Marvel Comics Songs

Following last week's mammoth tribute to DC comics in song, Marvel had to follow. I've written plenty about my deep and abiding love for the Marvel universe, so I won't bore you again with all that... besides, this post is going to be long enough as it is. Let's crack on...

He's not necessarily the most popular Marvel character, and he still hasn't recovered from being dragged through the mud by Nicolas Cage, but Ghost Rider does crop up in a hell of a lot of songs. Of course, that's because the legend of the Ghost Riders goes back way beyond the 1972 debut of flame-headed Johnny Blaze. Country songwriter Stan Jones wrote the much-covered Ghost Riders In The Sky back in 1948 (it may well have been the inspiration for Marvel's original Western Ghost Rider, subsequently renamed Phantom Rider once Johnny Blaze and his motorcycle roared into town). The most famous version is probably the Johnny Cash one, but I also own covers by Me First & The Gimme Gimme's and Spiderbait (possibly the best thing to come out of the Cage movie, apart from Sam Elliott's moustache). Apparently this song also inspired the Doors classic Riders On The Storm.

But that's not the only Ghost Rider song out there. Another much-covered offering comes from Suicide (or Paul Haig, R.E.M., and Henry Rollins), while Attack Of The Ghost Riders is still the best thing the Raveonettes ever recorded.

My favourite Ghost Rider song doesn't even mention the character. Yet he's unmistakeably the star of Buck 65's Blanc Bet...

"Skeleton on fire, ridin' a motorcycle..."

Possibly the most well known song with a Marvel hero in the title is Black Sabbath's Iron Man, though there's some debate as to whether their inspiration was Tony Stark, Ted Hughes, or a big sack of drugs. I think I prefer the Cardigans version. Or the Giant Sand one, which I can't find online.

Casting round for suitable villains to plague Iron Man back in the 60s, Stan Lee came up with The Titanium Man and The Crimson Dynamo, both of whom popped up - along with arch X-foe Magneto - in this infamous album track from Paul McCartney & Wings. I haven't checked, but I reckon it's a good bet that Macca was also the man responsible for The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill on The Beatles (White Album), which features a guest appearance by Captain Marvel himself (no, not Shazam!).

Deep in the jungle where the mighty tiger lies
Bill and his elephants were taken by surprise
So Captain Marvel zapped him right between the eyes

Yep, those sound like Macca lyrics to me.



Iron Man's fellow Mighty Avengers (anyone remember the 60s band of the same name? Me neither) include Captain America, who crops up in both Catch Me Now I'm Falling by the Kinks and Paradise City by Guns 'n' Roses, Thor (no Thor songs, sorry, but I did find his dad - Psychedelic Odin by Julian Cope), Antman & the Wasp (Captain Beefheart comes closest with Antman Bee) and (back in the early days, at least) the Incredible Hulk...



Joe Harnell's classic Lonely Man Theme (originally from the Bixby / Ferrigno TV show) always makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, but my favourite Hulk song comes from the recent Wedding Present b-sides collection, How The West Was Won. Track it down, it's worth your time. More David Gedge in a moment.

First though, the Uncanny X-Men. No Wolverine, Rogue, or Colossus - and I'm not about to kid you that Billy Joel's Storm Front is about Ororo Munro's chest. You will however find Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde hanging out in Weezer's garage...

I've got the Dungeon Master's Guide.
I've got a 12-sided die.
I've got Kitty Pryde
And Nightcrawler too
Waiting there for me.
Yes I do, I do.

As for the original team, They Might Be Giants lead the way with Cyclops Rock. It's not as good as their classic Particle Man song, but he wasn't ever a member of the X-Men to my knowledge (though who knows what happened when Scott Lobdell was writing the book).

I somehow doubt that Bruce Springsteen is an X-Men fan, but he does pay tribute to both The Angel and The Iceman, and you can't beat a bit of Bruce.

As for Hank McCoy... well, there's always Nick Lowe's The Beast In Me or the haunting Johnny Cash cover.

