Superman's Song by Crash Test Dummies

Album: The Ghosts That Haunt Me (1991)

Charted: 56

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Songfacts®:

This song is written as a eulogy to Superman; it points out what many people don't consider about the superhero: he had a full-time job as Clark Kent and never made any money as Superman. While it would have been easy for him to smash a bank and take whatever he needed, he toiled away just like the rest of us, making a rare sacrifice.
The music video shows lead singer Brad Roberts speaking at Superman's funeral, which is attended by other superheroes of advancing age. >>
Suggestion credit:
Donovan Berry - El Dorado, AR
This was the first single for Crash Test Dummies. It took off in their native Canada, but made it only to #56 in America. Their next album, God Shuffled His Feet, was their American breakthrough, thanks to the hit "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm."

It would seem the group would be embraced in their homeland after their successful debut, but they were not. "Canada, who loves to eat their own, decided our first record had done well enough and now it was time to undo all that," Brad Roberts told Songfacts.

According to Roberts, it was an unfavorable review published in the Winnipeg Free Press that turned the tide. When the album took off in America, the Canadian press got more accommodating.

Comments: 5

Lisa Katzshadow Bena from Yakima,wa.Love the Crash Test Dummies Depth within their lyrics. Those words come from very special places and they reach depths in my heart that have been reserved personally for their unique specialness only...
Nash1969 from Tennessee The song is not about Superman, per se. Roberts used Superman as a metaphor for all the good that people can be. The point he was trying to make is, people are crap most of the time. The way the world has become, sometimes i despair the world will never see another man, like him.
Paj from CanadaPersonally i really like the song and have since its release. Everytime it airs i stop and listen and sing the words where i can. Not to be too critical but i find theres a big difference, and not for the better either, in available music these days from that of the 1991 superman song.
Brooke from Mission, Bcmy aunt showed me this song an i loved it the second I heard it :)
Brad from Barry, TxA wonderful song and a nice tribute to Superman, who was did actually die in the comic books in the Superman (Vol. 2) #75 (January 1993).

My only problem with the song is the poor treatment of Tarzan. Obviously, the authors of the song knew little about the original, literary Tarzan, as created and written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who was not illiterate or a savage (except when he needed to be). They also give little creedence to Lord Greystoke's success with women. Once again, see the original novels, as well as Philip Jose Farmer's seminal "Tarzan Alive." Jane Porter-Clayton's measurements: 38-24-36!

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