The most beautiful part of this piece is the one that is most often overlooked. If you listen to the text that Lucier is repeating he states:
“…I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact, but, more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have.”
This is a reference to the fact that he himself stuttered when he spoke. You can hear a bit of this on the recording as well. The process here is not just an experiment in acoustics, but is a very personal gesture in which his vocal difference is transcended by acoustic technique.
From the liner notes of the 1990 re-press written by Nicolas Collins:
“In Lucier’s case it is all the more personal by virtue of his speech “impediment” – his stutter – which becomes the rhythmic signature of the piece. Mel Tillis, a fellow stutterer, claims to feel liberated by music because as long as he is singing to an even Nashville beat his stutter disappears. But Lucier, rather than seeking to erase in his music the stutter that impedes his conversation, uses this unique verbal drumming to propel the piece.”
