This is extraordinary. And Laurie Anderson is one of the greatest artists alive. Musician, singer, performer, writer, filmmaker, visual artist, photographer, inventor. We owe her so many things, but probably most of all a new way of using the voice, in all its power to seduce, enchant, move, and disturb. She's a giant of our time.
1982. Little garage behind the old man’s house, made into a studio. We had a good stereo and almost nothing else. The LSD dripped into our brains as Laurie said, “Let X Equal X”. This is why I am who I am today.
Laurie Anderson, to this day, remains the only artist I've gotten on an airplane and flown across multiple state lines to see perform. I wouldn't know how to summarize what her work has meant to me.
Wow, wait, what? But…..climate change! How many emissions did you create that Laurie has to take responsibility for? Gosh. You must owe tens of thousands of dollars to the Government for all of those Carbon Credits! ???
Laurie has resurrected the chorus of Ancient Greek theatre. If only others could incorporate the same, we could have a new focal point for the voice of humanity
Beautiful. I had not heard anything recent by Laurie Anderson until I found this. She has lost none of her grace and inventiveness. This was a joy to discover! Thank you.
Instead of complaining like a child that, "Laurie isn't well known enough". How about you open your mouth and our show people a video? Yeah, sounds good right. And everyone around you will thank you for being less of an ahole
you may not be aware that O Superman reached number 2 in the UK mainstream pop charts - only beaten by some very stupid song of course but nonetheless extremely popular
This is just astounding. Fun little story: I saw Laurie Anderson give a talk in Portsmouth, New Hampshire years ago. As she spoke, some images began to appear behind her on a screen. As time passed (just a few minutes), we began to think that..hey, these images are making no sense. Time went on a bit more…and the tension was unbearable. At some point (probably less than ten minutes but it felt like an hour) she happened to see motion at the edge of her peripheral vision. She turned and saw what was going on. Then she turned back to us and said: “Why didn’t you _tell_ me??!!” I mean, it’s Laurie Anderson. We were all trying to figure out what was going on!! Heh. Oops!
Her voice is so soothing, and her words are so savage. She brings us the harsh truth with softened edges. Listen! We need now more than ever to pay attention. When we can no longer stand the cacophony of the media voices, our artists paint the reality for us. Listen! We cannot sleep through this nightmare.
My late husband and I fell in love with Laurie Anderson's repertoire and with her genius. We never missed a performance when she was in or around Philadelphia. Good days and nights... indeed. What a treasure. Poetry expounded.
Oh how I wish I still lived in New York just to have been able to see and hear once in my life my favorite artist of now 44 years perform this. Thank you for making this concert available to us❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for sharing this. This is good medicine for a troubled world. In the early eighties i discovered the strange and wonderful Art of Laurie Anderson on late night CBC radio. It made me laugh. It made me think. It spoke to me in ways that i knew would effect me forever. No other artist has had such influence on my soul. Again i thank you.
Same tour I caught. My lovely bipolar soon ex had to be dragged: all women looked like like tigress, with boyfriends dragged that looked like old wire hangers. My soon ex- got a touch of Cognitive Dissonance, which she shook off. The cult dispossessed her totally...
I wish I could've been there! I was lucky enough to catch one performance of her 'Moby Dick' show about a decade ago and the experience is still with me. How Laurie manages to be so viscerally potent and intellectually cogent at the same time is a mystery not to be solved by us mortals - only to witness in amazement.
Sí, claro después que los verdadeiros bárbaros depredaron a Grécia? No existe mas la crítica cultural de verdad? Que fue la Fundación Onassis? Por favor
The two parties in the US are cheeks of the same arse. There will be little difference. Both are slaves to "israel" and determined to continue genocide and war mongering.
Was just talking about Laurie Anderson and her O Superman being a huge influence on me as an artist, I would listen to this LP over and over and over again and it inspired me. Saw her Perform in 1982 and later in the 90's awesome to see her in the same fine space again. I love it
And than you of reminding us what a great poet Kavafis was. Waiting for the Barbarians and Ithaca are his best poems. He would greatly appreciate the musical transformation of his works
I am lucky to have seen her perform in Houston back in the early 80s. At the end of the show she came out and said "I'd like to perform a medley of my hit." Note the singular - she only had O Superman to play!
