(We Could Be) Heroes: Top Ten Rock Songs About Superman, by Martha Thomases

Martha Thomases

Martha Thomases brought more comics to the attention of more people than anyone else in the industry. Her work promoting The Death of Superman made an entire nation share in the tragedy of one of our most iconic American heroes. As a freelance journalist, she has been published in the Village Voice, High Times, Spy, the National Lampoon, Metropolitan Home, and more. For Marvel comics she created the series Dakota North. Martha worked as a researcher and assistant for the author Norman Mailer on several of his books, including the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Executioner's Song, On Women and Their Elegance, Ancient Evenings, and Harlot's Ghost.

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23 Responses

  1. Jess Nevins says:

    What, no "Waitin' for a Superman" by the Flaming Lips?

  2. Rick Taylor says:

    As usual, a great article. There were a few there I didn't even know about. RuPaul. Gotta love it!

  3. Rick Taylor says:

    BTW – There was also that Babs Streisand album 'Superman' with the same titile track. Like buttuh!

    • Martha Thomases says:

      There are lots of other songs about Superman, but, like Barbra, they aren't rock'n'roll. Hence, they were omitted.

    • John Tebbel says:

      Yeah, written by Paul Williams and bearing the notation that it was to be the theme or love theme from the motion picture "Superman." I guess that part of the deal fell through. Nice song though, much better than the "Can you read my mind" flapdoodle that ended up in the movie, though that was a good melody. Babs song was at least from the pov of the title character; everyone knows why Lois would love Superman, what we want to know is what he sees in mortals.

  4. Howard Cruse says:

    Well, it ain't a whole song on the supersubject, but don't forgot Jim Croce's warning ("You don't tug on Superman's cape…") in You Don't Mess Around With Jim.

    • Glenn Hauman says:

      Which never really made sense to me. I agree with Peter David: if you tug on Superman's cape, it's disrespectful, but the worst that 's probably going to happen is he'll turn around and say "Don't do that, please." Now, if you tugged on Batman's cape, you'd get hurt.

  5. Brian Alvey says:

    Wild. I didn't know the REM song was a cover of a 1969 song by The Clique until today. I agree with the "don't tug on Superman's cape" comment.And I would have put 3 Doors Down's Kryptonite on the list:If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman?If I'm alive and well, will you be there holding my hand.I'll keep you by my side with my superhuman might.Kryptonite.

  6. Glenn Hauman says:

    What? No "Land of Confusion" by Genesis?Oh Superman, where are you now; when everything's gone wrong somehow; The man of steel, man of power; and losing control by the hour…

  7. Eric Newsom says:

    What about the Spin Doctor's "Jimmy Olsen's Blues"? Surely this one deserves credit for addressing more aspects of Superman's world than the other songs on the list?

  8. Adriane Nash says:

    How about "Jimmy Olsen's Blues" from The Spin Doctors Album 'Pocketful of Kryptonite"?

  9. Rick Taylor says:

    …AND it's a rock song! (tee-hee)

  10. Alex Jay Berman says:

    Lessee … There's "Superman" by Monte Montgomery, off his album Architect. Montgomery's well worth checking out; he's one of the best acoustic-electric guitarists out there, an a hell of a rock/blues/jazz/folk/etc. songwriter, as well. And the song rocks. RAWKS!Also, Joe Giacoio–an acoustic singer-songwriter with a comedic bent whom you'll sometimes see at science fiction conventions–has a very good album called "Superman's Midlife Crisis" whose title track suggests a very different take on the question of "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?"On the rap side, I know both Eminem and Public Enemy recorded Supes-specific songs, with Eminem's just being called "Superman" while PE's is "Superman's Black in the Building".It's not restricted to rock and rap, though–Benny Goodman had a hit with his "Superman", believe it or not.Clapton has a song called "Superman Inside", while Johnny Guitar Watson has a song called "Superman Lover". Seems those two may be related …?… and I seem to remember hearing of a particularly filthy Latin rap ditty with the catchy title "The Lex Luthor of Sex" …(The thing is, we may be talking about the most well-known English speaker on the planet, so there's bound to be hundreds of songs about the guy.)

  11. Rick Taylor says:

    There's a Herbie Mann album titled Superman, too

  12. Rick Taylor says:

    Actually, the album was titled SuperMANN and there was a Superman track on it. :)

  13. Joe in Philly says:

    Superman or Green Lantern ain't got a-nothin' on you, Martha! ;-) I've got to check out that Our Lady Peace track since it was the Death of Superman story that eventually got me into the comic book stores on a weekly basis. And the RuPaul track, well, because it's RuPaul.

  14. Bob Kahan says:

    How about coming into the 21st Century with Flaming Lips "Waitin' for a Superman"?

  15. Neil says:

    (If I remember correctly) Jim Valentino had loads of letters pages filled with super-hero songs in the original run of normalman. By the way, Ray Davies, the lead singer of the Kinks, has a new album. Working Man's Café, due out at the end of the month in Europe. I don't know when it will be coming out in the US. Check out http://kinks.it.rit.edu/ for loads of Kinks information.

  16. Neil says:

    (If I remember correctly) Jim Valentino had loads of letters pages filled with super-hero songs in the original run of normalman. By the way, Ray Davies, the lead singer of the Kinks, has a new album. Working Man's Café, due out at the end of the month in Europe. I don't know when it will be coming out in the US. Check out Dave Emlen's site, http://kinks.it.rit.edu/, for loads of Kinks information.

  17. Neil says:

    (If I remember correctly) Jim Valentino had loads of letters pages filled with super-hero songs in the original run of normalman. By the way, Ray Davies, the lead singer of the Kinks, has a new album. Working Man's Café, due out at the end of the month in Europe. I don't know when it will be coming out in the US. Check out Dave Emlen's site for loads of Kinks information. [Don't know why the whole thing doesn't post, but I'll remove the URL.]