It's not like she promises she has answers to questions or anything silly like that, but you know that she will actually listen to what you tell her. Nobody can tell stories with such humanity and sincerity, and yes, humour, the way she does without being an amazing listener.
That's of course what makes her art so successful, that ability to listen and observe and report back to us clearly on all that she has seen. Viggo Mortensen described his photography and writings as a means of keeping a record of everything he saw. Laurie Anderson goes a step beyond merely preserving what she has seen, and actively communicates it to us.
Whether we listen to her singing on a CD, watch her in a video, or see her live stage show it's her direct involvement that makes the piece. I can't honestly imagine anyone ever "covering" one of her pieces from Big Science any more than I can imagine anyone but Vincent Van Gogh painting his infamous "Self Portrait".
It's not that the pieces are about her, far from it. In fact they usually address universal themes, but without her they don't exist, any more than Mr. Mortensen's poetry would exist without him or Van Gogh's paintings would without Van Gogh. Instead of paint or words Laurie Anderson uses Laurie Anderson to communicate with us. Much as we read a book of poems or go to an art gallery to see paintings, we listen to, or watch Laurie Anderson in order to appreciate her art.
All the things she does on stage, or in the recording studio, combine to make a piece of art that includes her as the central medium of expression. Unlike typical performers in bands or singer songwriters, there is more to what she is doing then singing a song. She creates small performances that communicate a thought or idea, and those performances in turn are linked together by a common theme.
In the case of Big Science the theme is our relationship to technology and each piece is a different scenario that addresses that. Even her performance itself is a reflection of that theme as she makes full and effective use of the technology available to her at the time as enhancement.
But technology isn't the be all and end all, and in the end her work is so effective because of her; not any tools she uses or machine she plugs in. A computer can only carry out the tasks we are able to program it to do, and there is a very real human behind her machinery with thoughts, opinions, and emotions.
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