A great person, a great artist, citing one of 20th century's top ranking authors. For those who don't know please look this text up, it will change your life.
I saw Laurie in concert back in D.C. in 1985. It's so awesome to hear her again doing her creative thing at present. Her performance art style is so effective at communicating a message.
Wowza... i too am a Barbarian, dazzled by beauty and mystery, the sparkle of the disco ball, covered in a thousand mirrors. The oniony layers, of meaning, the delectable parfait of gristle and meat, That is this..... Speaks to my heart. Thank you for this gift
so appreciate that such a fine intellect and sensibility as laurie anderson is aound andstill putting it out there. first time i saw her 46 years ago a small, venue this elfin creature also a violin virtuoso amazing
I am embarrassed to say I only discovered Laurie Anderson 6 months ago. She has already become one of my favourite artists. Bought the Big Science and Bright Red albums and love them both.
What is this amazing thing I have discovered? I have been Is producing music for over thirty five years. And i've never heard anything like this. There is a good side to youtube and this is it
Goosebumps and tears. The poem ends "Those people were a kind of solution," a sharp dry finish, feels like a different narrative voice. Beautiful how Laurie reworked the last lines with performance in mind, a vulnerable narrator, confronting shame and horror. And Ithaca, omg, thank you, Laurie. There are no words.
I had the good fortune to see Laurie Anderson three times: Ottawa, Montreal, Melbourne. After the Montreal concert, I was even able to talk with her after the concert to thank her. She was very easy to talk with, very approachable and friendly. She's a true genius.
Kavakis poems "The Barbarians" and "Ithaca" feel so current. Beautiful performace piece. Always a Lauri Anderson fan, since first I heard her reference to Massenet "O Superman" at 13. Just getting into electronic music, and being familiar with old world opera byvwaybof family, in an immediate surrounding that was hooked on the new computer technology in a polarized Haleluja /Doomsday kind of way, I was just blown away hearing the piece. She's continued and continues to exite me and leave me in deep thought. The Greek chorus runs like a thread through her work, this piece here is just so entirely natural for her. I can see why the Onassis Foundation must be pleased to work with her art. She's one of a kind for our times. An intelligent, entirely unique voice of humanity. A treasure. ❤ 🙏
…wOw… …jUst wOw… wOt an incredible soundscape you create Laurie Anderson 💘 What an incredible collaboration & what an incredible experience for the young people involved!?! So delightful to see the awe & admiration on some faces - especially the conductor toward the end… …wOw… …jUst wOw… 💗🙏🏼💗✨🌟✨💗🙏🏼💗
3 days after our national nightmare, this performance is exactly what i needed .. thank you Laurie and to all the choir, the orchestra, the conductor and Onassis Foundation thank you thank you
Either party long supported even the most graphic genocide so I think you have to parse what’s meant by ‘we’ and condemn lauding nazis in congress and parliament
@@avidmisreader You ain't seen nothin' yet. You're about to find out just how different "Both Sides" are. The current administration was the only thing holding back what you are about to witness.
@@myradioon @myradioon the admin that did everything to support obliteration of PS as well as keep UA and every other power grab going? Good/bad world flopcop routine is mostly self-deceit at this point… world is only too eager to pass through pain barrier because it’s tired of fatcats fueling crises to retain what Butler wrote about.
Waiting for the Barbarians (by C.P. Cavafy, 1904) What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum? The barbarians are due here today. Why isn’t anything going on in the senate? Why are the senators sitting there without legislating? Because the barbarians are coming today. What’s the point of senators making laws now? Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating. Why did our emperor get up so early, and why is he sitting enthroned at the city’s main gate, in state, wearing the crown? Because the barbarians are coming today and the emperor’s waiting to receive their leader. He’s even got a scroll to give him, loaded with titles, with imposing names. Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas? Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts, rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds? Why are they carrying elegant canes beautifully worked in silver and gold? Because the barbarians are coming today and things like that dazzle the barbarians. Why don’t our distinguished orators turn up as usual to make their speeches, say what they have to say? Because the barbarians are coming today and they’re bored by rhetoric and public speaking. Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion? (How serious people’s faces have become.) Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly, everyone going home lost in thought? Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come. And some of our men just in from the border say there are no barbarians any longer. Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians? Those people were a kind of solution.
