It occurred to me with the new Superman movie coming out that no other superhero has gotten as many props on the airwaves as the Man of Steel. Sure there is that "Spider-Man" theme by The Ramones, but who else?

The name of the song wasn't "Under The Sea" (the Aquaman song). It wasn't "Wind Beneath My Wings" (the theme from "Hawkman").

Plug in "Superman" into an amazon.com search and you get 1,460 items. Put him in iTunes and you get 150.

He's been mentioned by a wide assortment of artists from legends like Charlie Parker
to some dude named Gil Scott-Heron who sang "Ain't No Such Thing As Superman."

Oh Gil, I beg to differ.

Why else would he be imortalized in song? Why would so many pay homage to a man who looks so good in Spandex?

Foget flying, that's his real super power. And in primary colors no less.

Artists such as Jim Croce, the Sugar Hill Gang, the Spin Doctors and 3 Doors Down have given Kal-El the casual nod in song. Others have gone the more direct route and named their songs after him. Here's a sampling:

"Superman Inside" by Eric Clapton
"(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" by The Kinks
"91' Even Superman Shot Himself" by Pwerman 5000
"Black Superman" by Gear Daddies
"Buenas dias, Superman" by Miguel Rios
"Sunshine Superman" by Donovan
"Ghetto Superman" by P.O.L.
"Hang In There Superman" by Hal Ketchum
"Highspeed Highway Superman" by Tygers Of Pan Tang
"Honky-Tonk Superman" by Aaron Tippin
"I Am Superman" by Swervedriver
"I Killed Superman" by Matthew Clay
"I'm Your Superman" by Rick Springfield

Whew, other artists have just named their songs "Superman." It's more direct. The route Clark Kent's alter ego would take. Those artists include R.E.M., Bush, Stereophonics, Lazlo Bane (it's the song from "Scrubs") and Barbra Freakin' Streisand.

Now I haven't heard all of these songs, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to. But with the ones I have heard, combined with just looking at the song titles I have a theory.

I think you can take all songs about Superman and group them into five categories.

1. I am/as good as Superman -- example: "I Am Superman" by Swervedriver
2. I'm not as strong physically/emotionally as Superman -- example: "Superman" by Lazlo Bane
3. Superman is a punk -- example: "Ain't No Such Thing As Superman" by Gil Scott-Heron
4. Superman rocks -- example: "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" by Jim Croce
5. I'll be your Superman tonight.....baby -- example: "I'm Your Superman" by Rick Springfield

Sure, there are songs that might not fall under those categories, but I think you'll find my idea has merit.

So get your Superman cape from the cleaners, and show a little love for the big guy. It's hard being Superman after all. ("Superman" (It's Not Easy) by Five For Fighting).

The songs currently playing inside my head:

"Infra-Red" by Placebo
"Paralyzed" by Rock Kills Kid
"Is It Any Wonder?" by Keane
"Intimate Secretary" by The Raconteurs
"Tiny Vessels" by Death Cab For Cutie
"Numb" by U2
"Gone Daddy Gone" by Gnarls Barkley

I really like that Placebo song. I have one of their albums from a few years ago, "Without You I'm Nothing," which is as dark and longing as the title suggests. But "Infra-Red" is a catchy, rocking tune. I wonder if this is the song that gets the band a bit more attention than they've had in their long career.

I also picked up the new Keane album.

It's good. It's not as bright and shiny as the first album. I had heard reports that they were making this more of a "rock" album. "Under The Iron Sea" is not quite a rock album, but it is a solid second effort from the band. It builds on "Hopes and Fears" and takes a few steps further. Some not without a little risk. It's the right second album for them to make. No sophomore slump here.

I've been thinking a lot about covers lately.

Not the front of CDs. But musicians doing other people's songs.

There are some recent covers; some good, some bad.

The good: Gnarls Barkley doing The Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone." The bad: Slaves On Dope's version of "Crazy" by Seal.

That one's just awful.

But what makes a good cover?

Doing a note-for-note copy of the original lacks any reason for doing the cover. Stray too far and you've insulted the song. So I guess the formula is for the artist to "make it their own" as I'm sure has been said tons of times.

The choice of song plays a big part. It has to play to the strengths of the singer/band. Take Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." It's just perfect.

Sometimes bands pick more obscure tracks and retool them to the point that people say "I love that new ---- song!" Pearl Jam's "Last Kiss" is a prime example.

Jump on any search engine and look for best/worst covers lists. There are tons out there. There are endless choices and tastes to judge them.

Changing the genre of a song can really work sometimes. Unless you metallify (so it's not a word, so what) or hard-rock inject a song. I tend not to like those as much. Although, with some thought I'm sure I could think of some rocking rockified covers.

Like Me First And The Gimme Gimmes. Those guys are great. In case you don't know, they do punk covers of non-punk songs. Billy Joel's "For The Longest Time" being one that I've been listening to a lot.

So let's wrap it up with some of my favorite covers:
Frente doing New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle"
Rufus Wainright's version of "Across The Universe" by The Beatles
Travis covering Britney Spears' "Baby, One More Time" (they turn it into a good song)
The aforementioned Jeff Buckley song
Nada Surf doing "If You Leave" by OMD
The Who's "My Generation" as performed by Oasis

I'm sure I'll think of more later....

Here's my current soundtrack:

"Debaser" by The Pixies
"Ha Ha Ha" by Mates of State
"Hands" by The Racontuers
"Arbuckle's Swan Song" by Ambulance Ltd.
"Supersonic" by Elliott Smith (Oasis cover)
"In The Beginning" by The Stills
"Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley