you? Hey, hi! How are you? Uh huh. How’s your work? _Good._ Well, listen, stick it out, I mean, it’s not the sixties, you know, listen, I gotta go now, but, uh, lunch would be great. Fine, next week? Yeah. Very busy now, but next week would be fine, OK? Bye bye.’
‘Bye now.’
And I go over to Magoo’s, for a bite, and I see Frank and I go over to his table and I say:
‘Hey Frank. Hi, how are you? How’s your work? Yeah, mine’s OK too. Listen, I’m broke you know, but, uh, working … Listen, I gotta go now, uh, we should _really_ get together, you know. Why don’t you drop by sometime? Yeah, that would be great. OK. Take care.’
‘Take it easy.’
‘I’ll see you.’
‘I’ll call you.’
‘Bye now.’
‘Bye bye.’
And I go to a party and everyone’s sitting around wearing these party hats and it’s really awkward and no one can think of anything to say. So we all move around fast, and it’s: ‘Hi! How are you? Where’ve you been? Nice to see you. Listen, I’m sorry I missed your thing last week, but we should really get together, you know, maybe next week. I’ll call you. I’ll see you.’
‘Bye bye.’ And I go home and the phone rings and it’s Alan and he says: ‘You know, I’m gonna have a show on, uh, cable TV and it’s gonna be about loneliness, you know, people in the city who for whatever sociological, psychological, philosophical reasons just can’t seem to communicate, you know, The Gap, The Gap, uh, it’ll be a talk show and people’ll phone in but we will say at the beginning of each program: Uh, listen, don’t call in with your _personal_ problems because we don’t want to hear them.’
And I’m going to sleep and it rings again and it’s Mary and she says:
‘Hey, Laurie, how are you? Listen, uh, I just called to say hi … Uh, yeah, well don’t worry. Uh, listen, just keep working. I gotta go now. I know it’s late but we should really get together next week maybe and have lunch and talk and … Listen, Laurie, uh, if you want to talk before then, uh, I’ll leave my answering machine on … and just give me a ring … anytime.’
←[1986]
Good Evening (instrumental)
Zero and One (spoken word)
Excellent Birds
Old Hat (spoken word)
Drum Dance (instrumental)
Smoke Rings
Late Show (instrumental with vocal sample by William S. Burroughs)
White Lily (spoken word)
Sharkey’s Day
How to Write (instrumental with spoken word introduction by Won-sang Park)
Kokoku
Radar (instrumental with wordless vocalizations by Anderson)
Gravity’s Angel
Langue D’Amour
Talk Normal
Difficult Listening Hour (spoken word)
Language is a Virus
Sharkey’s Night
Credit Racket (instrumental)
And I had to sell the car and go to Florida, because that’s just my way of saying (It’s a charm.) That I love you. And I (It’s a job.) Had to call you at the crack of dawn (Why?) And list the times that I’ve been wrong. Cause that’s just my way of saying that I’m sorry. (It’s a job.) Language! It’s a virus! Language! It’s a virus! Paradise is exactly like where you are right now Only much much (It’s a shipwreck,) Better. (It’s a job.) You know? I don’t believe there’s such a thing as tv. I mean – They just keep showing you the same pictures over and over. And when they talk they just make sounds that more or less synch up with their lips. That’s what I think! Language! It’s a virus! Language! It’s a virus! Language! It’s a virus! Well I dreamed there was an island that rose up from the sea. And everybody on the island was somebody from tv.
… Look at me!
Paradise is exactly like where you are right now – Only much much better
∇ ‘Freefall’ ⇐ [feat. Brian Eno]
You’re out on the ocean and you get pulled down Freefall to the bottom Like when you’re drowning or falling asleep You get turned around And when you think you’re swimming to the surface You’re swimming straight down. Down to the bottom. All the way to the bottom. Secret codes and cryptograms I’m lost in your words I’m swimming. We’re going down to the bottom. All the way to the bottom. Rapture of the deep. I got your letter. I couldn’t read it. It was a cryptogram. Did it say Take me with you or Take me as I am? We’re going down to the bottom. All the way to the bottom. We get turned around. There is another world spinning inside of this one. I remember where I came from There were tropical breezes and a wide open sea I remember my childhood I remember being free. We’re going down to the bottom. All the way to the bottom. We get turned around. There is another world inside of this one. Rapture of the deep. We’re going down to the bottom. There is another world spinning inside of this one…∴ w/ Brian Eno & Jan Peter Schwalm… 
←’Like Pictures’
This is my dream, buddy, the one I used to walk around … In my dreams …
In this dream, I’m in a hospital bed …
The doctor is holding a small pink bundle, and right in the bundle I see the little face of my dog:
a small rat terrier – I’m love-bound!
I kissed her on the head and I said, ‘I’ll love you for ever…’
To live in a gap, between a moment that it’s expiring and the one it is arising
And when you close your eyes, what do you see? – Nothing.
Now open them …
I wanna tell you a story about a story and it’s about the time I discovered that most of dogs have no idea what they’re talking about . . .
But finally I saw it… The connection between love and death, and that the purpose of death is the release of love.
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