" The Supermen" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, written in 1970 for his third studio album, The Man Who Sold the World, released later that year in the US and in April 1971 in the UK. The song is one of several on the album to take inspiration from the works of literary figures, such as Friedrich Nietzsche and H. P. Lovecraft.
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.
[Nicholas Pegg (2000). The Complete David Bowie: pp.209–210] 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."
[David Buckley (1999). Strange Fascination – David Bowie: The Definitive Story: p.267] Critics have also seen the influence of H. P. Lovecraft's stories of "dormant elder gods".
[Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record: p.38]
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".
Live versions
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An early performance of the song, by the Hype, on the BBC show Sounds of the 70s: Andy Ferris, recorded in March 1970, was released for the first time in 2016 on the vinyl edition of the album Bowie at the Beeb.
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Bowie and Ronson played the song on the BBC show Sounds of the 70s: Bob Harris on 21 September 1971. This was broadcast on 4 October 1971 and was released in 2000 on Bowie at the Beeb.
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A live version recorded at the Boston Music Hall on 1 October 1972 was released in 1989 on the original Sound + Vision box set, but was not included in subsequent versions of this compilation. However, the same track appeared on the bonus disc of the Aladdin Sane – 30th Anniversary Edition in 2003.
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Another live version recorded at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on 20 October 1972 was released on Santa Monica '72 and Live Santa Monica '72.
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.
[Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Ibid: p.49] 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.
Cover versions
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Doctor Mix and the Remix (aka Metal Urbain) – Wall of Noise (1979)
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Aquaserge – Repetition – A Tribute to David Bowie (2010)
Personnel
According to biographer Chris O'Leary:
Technical
Sources
