Most of these tracks, which run the gamut from hip-hop anthems to folk ballads to crunchy alt-rock jams, aren’t really about Superman. Instead, they use the Man Of Steel as a metaphor—for the perfect guy, for physical or artistic prowess, etc. The Flaming Lips’ “Waitin’ For A Superman,” however, may be the exception. Wedged into the middle of The Soft Bulletin, the band’s 1999 sci-fi concept record, this gorgeous piano-pop gem features lyrics just oblique enough to be taken literally. When Wayne Coyne sings about Supes lifting the sun into the sky, isn’t it possible he’s revealing another plot turn in the album’s quasi-narrative? Maybe the star really was just too heavy for Metropolis’ finest, and those two racing scientists had to “rescue everyone” themselves, per the earlier “A Spoonful Weighs A Ton.” Then again, maybe the song is symbolic, a vague ode to forgiving heroes for cracking under pressure. Either way, it’s one of the best Superman-related works of the ’90s, right up there with that in which the Man Of Steel has to pretend to be Batman.