This is extraordinary. And Laurie Anderson is one of the greatest artists alive. Musician, singer, performer, writer, filmmaker, visual artist, photographer, inventor. We owe her so many things, but probably most of all a new way of using the voice, in all its power to seduce, enchant, move, and disturb. She's a giant of our time.
Agree 💯 🎉💃🏻🎶📺📷📽🎱
Goddess of artistry and self knowledge.
@@katherinehunter9526
This is leftist woke crappolli supputti. She's a barbarian of our time. Droll.
How incredibly appropriate for this moment in history.
What she’s publically admitting they were always here (especially) it is
It's time to Let X Equal X.
lol.
The New King will declare that he made the barbarians disappear.
We have arrived......
lol
Thank you for reminding us of the legend that is Laurie ❤
❤
We literally consider it an honor to do so!
Theres something both unsettling and comforting about Laurie Anderson. A genius in her own right.
1982. Little garage behind the old man’s house, made into a studio. We had a good stereo and almost nothing else. The LSD dripped into our brains as Laurie said, “Let X Equal X”. This is why I am who I am today.
Far out
😂
It could be you. It's a sky-blue sky. Satellites are out tonight...
Huh? Looks like you had a bad trip and never recovered. Sorry that you ended up this way.
@@dennisyoung9500you've obviously not gone anywhere.
Laurie Anderson, to this day, remains the only artist I've gotten on an airplane and flown across multiple state lines to see perform. I wouldn't know how to summarize what her work has meant to me.
We're with you. Plus, summarizing nearly 50 years of greatness would be impossible given the character limits. 🖤
they're American planes, made in America
And to think, when you were up there on that airplane, you, and everyone else on it could all have fit on the head of a pin.....
@@spridgejuice😊
Wow, wait, what? But…..climate change! How many emissions did you create that Laurie has to take responsibility for? Gosh. You must owe tens of thousands of dollars to the Government for all of those Carbon Credits! ???
Laurie has resurrected the chorus of Ancient Greek theatre. If only others could incorporate the same, we could have a new focal point for the voice of humanity
Humanity is unlikely to benefit from being constrained to one voice.
Especially not one with a focal point.
The Gospel at Colonus from the 80s with Morgan Freeman is an excellent use of modern chorus
This needs to be performed for young people, at punk shows, metal shows, to the future.
Never heard of her. Wow! What a performance. Forgive me, I am Australian. And been a bit busy for the last 70 plus years. Now a fan.
Check out "Oh Superman." Also "The Ugly One With The Jewels." Great stuff!
She was married to Lou Reed until his death. Both were well known before they were together.
I did not know that. Thanks @@ToddDouglasFox
Been a fan since the 80s. Welcome. You have lots to catch up on! She's amazing!
I would start with her album Big Science.
She is otherworldly. Amazing.
Absolutely ❤
Beautiful. I had not heard anything recent by Laurie Anderson until I found this. She has lost none of her grace and inventiveness. This was a joy to discover! Thank you.
Anderson’s performance, the chorus, the poetry, the church, everything about this experience awakens my soul and spirit. Thank you.
Glad to hear it. Thank you for watching.
You choose a church the symbol of the Christian faith dwell there in
She is an artistic supergenius. She should be studied by every artist who is currently alive.
Yet people don't know her. Thus is the state of womanhood.
She didnt write the arrangements..otherwise its talking. c’mon.
The Barbarians are coming today... Fire performance and very real!!! Laurie Anderson is still an amazing voice...
Art is such nourishment and inspiration in troubling times. Thank you Laurie Anderson.
Two great poems by a wonderful poet, and so aptly interpreted by Anderson in worrying times.
"Itaca" and "The barbarians": Konstantinos Kavakis (1863- 1933).
Been listening to Laurie for decades but most people I know have never heard of her. Their loss!
my gain.... too big an audience has ruined many an artist....
Instead of complaining like a child that, "Laurie isn't well known enough". How about you open your mouth and our show people a video? Yeah, sounds good right. And everyone around you will thank you for being less of an ahole
you may not be aware that O Superman reached number 2 in the UK mainstream pop charts - only beaten by some very stupid song of course but nonetheless extremely popular
Same.
