Superman in popular music

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Superman has long been a source for popular music, inspiring songs by artists from several generations to delve into his character. Our Lady Peace and Five for Fighting interpreted the character as lonely, and burdened with the responsibility of protecting others. The Kinks focus on the aspirations of normal humans to emulate the character of Superman. Some examples of Superman-themed music include:

• "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down
• "What's Next to the Moon" by AC/DC
• "Do What You Want" by Bad Religion
• "Superman" by Lazlo Bane is the theme song for the television series Scrubs
• "Super, Superman" Miguel Bosé
• "No soy un Supermán" ( I'm no Superman) by David Bustamante
• The Australian gospel choir Cafe of the Gate of Salvation's album "A Window in Heaven" features the song "Superman's Prayer".
• "Superman!" is one of the "commands" and subsequent dance routines inside late 1970s Italian comedy-disco track "Gioca Jouer" by DJ Claudio Cecchetto, covered by British band Black Lace in 1983.
• "Superman" by The Clique; later made famous when R.E.M. covered it on their 1986 album Lifes Rich Pageant.
• The Crash Test Dummies' first hit single was the song, "Superman's Song", which is sung like a funeral dirge. The song compares Superman to Tarzan. It continues with the lament that he kept fighting despite sadness and fatigue, and that "the world will never see another man like him."
• "Superman" by The Robies
• Jim Croce's song "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" has a line in the chorus "You don't tug on Superman's cape."
• "Sooperman Lover" by Chico DeBarge. Inspired by the Johnny "Guitar" Watson classic.
• "Superman's Big Sister" by Ian Dury and the Blockheads includes complaints about a superior woman, "You know she's Superman's big sister, her X-ray eyes see through my silly ways "
• "Superman Lover" by Johnny "Guitar" Watson
• "Superman" appears on Fleeting Days by Dan Bern
• Superman appears in more than one song by Die Ärzte, e. g. in "Paul" ("Seht euch den Paul mal beim Springen an! Er scheint zu fliegen, genau so wie Supermann" - "Just look at Paul while he jumps! He seems to fly, exactly like Superman") and "Ich bin reich" ("I am rich") ("Ich bin Dracula und Casanova! Ich bin Supermann und Batman und Spinne und Hulk!" - "I'm Dracula and Casanova! I'm Superman and Batman and Spider(-Man) and Hulk!")
• "Sunshine Superman" (1965) by Donovan boasts that "Superman and Green Lantern got nothing on me'.
• "Superman", a 2003 single by Eminem from his album The Eminem Show.
• Firewater's song "So Long, Superman" contains repeated references to Superman.
• "Superman (It's Not Easy)" is also a popular 2000 single by the singer Five for Fighting and is clearly sung from the point of view of Superman, although his name is never mentioned. The song became a popular anthem after the September 11, 2001 attacks on America. It was also used in an episode of the TV series Smallville.
• The Flaming Lips featured two versions of a song called "Waitin' for a Superman" on their 1999 album The Soft Bulletin.
• Genesis mentions Superman in their song "Land of Confusion": "Ooh Superman, where are you now / when everything's going wrong somehow? / The men of steel, the men of power / are losing control by the hour."
• Heaven 17 call upon Superman in their song "Contenders": "Superman, if you are listening / Help us out / You're on the team."
• "Superman" is the first song on the album Hang Ups by the band Goldfinger. The song was featured in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, on the Sony PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast and PC.
• Chorus of Jamiroquai's song "Starchild" from the album Dynamite contains the lines: "Somewhere in the world tonight / There's a fire blazing light / Keeping warm the Superman / Sent to us to save the land."
• Luna Halo also wrote a song named "Superman".
• "Hang In There Superman", written and performed by country singer Hal Ketchum in reaction to the accident which paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve.
• The Kinks had a hit song called "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman".
• LL Cool J mentioned Clark Kent and Superman in his song "Clap Your Hand."
• matchbox twenty alludes to Superman in one of their early hits, "Real World", which has the lines "I wonder what it's like to be a superhero / I wonder where I'd go if I could fly around downtown / From some other planet, I get this funky high on a yellow sun."
• Brian McKnight's song "Superhero" makes mention of Kryptonite, and refers to "Kal-El, son of Jor-El", among several other references
• Don McLean sings of Superman and actor George Reeves in "Superman's Ghost".
