(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
“I always had a repulsive sort of need to be something more than human,” David Bowie once said, summarising his infinite desire to stumble across otherworldly effervescence. Although many could see extra-terrestrial talent in the ‘Starman’ himself, he also proclaimed that he would see it in others and proceeded to implement the necessary tools to draw it out of them in the best way possible.
Whether we like it or not, Bowie had the kind of impressive demeanour that meant any potential forthcomings about his music or personality often became overlooked. We can’t ignore his more controversial interviews where he claimed to hold all the secrets to the universe, just as we can’t pretend his ramblings about the restrictive nature of human existence weren’t all just a part of some kind of lifelong artistic performance.
However, there were small facets of authenticity between the endless characterisations, ones which actually held up a mirror to society or its inhabitants and highlighted its more impressive features. Bowie was no fool when it came to pressing issues, but he also liked to celebrate the good parts of life, whether that related to his own artistry or what he saw in those around him.
‘O Superman’ by Laurie Anderson is a difficult song to grasp even by today’s more technologically advanced standards, but back then, not only did it become an unsuspecting hit, it also caught Bowie’s eye. It makes sense considering the track’s strangely eery, dissociative feel, but clearly it also provided an insight into Anderson’s unique world, one which Bowie felt superseded all human capability.
Bowie was cynical of rock ‘n’ roll, once calling it unoriginal and the place where “there’s no new way to say anything”. What he saw in other genres and musicians, therefore, were gateways to views of the world he never thought possible. When it came to Anderson, the musician was convinced she could read minds. In fact, he was so sure of the fact that he once assigned her a task to prove it.
Recalling the moment he revealed his suspicion, Anderson told the New York Times: “David called me and he said, ‘I think you can read minds,’ And I said, ‘I can’t read minds, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’”
To prove his point, he instructed her to sit by her fax machine whenever he called her on the phone and sit in silence for a minute while they drew whatever was on their mind. Afterwards, they were to fax their creations to one another. “I thought, this is a waste of time, but I really liked David a lot, so I was like, OK, I’ll do it,” Anderson explained, adding: “and the first one that came through was kind of breathtaking.”
The drawings they made, which ended up being ten in total, had notable similarities, with the lines following similar patterns. Even though it seemed kind of strange at first, Anderson said she ended up loving them “because they were really strange rhymes.” Anderson, also an abstract thinker, felt they demonstrated more about Bowie’s mindset than she realised.
As a musician, Bowie had the ability to “understand happiness and pleasure really well,” Anderson said. Above all, however, he was able to face difficulties head-on and utilise them in his art. “He loved stuff that had real pain in it,” Anderson explained, which made her realise he became the very thing most artists strive for — becoming “a successful human being.”