Genius ✨. Gave me chills. American with a heavy heart here. I look forward to the part “there are no barbarians anymore…”
Look in your heart
@@realrael3550Look "into" your heart. Having a 'heavy heart' suggests someone who has done some soul-searching, i.e., looked into their heart.
Cry more, your salty liberal tears are sooooo delicious!! 😆 MAGA!!!
This is just astounding. Fun little story: I saw Laurie Anderson give a talk in Portsmouth, New Hampshire years ago. As she spoke, some images began to appear behind her on a screen. As time passed (just a few minutes), we began to think that..hey, these images are making no sense. Time went on a bit more…and the tension was unbearable. At some point (probably less than ten minutes but it felt like an hour) she happened to see motion at the edge of her peripheral vision. She turned and saw what was going on.
Then she turned back to us and said: “Why didn’t you _tell_ me??!!”
I mean, it’s Laurie Anderson. We were all trying to figure out what was going on!! Heh. Oops!
😂
Her voice is so soothing, and her words are so savage. She brings us the harsh truth with softened edges. Listen! We need now more than ever to pay attention. When we can no longer stand the cacophony of the media voices, our artists paint the reality for us. Listen! We cannot sleep through this nightmare.
11:14 “You wont see them if your thoughts are somewhere else.” 😮
👁️ 👽 👁️ 🔥 👁️ 👽 👁️ yes . Focus ❤
diversion
My late husband and I fell in love with Laurie Anderson's repertoire and with her genius. We never missed a performance when she was in or around Philadelphia. Good days and nights... indeed. What a treasure. Poetry expounded.
This is fantastic. It’s ART. I happen to love it, but even if I didn’t, it’s ART. I’m so glad to find your channel! Thank you. And thank you Laurie!
GAHHH! These comments make our day. We're glad you found us, too.
This is a brilliant performance. ❤thank you for sharing this. Laurie is a true artist and so talented.
Bitte gern geschehen .Gruss aus Deutschland!
She's so true to herself and yet never fails to surprise and please.
Oh how I wish I still lived in New York just to have been able to see and hear once in my life my favorite artist of now 44 years perform this.
Thank you for making this concert available to us❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for sharing this. This is good medicine for a troubled world. In the early eighties i discovered the strange and wonderful Art of Laurie Anderson on late night CBC radio. It made me laugh. It made me think. It spoke to me in ways that i knew would effect me forever. No other artist has had such influence on my soul. Again i thank you.
Early 80s and " late night CBC radio"... not... Allan McFee's Eclectic Circus???
Extraordinarily timely.
I’ve always loved her. I got to see her live once in the late 90s. What a privilege.
Same tour I caught. My lovely bipolar soon ex had to be dragged: all women looked like like tigress, with boyfriends dragged that looked like old wire hangers. My soon ex- got a touch of Cognitive Dissonance, which she shook off. The cult dispossessed her totally...
Tigresses. Autocorrect bipolar
I wish I could've been there! I was lucky enough to catch one performance of her 'Moby Dick' show about a decade ago and the experience is still with me. How Laurie manages to be so viscerally potent and intellectually cogent at the same time is a mystery not to be solved by us mortals - only to witness in amazement.
My dad brought home Mr. Heartbreak in 1984. I was a sophomore in high school.
I've been a fan ever since.
Cool Dad.
Laurie Anderson performs these two poems "Waiting for the Barbarians" and "Ithaca", showing how deeply she respects, feels and understands the poet.
Sí, claro después que los verdadeiros bárbaros depredaron a Grécia? No existe mas la crítica cultural de verdad? Que fue la Fundación Onassis? Por favor
Fantastic and prescient... I have a proper sense of dread now for what is about to befall us.
The two parties in the US are cheeks of the same arse. There will be little difference. Both are slaves to "israel" and determined to continue genocide and war mongering.
Was just talking about Laurie Anderson and her O Superman being a huge influence on me as an artist, I would listen to this LP over and over and over again and it inspired me. Saw her Perform in 1982 and later in the 90's awesome to see her in the same fine space again. I love it
And than you of reminding us what a great poet Kavafis was. Waiting for the Barbarians and Ithaca are his best poems. He would greatly appreciate the musical transformation of his works
WHat a marvelous performance! I saw Ms. Anderson perform in 1981. She mesmerized me then as she does now.🤩
Brilliant and timely !