• Our Lady Peace has had two songs which refer to Superman, "Superman's Dead" and "Made of Steel", which mention the listener wanting a "hero" and that the speaker isn't "made of steel", alluding to Superman's nickname, the "Man of Steel".
• "Original Superman" by Christian band Pillar makes reference to how Jesus is superior to Superman ("Kryptonite can't slow him down. Nothing can at all.")
• "Jimmy Olsen's Blues" is a single from the Spin Doctors 1991 CD, Pocket Full of Kryptonite. The song is written from the perspective of Jimmy Olsen, who is in love with Lois Lane and is jealous of Superman's attention. The album has a phone booth on the cover.
• The song "Broken Handed" by SR-71 contains the lines "I'm a Broken Handed Superman" and "You're a Krypto-Nightingale Snow White"
• "Superman" is a 2005 song by the band Stereophonics
• Barbra Streisand's 1976 album Streisand Superman, which features Streisand coyly posing on the cover in a t-shirt with the Superman logo on it.
• Sugarhill Gang's old school classic "Rapper's Delight" features an encounter between Big Bank Hank and Lois Lane in which Hank disses Superman ("I said he's a fairy I do suppose/flyin' through the air in pantyhose/he may be very sexy or even cute/but he looks like a sucker in a blue and red suit").
• Luther Vandross' 1983 R&B love ballad "Make Me a Believer" begins with the first verse: Superman can fly high way up in the clouds. 'Cause we believe he can.
• Superman is mentioned in "No More Lonely Nights" by The Heads with Malin Anneteg.
• Travis Tritt performed a song called "Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof", which compared being drunk to feeling like the Man of Steel. The song also mentioned that when he picks a fight, he tends to "find that my opponent's / holding kryptonite."
• American pop-punk band Trusty sings from the point of view of a washed-up, powerless Superman in "Kal-El".
• The Farin Urlaub song "Wo ist das Problem?" ("Where is the problem?") appeared on his 2001 single "Glücklich" ("Lucky"). Farin sings: "Du wärst gern Supermann, weil den jeder leiden kann" ("You'd like to be Superman because everyone likes him").
• "Ako si Superman" (English translation: "I am Superman"), written by Rey Valera
• Good Charlotte's song "Superman can't walk" is a homage to Christopher Reeves.
• Velvet Revolver's 2004 album Contraband features a track titled "Superhuman" which opens with the lyrics: "I'm a superman / I wanna be your superman". Additionally, Stone Temple Pilots' 1994 album Purple features a track named "Silvergun Superman". Both songs were penned by Scott Weiland.
• Superman by the band Bush mentions Superman in the title and in the lyrics.
• XTC's "That's Really Super, Supergirl," from the 1986 album Skylarking, includes references to flying, X-ray eyes, Kryptonite, and the Fortress of Solitude (rhymed with "Don't mean to be rude").
• XTC's alter ego band, The Dukes of Stratosphear, included a song called "Brainiac's Daughter" on their 1987 album Psonic Psunspot. The song includes a reference to the Daily Planet and songwriter Andy Partridge has said he thought Brainiac would "be a wonderful psychedelic subject to write about, and his potential daughter: I don't think he had one but if he had she would have been, well, colourful, mauve and purple.”
• Xavier López "Chabelo", a popular children TV-showman from Mexico, has a song called "Adiós Superman" (Goodbye Superman). From the 1980s.
• The Refrescos, a Spanish rock group, recorded a song, in 1989, called "Superman III"
• Sufjan Stevens' album Illinois contains the song "The Man Of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts", and contains numerous references to a "Man of Steel." The song is also named after Metropolis, Illinois, the self-proclaimed official home of Superman.
• Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians included a song called "Superman" on their 1989 Album Queen Elvis. Lyrically, the song seems to have nothing to do with the man from Krypton.
• Toy-Box, a Danish pop group formed in the 1990s, include on their debut album Fantastic a song named Super-Duper-Man, a not-so-serious take on Superman.
• In Will Smith's album Lost & Found he says "I must have an S on my chest" in the song, "I Wish I Would've Made That/I Got That Swagger Back." This is apparently a reference to the S that Superman wears on his costume.
• Kenny Rogers's 2006 album Water & Bridges includes "The Last Ten Years (Superman)", a melancholy reflection on the last decade with the repeated refrain "We even lost Superman". This line probably refers to the death of Superman film actor Christopher Reeve on October 10, 2004.
• The Randy Rogers Band, a country group from San Marcos, Texas, had a song titled "Superman" on their independent album Live At Cheatham Street. The song includes the words, "I just want to be your Superman/save you everyday".

