Beginning French-Laurie Anderson

[ti:Beginning French] [ar:Laurie Anderson] [al:Live in New York] [offset:0] [00:00.17]Beginning French - Laurie Anderson [00:04.28]I've been doing a lot of concerts in French. [00:06.99] [00:09.23]Unfortunately, I don't speak French. [00:11.86] [00:13.06]I memorize it. [00:13.77] [00:15.07]I mean, my mouth is moving but [00:17.25]I don't really understand what I'm saying. [00:19.22] [00:21.20]It's like sitting at the breakfast table [00:22.86]And it's early in the morning and you're not quite awake. [00:26.53]And you're just sitting there eating cereal [00:28.58]And sort of staring at the writing on the box [00:30.94] [00:32.82]And not reading it exactly, [00:34.76]Just more or less looking at the words. [00:36.55] [00:37.12]And suddenly, for some reason, you snap to attention, [00:41.16]And you realize that what [00:42.86]You're reading is what you're eating [00:44.95] [00:45.94]But by then it's much too late. [00:48.18] [00:50.52]After doing these concerts in French, [00:53.61]I usually had the temporary illusion that [00:55.67]I could actually speak French, [00:58.40]But as soon as I walked out on the street, [01:00.22]And someone asked me simple directions, [01:01.68] [01:02.68]I realized I couldn't speak a single word. [01:04.60] [01:05.69]So, as a result of this inadequacy, [01:08.04] [01:08.80]I found that the people [01:10.36]I had the most rapport with were the babies. [01:14.91]And one of the things I noticed about [01:16.87]These babies was that they were apparently being used [01:20.16]As some kind of traffic testers. [01:21.91] [01:22.89]Their mothers would be [01:23.98]Pushing them along in their strollers [01:25.23]And they would come to a busy [01:26.56]Street with lots of parked cars [01:27.84] [01:28.58]And the mother can't see what the traffic [01:30.33]Is like because of all the parked cars [01:32.31]So she just sort of edges the stroller out [01:35.85]Into the street and cranes her head out afterwards. [01:39.39] [01:40.07]And the most striking thing about this [01:43.47]Is the expression on these babies' faces [01:45.85] [01:48.54]As they sit there in the middle of traffic, stranded, [01:51.77] [01:52.63]Banging those little gavels they've all got [01:55.83] [01:57.29]And they can't even speak English. [01:58.63] [02:00.95]Do you know what I mean?