SUPERMAN (The Clique, R.E.M.)

 

Rich here to confess my fondness for Superman, whom I first discovered as a child in the 1950's watching "The Adventures of Superman" TV show and collecting his DC-published comic books. And though I basically ditched DC Comics and their super heroes (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, The Flash) when I discovered the more "adult" Marvel Comics at age 11 in 1963, I've continued to have a soft spot in my heart for my "first love," Superman.

 

 

And in this summer in which we celebrate the latest and newest movie version of the Big Super-Powered Boy Scout from Krypton, it seems a good time to revisit an obscure single from 1969 that you may have never heard, "Superman," by the Texas band The Clique.

THE CLIQUE - "Superman"

 

Of course, many of you might actually know this little slice of sunshine pop (that has a rather creepy stalker undertone) because R.E.M. recorded a nearly identical version of "Superman" and included it as an unnamed bonus track on their fourth album, "Lifes Rich Pageant" (1986). It was the first time R.E.M. had included a cover version on any of their albums, but it gave new life to the previously obscure song.

R.E.M. - "Superman"