For other songs named "Superman," see List of sets of unrelated songs with identical titles.

Other songs, which seem to have a subtle Superman connection, may or may not be directly about the comic hero:

• Laurie Anderson wrote "O Superman" in 1981.
• Radiohead's 1995 album The Bends includes the song "Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was." In another song on the album, singer Thom Yorke proclaims, "I used to fly," but unfortunately, for the purpose at hand, it is "like Peter Pan," not the hero under discussion.
• "I Remember California" by R.E.M. was inspired in part by a scene from "Superman: The Movie" in which Lex Luthor fires a missile at the San Andreas Fault killing Lois Lane and causing the California coast to sink into the ocean.
• "Hero" is the name of a song by Chad Kroeger. The opening line, "I'm so high, I can hear heaven" may refer to Superman's ability to fly. The remainder of the song, however, seems to speaks more generally about heroes. Since the song is played in the film, Spider-Man, many assume the lyrics pertain to that specific character. This song was written as the theme for Smallville, but was rejected by the producers in favor of "Save Me" by Remy Zero.
• "Ordinary", by Greg Jones, includes a chorus in which the speaker sings "I'm much too strange for this ordinary world" after a verse saying "just focus on clouds, and blue sky", possibly a reference to Superman's ability to fly.
• "Walk the Sky," by Fuel, refers in very general terms to Superman with lyrics including "My skin is my shield", "wings that are kryptonite", and "I'm thinking of trying to fly...I'll walk the sky."
• Another Fuel song, "Falls on Me", seems to be spoken from the perspective of a hero who finds himself isolated, declaring "I might change your life / I might save my world / would you save me?"[1]
• "Walk Into The Sun" by Dirty Vegas also may have a tenuous Superman connection. The singer seems to sympathize with someone like the Man of Steel, saying "lately I've been feeling different / like I've come from outer space," and that they "walk into the sun" (possibly a connection to the source of Superman's power) as well as making a passing reference to "breaking chains," of which Superman being in the process of is one of the most iconic images of the hero.
• The band Love has a song called "The Daily Planet" on their 1967 album Forever Changes. The phrase "Daily Planet" is never actually mentioned in the song, and none of the lyrics make reference to Superman.

• Certain artists seem to have a great degree of adulation for Superman. 3 Doors Down is one of the most prominent (they have confessed their regard for the character on multiple occasions); besides the aforementioned "Kryptonite"
  • their song "When I'm Gone" may refer to him as well, seemingly referring to his feelings for Lois Lane.
  • Their song "Let Me Go" may be an expression of young Clark Kent's feelings towards Lana Lang; the line "You love me but you don't know who I am" might refer to her feelings for him not being based on knowing his superpowers or alien heritage, "I'm torn between the life I lead and where I stand" could refer to his being unable to decide between going into the world and using his powers for good and staying in Smallville with Lana, and "this world falls on me" may refer to his belief that he needs to use his powers to protect and save the world, foreshadowing his future. In addition, the line "when all the pieces fall apart you will be the only one who knows" could refer to his decision to tell Lana Lang his secret before leaving Smallville; other than his parents, she was one of the few people who knew about his powers.