Superman's Song

It's only technically a video, but it never changes, so hit "Play" and then read on.  The band's actual music video is stupid, so I spare you.

Superman's Song

I haven't heard this song in years, but recently it's been on the radio again.

My friend Jim used to play it for us when we'd all get together on Saturday nights.  I didn't really appreciate the song until recently.  It seemed too much like a novelty song, back then.  But after years of mortgages and fatherhood, I've felt the pressure to keep going and going even when I'd rather escape for a while.

This song is so melodramatic and tongue in cheek, yet it does a pretty good job of illustrating two sides of a man's personality. It's just good to acknowledge that most of us want (or need) both sides. Men and women both, I think.  Personally, I could do with less changing in phone booths and more "I Tarzan, you Jane."

Here's the lyrics for the more curious of you.


Superman's Song


Tarzan wasn't a ladies' man
He'd just come along and scoop 'em up under his arm like that
quick as a cat in the jungle
But Clark Kent now there was a real gent
He would not be caught sittin' around in no junglescape
dumb as an ape doing nothing


Supermen never made any money
Saving the world from Solomon Grundy
And sometimes I despair the world will never see
Another man like him


Hey Bob, Supe had a straight job
Even though he could have smashed through any bank in the United States
he had the strength, but he would not
Folks said his family were all dead
Their planet crumbled but Superman, he forced himself to carry on,
forget Krypton, and keep going


Supermen never made any money
Saving the world from Solomon Grundy
And sometimes I despair the world will never see
Another man like him


Tarzan was king of the jungle and Lord over all the apes
But he could hardly string together four words: "I Tarzan, You Jane. "


Sometimes when Supe was stopping crimes
I'll bet that he was tempted to just quit and turn his back on man,
join Tarzan in the forest
But he stayed in the city
And kept on changing clothes in dirty old phone booths till his work was through
And nothing to do but go on home


Supermen never made any money
Saving the world from Solomon Grundy
And sometimes I despair the world will never see
Another man like him