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"Superman's Dead"

Single by Our Lady Peace
from the album Clumsy
Released
December 16, 1996
Format
CD Single
Recorded
1996
Genre
Alternative rock
Length
4:16
Label
Columbia Records
Writer(s)
Raine Maida, Mike Turner
Producer
Arnold Lanni
Our Lady Peace singles chronology
"Naveed"(1996)
"Superman's Dead"(1997)
"Automatic Flowers"(1997)
"Superman's Dead" is a song by Our Lady Peace, released as their first single from their second album Clumsy. This has become one of Our Lady Peace's most popular songs in both Canada and the U.S., and even many other parts of the world.
The song has become the definitive example of Our Lady Peace's staple sound — the main highlight being vocalist Raine Maida's powerful, yet controllable voice. This song, in contrast to other songs on the album, is a very heavy song, especially in comparison to songs like "Automatic Flowers" and "Clumsy".
Contents[hide]
1 Origins
2 Meaning
3 Song information
3.1 Single release
4 References
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[edit] Origins
Our Lady Peace producer Arnold Lanni recalls that late in the recording of CLUMSY, he and the band were working on tracking a song called "Hello Oskar", when they decided to take a break for a few minutes.
"From the bathroom I heard Raine playing something on an acoustic guitar. When I came out I asked him what it was. He told me that it was just something he was toying around with. I really liked what he was doing so for the next day or so the band and I worked on developing what became "Superman's Dead." ~Arnold Lanni

[edit] Meaning
"Superman's Dead" was seen by the band as a dark statement on how much television kids watch and the content of it. It looks at the dark expectations that are garnered from media images:
An ordinary girl an ordinary waist
But ordinary's not good enough today
Raine Maida stated, "I grew up with the old Superman, the black-and-white one. There was something so honest about it, and it's evolved into Beavis and Butthead". He also says of youthful TV pleasures, "Their images are defined by television: How they should think or what they should wear. It's kind of sad that way"[1]

[edit] Song information
Three music videos have been made for this song - the Canadian version of a child (played by Ryan Dennis) trapped in the box, which was co-directed by George Vale and the band, the U.S. version which featured an unusual array of characters including clowns and goblins, and another U.S. version which simply showed the band playing the song. It is interesting to note that in the U.S. music videos, Raine Maida is shown playing the guitar in some parts, while the original Canadian version did not.
During concerts, when the song always pauses abruptly for the "Doesn't anybody ever know..." section, the band takes a slight pause, and the audience sings the outro. This can be heard in their live album Live (2003), and many other live concerts.

[edit] Single release
Canadian CD Single
"Superman's Dead" (Maida/Turner) 4:16
"Let You Down" (Maida) - 3:15
"Starseed" [Live] - 4:50
Acoustic Single
"Superman's Dead" [Acoustic] (Maida/Turner) - 5:12
"Innocent" [Acoustic] - 4:18
Austrian Single
"Superman's Dead" (Maida/Turner) - 4:16
"Let You Down" (Maida) - 3:15
US/GER Promo CD
"Superman's Dead" (Maida/Turner) - 4:16
"Car Crash" (Maida/Turner) - 5:07
French Single
"Superman's Dead" - 4:19
"Let You Down" - 3:52
United Kingdom Single
"Superman's Dead" - 4:19
"Let You Down" - 3:55
"Starseed" - 4:04