New Album: Day Dream City

10 original songs.

SUPERMAN AGAINST THE EARTH

It might be normal human behavior to be suspicious of strangers, especially those who look and speak in a way that's unfamiliar to us.

I'm certainly not immune to prejudice, though I try to fight it when I find it lurking inside. 

I come from a background where it was very common when I was a boy for the people around me to use racial slurs when criticizing the poor play of a football player, especially if that player was on the home team.

And yet, I don't feel there was deep hatred in those words. Insensitivity? Yes. Laziness? Maybe. But those words were more or less common in casual speech at that time, so I'm sure it didn't seem wrong to the people who were saying them in the heat of yet another bowl game disappointment.

But even then I knew it wasn't right. I don't know how. Nobody told me it wasn't right. I just knew that the people saying those ugly words loved me and were respectful of anyone they met face to face. Their using these words seemed odd, not in keeping with the rest of their lives. 

We had neighbors who would have been very surprised to hear these slurs. But they never heard them because these ugly words were only said in safe company.

That's a long introduction to an idea I had about one particular superhero. What if a superhuman being, the only survivor of a destroyed planet, came to earth?

If he looked just like the people around him, maybe he would blend in and draw no special attention. But what if he demonstrated super strength, heat vision, the ability to fly or at least leap over a skyscraper and land without harming himself?

It could be comforting, I guess. We might say, "Here's someone who could defend us against those who would mean us harm." 

If he were mentally stable and shared our commonly accepted ethical standards of not murdering, not stealing, etc., then he might be promoted to a position of leadership.

But what if we got scared? What if he used his powers in a way that let us know how vulnerable we were to his whims. What if we thought the power was going to his head? What if we decided that he didn't share our values, after all?

He might consider leaving our planet and looking for a better gig. But if he were innocent and just persistent enough to want to prove his innocence, it might turn into a low-level ongoing war: on one side, regular earthlings using whatever means necessary to shoo him away; on the other side, a powerful and potentially dangerous entity that no one wanted in their own backyard. Kind of like nuclear power.

I do not understand your earthling ways
And the weapons you've arrayed
Against me

I've tried to be patient,
but you leave me no choice
The next sound that you hear, 
the next sound that you hear
Will be your jet fighters
Falling
From the sky...

I came in peace, 
but you would not let me be
Now it's
Superman 
Against the earth...