The Soul Is A Bird (Live)-Laurie Anderson

[ti:The Soul Is A Bird(live版)] [ar:Laurie Anderson] [al:The Ugly One With The Jewels And Other Stories] [by:] [offset:0] [00:00.00]The Soul Is A Bird (Live) - Laurie Anderson [00:10.85]In 1984 as part of the press for the tour I was doing in Japan [00:16.52] [00:17.50]I was asked to go to Bali and speak [00:20.03]About the future with the prince of Ouboud [00:23.65] [00:25.16]Now the idea was that I would [00:26.99]Represent the Western world [00:29.08] [00:30.48]The prince the Southern world [00:32.52] [00:33.29]And the Japanese press representative [00:35.42]Would represent whatever was left [00:37.87] [00:39.91]The conversations would be published in a large book [00:43.67]Scheduled for release one year after the concert tour [00:47.21] [00:47.79]Now as press this didn't really [00:49.63]Seem like a great way [00:50.66]To advertise concerts but it sounded [00:53.44]Like far anyway [00:54.99] [00:56.86]And I stayed at the palace in one of the [00:59.44]Former king's harem houses [01:01.50] [01:02.48]Each of the king's wives had had [01:04.61]Her own house guarded [01:06.51]By a pair of animals a bear and a fox for example [01:11.13] [01:12.33]By the time I got there years later [01:14.32] [01:15.29]The menagerie had dwindled a bit [01:17.33] [01:18.65]My house was guarded by two tropical fish [01:22.86] [01:25.93]Bali was extremely hot in the afternoons [01:28.99] [01:29.79]And the conversations [01:30.72]With the prince drifted along [01:33.05]Randomly from topic to topic [01:35.41] [01:36.93]The prince was a bon vivant trained in Paris [01:40.78] [01:41.41]And he spoke excellent English and when [01:43.93]He wasn't in the palace he was out on the [01:46.34]Bumpy back roads racing cars [01:48.96] [01:50.37]So we talked about cars a subject I know absolutely [01:54.76]Nothing about and I felt that as far as representing [01:59.26]The Western world was going [02:01.32] [02:02.00]I was failing pretty dismally [02:04.46] [02:06.16]Then on the second night the prince served an [02:10.49]Elaborate feast of Balinese dishes [02:13.62] [02:14.40]At the end of the meal the [02:16.89]Conversation slowed to a halt [02:19.15] [02:19.99]And after a few minutes of silence he asked: [02:23.65] [02:26.08]Would you like to see the [02:27.12]Cremation tapes of my father [02:29.37] [02:31.66]The tapes were several hours long and were a record [02:36.62]Of the elaborate three month [02:38.05]Ceremony shot by the BBC [02:40.95] [02:43.02]When the king died the whole country went to work [02:46.90]Building an enormous funeral pyre for him [02:50.12] [02:52.31]After months of preparation during which time the [02:57.09]Corpse continues to reside in the living room they [03:02.34]Hoisted the body to the top of this rickety [03:05.09]Extremely flammable structure and lit a match [03:09.57] [03:11.70]The delicate tower crumbled almost immediately [03:14.87] [03:15.81]And the king's body fell to the [03:17.93]Ground with a sickening thud [03:21.04] [03:23.38]Suddenly everyone began to cheer [03:26.87] [03:30.50]Later I learned that the Balinese believe that the [03:34.48]Soul is a bird and that when the body falls it shakes the [03:42.63]Bird loose and gives it a hit start on it's way to heaven