Couldn't find any Marvel Girl songs, but Jean Grey fans may be satisfied by Aimee Mann's Phoenix or this immortal Jimmy Webb classic from Glenn Campbell.

Sadly, the Fantastic Four are ill-served by songwriters (unless you count Joe Satriani's Surfing With The Alien; not in my collection though). Which only leaves us with a little guy named Peter Parker...



The most famous Spider-Man song is definitely the 60s cartoon theme written by Paul Francis Webster and Robert 'Bob' Harris (no relation to the DJ).

It's been covered by everybody from the Ramones to Moxy Früvous, Aerosmith to Michael frikkin' Bublé, and with lyrics like these, it's no surprise...

Spider-Man, Spider-Man,
Does whatever a spider can
Spins a web, any size,
Catches thieves just like flies
Look Out!
Here comes the Spider-Man.

Is he strong?
Listen bud,
He's got radioactive blood.
Can he swing from a thread
Take a look overhead
Hey, there
There goes the Spider-Man.

In the chill of night
At the scene of a crime
Like a streak of light
He arrives just in time.

Spider-Man, Spider-Man
Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man
Wealth and fame
He's ingnored
Action is his reward.

To him, life is a great big bang up
Whenever there's a hang up
You'll find the Spider-Man.

They don't write 'em like that any more.



The greatest superhero of all has also enjoyed his own recording history, with both Reflections Of A Superhero and the Amazing Spider-Man Rockomic, both from the 70s (which you can tell the moment you start listening to them).

The less said about Bryan May's MC Spidey Mastermix, the better. Still, I'm sure that'll sound like Beethoven's 5th when compared to the unspeakable travesty that can only be the forthcoming broadway musical, written (and I cringe as I type these words) by Bono and the Edge!!! Now that's the Parker luck at its absolute worst!



Maybe it's because I'm such a big fan, but I've found more Spidey references in pop than for any other superhero. From Lullaby by The Cure ("the Spider-Man is having you for dinner tonight") to Sex Talk by T'Pau ("Like Spider-Man I'm climbing the wall, I want my prize")... from Veal's criminally hyphenless Spiderman ("I'm feelin suspect, just like Spider-Man - you know how he gets a little nervous too") to the typically overblown pomposity of The Supreme Being Teaches Spider-Man How To Be In Love
by The Flaming Lips, which seems to involve a fight between Spidey and Muhammad Ali and really is as bizarre as it sounds... but sadly not as much fun.

That one comes from the soundtrack to the equally not-much-fun Spider-Man 3, which I'd guess David Gedge of the Wedding Present wasn't too big a fan of...

I thought I saw a superhero but it was just Spider-Man on Hollywood
I thought I saw a supermodel but she had hair where I don’t think she should
Yes, things can be a parody of what they first appear to be

I thought I saw a flying saucer last night but of course it was just an aeroplane
I thought I saw Winona Ryder but my eyes were playing tricks again
Some things look wonderful but then they’re different when you look again

And that’s what’s so funny, honey
You’ve looked like my girl for so long that I thought you would always be beside me
But I’d be the first to admit I was wrong

Gedge may not be a fan of Hollywood Spidey, but he obvious knows his comics. Not only did he record the aforementioned Hulk Loves Betty, but he also quotes Mary Jane Watson's famous opening line on Santa Ana Winds...

I must look anxious because she fixes me with this gaze
"Face it Tiger, you just hit the jackpot!" she says
We laugh together but I'm trying hard to ignore
The fact I've won the jackpot means I've lost a whole lot more

(Other Mary Jane songs? How about these from Tom Petty, Lloyd Cole and Nick Drake.)

I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel now, and I doubt anybody's still reading this post anyway. Two more tenuous Spidey songs and I'm hanging up my webs. Rumour has it that My Hero is the Foo Fighters' webslinger tribute, and with lines like "There goes my hero - he's ordinary" and "Don't the best of them bleed it out while the rest of them peter out", I'm tempted to believe it. But my favourite unofficial Spidey song is this short blast of webfluid from They Might Be Giants. Enjoy it, Marvelites - 'nuff said!