Amazing performance!👏She's unique❤
Truly a haunting masterpiece...
I am lucky to have seen her perform in Houston back in the early 80s. At the end of the show she came out and said "I'd like to perform a medley of my hit." Note the singular - she only had O Superman to play!
Laurie Anderson is a magician of the highest order. I was moved to tears by this performance. Thank you.
How does she manage to be so utterly brilliant... I am in absolute awe ..
Absolutely beautiful!! I closed my eyes and it was just the next step up from Big Science. Laurie is pure artist.
Wow, this takes me back.. Been a long time since 'Sharkey's Night' Splendid , thankyou all arts.... ... .. .. .. .. .. .. . .
A great person, a great artist, citing one of 20th century's top ranking authors. For those who don't know please look this text up, it will change your life.
Konstantinos Kavafis (1863- 1933).
Ithaca has been a very important discovery in my life. Cavafy was a unique and brilliant poet. How great to see Miz Laurie perform it.
Bravo ! Βραβείον ! Knowing these poems as a kid(in Greek) I am speechless. Lady Anderson, G R E A T ! A Greek
friend, Nikephoros.
I was there; it was great!
The goddesses are speaking❤ thank you genius Laurie Anderson
She is still classic, relevant, and entrancing... I saw it when I first heard her decades ago.
I’m thankful that we (USA) still support artists to make profound contributions to our changing culture.
I barbari sono arrivati da molto
Tempo ! Un piacere ritrovare laurie
Laurie! Always finding the new way in towards realizing where we are and what we are doing.
I am completely surrendered to my mind being blown by Laurie’s glorious performance
I saw Laurie in concert back in D.C. in 1985. It's so awesome to hear her again doing her creative thing at present. Her performance art style is so effective at communicating a message.
Backed by an orchestra, Laurie Anderson recites Cavafy's best-known poem. The event is not only high art but also a warning.
Cavafy is getting the respect that he deserves. A wonderful reading.
There's so much more where this came from. Check out AllArts.org/Cavafy.
Mientras dejaron sangrar a Grecia entre USA y la UE???
Wowza... i too am a Barbarian, dazzled by beauty and mystery, the sparkle of the disco ball, covered in a thousand mirrors. The oniony layers, of meaning, the delectable parfait of gristle and meat,
That is this.....
Speaks to my heart.
Thank you for this gift
Laurie is one of the most important names in contemporanean music. Brilliant!| And so actual...
stunning, Laurie Anderson is out of this world, unique, a genius of Art
so appreciate that such a fine intellect and sensibility as laurie anderson is aound andstill putting it out there. first time i saw her 46 years ago a small, venue this elfin creature also a violin virtuoso amazing
I am embarrassed to say I only discovered Laurie Anderson 6 months ago. She has already become one of my favourite artists. Bought the Big Science and Bright Red albums and love them both.
What is this amazing thing I have discovered? I have been Is producing music for over thirty five years. And i've never heard anything like this. There is a good side to youtube and this is it
One of the most profound, original and beautiful masterpieces of the last few decades. Deep thanks.
Goosebumps and tears. The poem ends "Those people were a kind of solution," a sharp dry finish, feels like a different narrative voice. Beautiful how Laurie reworked the last lines with performance in mind, a vulnerable narrator, confronting shame and horror. And Ithaca, omg, thank you, Laurie. There are no words.
The Barbarians are all ready here. I hope to see you in Manchester UK, Barbarians or not.
I have met the barbarians and they are us
I had the good fortune to see Laurie Anderson three times: Ottawa, Montreal, Melbourne. After the Montreal concert, I was even able to talk with her after the concert to thank her. She was very easy to talk with, very approachable and friendly. She's a true genius.
Amazing, great Artist
Laurie Anderson - alive and kicking - yay!
Kavakis poems "The Barbarians" and "Ithaca" feel so current. Beautiful performace piece.
Always a Lauri Anderson fan, since first I heard her reference to Massenet "O Superman" at 13. Just getting into electronic music, and being familiar with old world opera byvwaybof family, in an immediate surrounding that was hooked on the new computer technology in a polarized Haleluja /Doomsday kind of way, I was just blown away hearing the piece.
