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transformation of great swaths of land for human use, and an increasing population.
It is safe to say that the song “Big Science” is perhaps social commentary. “Golden cities, golden towns,” Laurie Anderson chants eerily after asking for directions, now with a slight Native American tone in the vocals as well. With this brief historical perspective, the images evoke increasingly obvious connotations through their juxtaposition to these more ancient elements of the song, both the modal tonalities and the indigenous percussion and chanting. They are images of a steadily encroaching civilization -- dark, looming, cold and bitter:
…long cars in long lines, and great big signs
and they all say: Hallelujah. Yodelayheehoo.
Every man for himself.
“Big Science. Hallelujah. Yodelayheehoo.” Laurie Anderson’s words are sung but very dry. In a way, the Native American elements presented have been coopted. The sound is still reminiscent of these influences, but even the words are American colloquial expressions of celebration or acceptance. In this case, the dry tone of Anderson’s chanting denotes a scornful reluctance behind the intention of the words.
The closing images in the song roll back and forth between the bitter sarcasm of this chorus and verses of increasingly abstract allusions mined from even deeper within the American cultural lexicon. The lingering allusions to the Old West (“Yodelayheehoo” and the later “Howdy stranger”) further help to cement this eerie contradiction with the Native American musical elements. The latter is practically an afterthought both within the structure of the song and the reality of which it is based, a quickly fading nation struggling against being forgotten.
Like the increased scale of scientific endeavors within postwar American society, the scope of change within its theme song is again geared up, and in another characteristically Laurie Anderson way: "You know, I think we should put some mountains here. Otherwise, what are the characters going to fall off of?"
Before ending on a now-ghostlike chorus, we are reminded through the lyrics’ quietly devolving chaos of American cultural abstractions that there is one more thing Anderson finds worth repeating: “Every man for himself.” This is followed by an “all in favor say aye,” an overt allusion to contemporary politics, and another peacefully grim reminder: again, “every man for
himself.” Under the circumstances, this is almost too-obviously a reference to capitalism, the great driving force behind the song’s grim scenario, as well as that of the financial motivations behind the Big Science movement itself.
Too cryptic to be preachy, author Laurie Anderson painted a very real picture of contemporary America through this juxtaposition of images, illustrating its roots, influences, its foreseeable future, and her own perspective on the matter, which is undeniably not too approving, and quite “cold.” Or as Joni Mitchell puts it, quite plainly, “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”