The Supermen

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"The Supermen"
Song by David Bowie
from the album The Man Who Sold the World
Released4 November 1970 (US)
April 1971 (UK)
Recorded18 April – 22 May 1970
Studio Trident and Advision, London
Genre Hard rock, psychedelic rock
Length3:38
Label Mercury
Songwriter(s) David Bowie
Producer(s) Tony Visconti

"The Supermen" is a song written by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie in 1970 and released as the closing track on the album The Man Who Sold the World . It was one of a number of pieces on the album inspired by the works of literary figures such as Friedrich Nietzsche and H. P. Lovecraft.

Contents

Music and lyrics

The song has been cited as reflecting the influence of German Romanticism, its theme and lyrics referencing the apocalyptic visions of Friedrich Nietzsche and its prominent timpani part being likened to Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra . [1] Bowie later said "I was still going through the thing when I was pretending that I understood Nietzsche... And I had tried to translate it into my own terms to understand it so 'Supermen' came out of that." [2] Critics have also seen the influence of H. P. Lovecraft's stories of "dormant elder gods". [3]

According to Bowie himself the guitar riff was given to him by Jimmy Page when the latter, who was Shel Talmy's session guitarist in the mid-1960s, played on one of Bowie's early releases, "I Pity the Fool". [1] The riff was later used on another Bowie song, "Dead Man Walking", from the Earthling album in 1997.

Live versions

Other releases

An alternate version of the song was recorded on 12 November 1971 during sessions for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars . It first appeared on the album Revelations – A Musical Anthology for Glastonbury Fayre in July 1972, compiled by the organisers of Glastonbury Festival at which Bowie played in 1971. [5] It was later released as a bonus track on the Rykodisc CD and cassette reissue of Hunky Dory in 1990, and again on the Ziggy Stardust – 30th Anniversary Reissue bonus disc in 2002. This version was sampled on "Culture Shock", from Death Grips's 2011 mixtape Exmilitary.

A November 1996 tour rehearsal recording of the song, which originally aired on a BBC radio broadcast in 1997, was released in 2020 on the album ChangesNowBowie. [6] The Ziggy session recordings were released on the Rock 'n' Roll Star! box set in 2024. [7] [8] [9]

Cover versions

Personnel

According to biographer Chris O'Leary: [10]

Technical

References

  1. 1 2 Nicholas Pegg (2000). The Complete David Bowie: pp.209–210
  2. ↑ David Buckley (1999). Strange Fascination – David Bowie: The Definitive Story: p.267
  3. ↑ Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record: p.38
  4. ↑ "Bowie At The Beeb vinyl box out now". davidbowie.com. 2016-02-26. Retrieved 2016-02-27.
  5. ↑ Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Ibid: p.49
  6. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (25 April 2020). "ChangesNowBowie – David Bowie". Pitchfork . Archived from the original on 29 April 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  7. ↑ Sinclair, Paul (21 March 2024). "David Bowie / Rock 'n' Roll Star!". Super Deluxe Edition. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  8. ↑ Paytress, Mark (14 June 2024). "David Bowie Rock 'N' Roll Star Review: Five-disc dive into Ziggy Stardust shines new light on Bowie's greatest creation". Mojo . Archived from the original on 22 December 2024. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  9. ↑ Grow, Kory (14 June 2024). "David Bowie's 'Rock 'N' Roll Star' Box Set Chronicles the Rise of Ziggy Stardust". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on 26 November 2024. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  10. ↑ O'Leary 2015, chap. 4.

Sources

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