She's continued and continues to exite me and leave me in deep thought.
The Greek chorus runs like a thread through her work, this piece here is just so entirely natural for her. I can see why the Onassis Foundation must be pleased to work with her art. She's one of a kind for our times. An intelligent, entirely unique voice of humanity. A treasure. ❤ 🙏
My first time listening to Laurie and I will listen again.
Bravo!!!! What a wonderful experience listening and watching this performance. Thank you to all and to Laurie Anderson. I'm happily blown away.
From Big Science to this. What an amazing journey.
She is divine. Goosebumps.
More support for the arts and artists!!!
…wOw… …jUst wOw…
wOt an incredible soundscape you create Laurie Anderson 💘
What an incredible collaboration & what an incredible experience for the young people involved!?!
So delightful to see the awe & admiration on some faces - especially the conductor toward the end…
…wOw… …jUst wOw…
💗🙏🏼💗✨🌟✨💗🙏🏼💗
…&… …I can only imagine how theis performance must have sounded in such a space…
truly awe inspiring
💗🙏🏼💗✨🌟✨💗🙏🏼💗
Stunning work by the inspired Laurie Anderson. Wonderful.
Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed = auteur icons!
Such a gem.
As usual, amazing Laurie Anderson!
Wow! this is really Great! As is the timing!
So beautiful and powerful!
I love one concept, the concept of love and everything related to love ❤
3 days after our national nightmare, this performance is exactly what i needed .. thank you Laurie and to all the choir, the orchestra, the conductor and Onassis Foundation thank you thank you
Either party long supported even the most graphic genocide so I think you have to parse what’s meant by ‘we’ and condemn lauding nazis in congress and parliament
@@avidmisreader You ain't seen nothin' yet. You're about to find out just how different "Both Sides" are. The current administration was the only thing holding back what you are about to witness.
@@myradioon @myradioon the admin that did everything to support obliteration of PS as well as keep UA and every other power grab going? Good/bad world flopcop routine is mostly self-deceit at this point… world is only too eager to pass through pain barrier because it’s tired of fatcats fueling crises to retain what Butler wrote about.
I hope to stay alive, ...I guess...
Here we are.
- Los Barbas
Wow ! This blew my mind. I was transported to another world 🌎 love her voice ❤
What a magnificent performance (and venue).
Have had the pleasure of seeing her twice.
Genius, epic talent!!!
So beautiful to see and hear her again.
My heart can begin to heal.
Damn!!! Laurie is great!! Thank you!!
Thank you,dear creators, you💕🌸
Everything about this is wonderful.. the poem, the music, the choir, the atmosphere.. wow!!
Laurie's voice is as relevant today as it was decades ago. It's up to us to make sure more than a select few hear it.
Laurie is brilliant
I saw her years ago at the beginning of her career. Unique and powerful.
Great performance, great Cavafy poem, and great timing.
ALWAYS AMAZING AND INSPIRING THANK YOU !!!!!!
I haven’t seen her perform for such long time…absolutely love her🥰💖❣️
Beautiful, feels so sad, truth of who we've become as humans and words guiding us to hope and love within us.❤
I love the sound of Lauries Voice and her wise words 💙💙💙💙💙🧢🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
Waiting for the Barbarians (by C.P. Cavafy, 1904)
What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
The barbarians are due here today.
Why isn’t anything going on in the senate?
Why are the senators sitting there without legislating?
Because the barbarians are coming today.
What’s the point of senators making laws now?
Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating.
Why did our emperor get up so early,
and why is he sitting enthroned at the city’s main gate,
in state, wearing the crown?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and the emperor’s waiting to receive their leader.
He’s even got a scroll to give him,
loaded with titles, with imposing names.
Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today
wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?
Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,
rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?
Why are they carrying elegant canes
beautifully worked in silver and gold?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and things like that dazzle the barbarians.
Why don’t our distinguished orators turn up as usual
to make their speeches, say what they have to say?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and they’re bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?
(How serious people’s faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home lost in thought?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come.
And some of our men just in from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.
Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?
Those people were a kind of solution.
Beautiful and so right for this moment.