Laurie Anderson The Soul Is A Bird Lyrics

The Soul Is A Bird Lyrics

In 1984, as part of the press for the tour I was doing in Japan, I was asked to
go to Bali and speak about the future with the prince of Ouboud. Now the idea
was that I would represent the Western world, the prince the Southern world,
and the Japanese press representative would represent whatever was left. The
conversations would be published in a large book, scheduled for release one
year after the concert tour. Now as press this didn't really seem like a great
way to advertise concerts but it sounded like fun anyway. 

And I stayed at the palace in one of the former king's harem houses. Each of
the king's wives had had her own house guarded by a pair of animals, a bear and
a fox for example. By the time I got there, years later, the menagerie had
dwindled a bit. My house was guarded by two tropical fish. Bali was extremely
hot in the afternoons and the conversations with the prince drifted along
randomly from topic to topic. The prince was a bon vivant trained in Paris and
he spoke excellent English and when he wasn't in the palace he was out on the
bumpy back roads racing cars. So we talked about cars, a subject I know
absolutely nothing about, and I felt that as far as representing the Western
world was going, I was failing pretty dismally. Then, on the second night, the
prince served an elaborate feast of Balinese dishes. At the end of the meal,
the conversation slowed to a halt, and after a few minutes of silence he asked:




� Would you like to see the cremation tapes of my father? 



The tapes were several hours long and were a record of the elaborate
three-month ceremony shot by the BBC. When the king died the whole country went
to work, building an enormous funeral pyre for him. After months of preparation,
during which time the corpse continues to reside in the living room, they
hoisted the body to the top of this rickety, extremely flammable structure, and
lit a match. The delicate tower crumbled almost immediately, and the king's body
fell to the ground with a sickening thud. Suddenly, everyone began to cheer.




Later, I learned that the Balinese believe that the soul is a bird and that
when the body falls it shakes the bird loose and gives it a hit start on its
way to heaven.