“Sharkey's Day” by Laurie Anderson

"Sharkey's Day" opens Mister Heartbreak, the second studio album Laurie Anderson released through Warner Bros. on February 14, 1984, and it became the basis for a music video. Anderson wrote it alone and produced it with Bill Laswell, who plays bass, and the lineup is a heavy one: Adrian Belew on guitar, Anton Fier on drums, Daniel Ponce on batá drums, bell and shekere, with Michelle Cobbs, Dolette McDonald and B.J. Nelson singing backup. Leanne Ungar engineered.

Anderson sings, plays violin and whistle, and handles the Synclavier, the machine she used on every track of the album. It's avant-garde art with a serious rhythm section under it, and the same record holds a later track, "Sharkey's Night", with William S. Burroughs reading the words.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.