Playlist: Superman

Last week saw us embark on operation 'distract our daughter from exam results day'* - with a trip to the cinema. I hadn't set foot in a cinema in at least 6 or 7 years, I have the attention span of a goldfish, and we were going to see a superhero film, a genre I generally have little interest in. But she had seen the latest version of Superman a few weeks ago, said it was one of her favourites and assured us we would love it. And so we went. And it wasn't awful....

Anyway, I could think of a few songs with Superman in the title and after some research, we have a full Superman playlist for you!

*It worked out okay - thanks for asking.

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1. Donovan: Sunshine Superman

This single was originally only released in the United States, in July 1966, owing to a contractual dispute Donovan was having in the UK, where it would not get a release until December. It would become Donovan’s only US number one single and would also be the title track of his third album. The Guardian would say in 2011, that it “has a claim to be the first psychedelic rock record ever recorded.” And there is some heavy future rock royalty influencing it, with both John Paul Jones on electric bass and Jimmy Page on lead guitar, among the session musicians – both would soon, of course, be part of a small rock band called Led Zeppelin. It also became part of a cultural crossover, as incarnations of Sunshine Superman have been included in DC Comics on occasion. One, created by Grant Morrison for a 1990 issue of Animal Man, was an African American version of Superman, who was a member of the Love Syndicate of Dreamworld. Marvellous!

Donovan: Sunshine Superman (strange 60's video to accompany the song)

2. Eminem: Superman

This appeared on The Eminem Show, the fourth LP by the rapper, and it includes guest vocals by Eminem's frequent collaborator, Dina Rae. It is, he would later reveal (in 2008 autobiography, The Way I Am), at least partly about his alleged relationship with Mariah Carey – and Rae later said that her vocal parts had in fact originally been recorded by Carey, before conflicts arose between her and Eminem. 

Eminem: Superman (audio only - a lot of bleeps in this one)

3. Laurie Anderson: O Superman

O Superman was something of a surprise hit in the UK, in 1981, when it reached number two, largely on the back of it being championed by cult BBC DJ John Peel. Laurie Anderson was little know outside of the art world, and spent her time doing a mix of avant-garde multimedia art and musical performances. For this song, Anderson took inspiration from O Sovereign, O Judge, O Father from Jules Massenet’s nineteenth century opera, El Cid. The vocals, including opening line – “O Superman, O Judge, O Mom” – are sung over a very limited backing track, just two chords and a repeated syllable (“ha”), with the odd snippets of flute and bird call samples and some swirls of keyboard in the fade out.

Laurie Anderson: O Superman (official music video - a bit long)

4. Lazlo Bane: Superman

Lazlo Bane was the name taken by musician Chad Fischer, and signed to L.A. indie label Fish of Death Records and released debut single Buttercup, with a cover of Men At Work’s Overkill on the B-Side, for which he got to work with that bands very own Colin Hay. In 1996 he would expand the band to a four-piece, getting a new record deal and putting out debut album 11 Transistor. Superman came out in 2000 and would become their best known song, when it was picked as the theme tune for tv show Scrubs – star Zach Braff had some input into the series soundtrack and particularly wanted this one for the recurring theme. 

Lazlo Bane: Superman (official music video - Zach Braff directing)

5. Crash Test Dummies: Superman's Song

This was the very first single put out by lovable Canadian folk-rock band, Crash Test Dummies, and ended up on first album The Ghosts That Haunt Me. It was a minor hit in the US and Australia and a Top 10 record in Canada, and was featured in the pilot of popular US-Canadian show, Due South. Songwriter Brad Roberts said that it was an “analysis of political philosophy” – the figure in the song he says, “is obviously a left-wing political figure. His activity in the community is intrinsic to his being. His activity is being juxtaposed against Tarzan, who is kind of a laissez-faire capitalist type who retreats to the forest, and rejects the idea of community.” He also says that “In the case of Superman, he pursues good for its own sake. It’s not so he can get something else. The end in itself.”

Crash Test Dummies: Superman's Song (official music video)

6. Stereophonics: Superman

The first track (and second single) on Stereophonic's 2005’s fifth record, Language. Sex. Violence. Other? This tune has frequently been a live set opener for them over the last twenty years. While commercially the album did fairly well, reviews of it were a bit more mixed – Adam Moerder in Pitchfork thought that the basslines for Superman and Deadhead were similar to A Forest by the Cure, while others thought the record tried too hard to pitch at shoegaze and new wave sounds.

Stereophonics: Superman (live in 2005)

7. Klark Kent: Don't Care

Clark Kent is of course the alter ego of Superman, but Klark Kent was the name used for the first solo record put out by legendary Police drummer Stewart Copeland, released as a 10-inch EP in 1980. The main single, Don’t Care, had been turned down by Sting for The Police because he couldn’t identify with the lyrics and so felt he couldn’t do it justice. Copeland’s decision to assume a pseudonym was to prevent any disruption to The Police’s career. He kept his ‘secret’ identity going – when Klark Kent were invited to play it on Top of the Pops, he along with Sting, Andy Summers, Kim Turner, Florian Pilkington-Miksa and Miles Copeland (his brother and later founder of I.R.S. Records) performed in masks to preserve their identity. But because his voice couldn’t be heard through the mask, and his appearance was felt to look quite scary, the producers made him switch to heavy makeup and shades – but it was quite obvious it was him!

Klark Kent: Don't Care (that Top of the Pops performance)

8 The Kinks: (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman

This is a tune that was inspired by the first Superman movie (1978) and featured on the Kinks 1979 Low Budget LP. It has something of a disco flavour and sees the songs protagonist literally describing a wish to be like the fictional Superman character, but with an air of resignation that is a common feature of Ray Davies’ writing. The unusual choice of disco (Ray Davies is known to hate disco) was at the behest of Arista Records supremo Clive Davis, who wanted them to come up with something club friendly. Davies said, “It was kind of a joke, taking the p*ss out of Clive wanting us to do a club friendly record.” Neither Ray nor his brother Dave were especially keen on the song, and as Dave said, “The fact that it’s funny, that it was a humorous song, saved it.”

The Kinks: (I Wish I Could Fly) Like Superman (audio only)

9. R.E.M.: Superman

One of my favourite covers, this was a song originally by Texas pop band, The Clique, written by Mitchell Bottler and Gary Zekley for debut album The Many Facets of Roger. In 1986, R.E.M. picked it out for inclusion on their fourth record, Life’s Rich Pageant. They did actually put it out as a single, but it didn’t make the charts anywhere. Apparently, the weird opening fuzzy words you can hear, come from a Japanese pull-string Godzilla doll - “This is a special news report. Godzilla has been sighted in Tokyo Bay. The attack on it by the Self-Defense Force has been useless. He is heading towards the city. Aaaaagh...” (apparently a loose translation). This version is, in the words of Rolling Stone, “an irresistibly cheesy psychedelic grunge rocker.” It is one of the few with lead vocals by bass player Mike Mills.

R.E.M.: Superman (audio only, including Godzilla)

10. Teddybears (feat. Iggy Pop): Punkrocker

Punkrocker provides the closing song on the new Superman movie, although it is actually originally 25 years old. It comes from Sweden’s Teddybears, who had started out in the 1990’s as a bit of a hardcore punk outfit. By the time of 2000’s Rock n Roll Highschool though, on which the original version first appeared, they had added some electronic elements to their sound. It was re-recorded in 2006, this time with the addition of the godfather of punk, Iggy Pop on it. As well as the Superman appearance, it also cropped up in a 2007 advert for Cadillac. This song is a bit of a banger!