Happy 2012 my friend! 2012 is gonna be a good year! (Yes I will be repeating all the time until the end of summer).

A few weeks ago, I went to the Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990 exhibition at the V&A. In one room, on a huge screen, this was found:

Laurie Anderson O Superman

It echoed over and over throughout the exhibition and it wouldn't leave my head for hours until after I left.

I never really liked Laurie Anderson's Big Science album when I gave it a try ages ago, but maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance. This song is gorgeous. It unexpectedly rose to #2 on the UK Singles Charts UK Singles Charts in 1981, making a name for Anderson, who was little known outside the art world at the time.

The clip above is Laurie Anderson performing from her home in Soho New York 1982.

There are only two alternating chords in the background.

The lines "Cause when love is gone, there's always justice / And when justice is gone, there's always force / And when force is gone, there's always Mom" derive from the fourth sentence of Chapter 38 of the Tao Te Ching: "When Tao is lost, there is goodness. When goodness is lost, there is kindness. When kindness is lost, there is justice. When justice is lost, there is ritual. Now ritual is the husk of faith and loyalty, the beginning of confusion."

xx