From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Spider-Man" is the theme song of the 1967 cartoon show Spider-Man, composed by (Academy Award winner) Paul Francis Webster and Robert "Bob" Harris. The song's opening lines, "Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can," have become as synonymous with the Marvel Comics character and his costume.

The 2002 and 2004 film adaptations have featured characters as buskers performing the song; Jayce Bartok and Elyse Dinh respectively. Both films also feature the song at the very end of the credits: the 2002 film featured the 1967 version, while the 2004 film featured a re-recording by Michael Bublé (see below). 2007's Spider-Man 3 also featured the song's melody during the scene where Spider-Man arrives at a big celebration.

It is very similar to the head of two popular 1960s boogies: Charles Mingus's 1959 "Boogie Stop Shuffle", and Dave Brubeck's 1961 "Bru's Boogie Woogie", and probably based on them.^{[citation needed]}

Cover versions

• Aerosmith for the soundtrack of the 2002 film adaptation, albeit with altered lyrics. It should also be noted that Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry performed a new theme song for the 1994 Spider-Man cartoon, playing the lead guitar track and speaking lyrics through a vocoder that loosely referenced the 1967 theme, specifically the line "Spider-Man, Spider-Man, radioactive Spider-Man" and references to "radioactive blood" (changed to "radioactive spider blood" for the 1994 theme). The guitar riff was also based on the melody of the original line "Spider-Man, Spider-Man".
• Apollo 440 covered the song for the 2000 Spider-Man video game, developed by Neversoft for PlayStation, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64 and PC.
• Michael Bublé for the soundtrack of the 2004 film Spider-Man 2.
• The punk band The Distillers have also recorded their own unique version for the Spider-Man 2 console game.
• The Hyannis Sound on their Aged 10 Years album.
• Brian May reinterpreted the theme for the 1995 BBC Radio 1 serial.
• Moxy Früvous in the 1993 album Bargainville.
• The Mr. T Experience on their 1989 album Big Black Bugs Bleed Blue Blood.
• Ramones as a hidden track in the vinyl version of their 1995 album ¡Adios Amigos!, their 1996 album Greatest Hits Live, the compilation, Weird Tales of the Ramones (CD 3), as well as their last live performance We're Outta Here!. It also appears on the alt-rock compilation Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits.
• Richard Cheese on his album Dick at Nite.
• Timbaland's 1998 single "Here We Come" contains an interpolation of the theme song.
• A version appears on the 2008 jazz CD, "Ted Kooshian's Standard Orbit Quartet."

Parodies

• The song has been parodied in a Kombat Pavilion Flash movie named "Scorpionman" within the "Konquest of the Kamidogu, pt. VIII" movie, based on the Mortal Kombat character Scorpion.^[1][2][3]
• Nintendo of America also parodied the song in a Bomberman 64 commercial during the 1997 holiday season.^[4]
• In The Simpsons Movie, Homer Simpson is seen walking a pig on the ceiling singing "Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig, does whatever a Spider-Pig does. Can he swing, from a web? No he can't, he's a pig, Look ooooooouuuut! He is a Spider-Pig!" A choral version is in the closing credits, part of which appears in Homer's epiphany.
• On the syndicated radio program, The John Boy and Billy Big Show, a recurring segment called Married Man (the saga of a henpecked husband and second-rate superhero) uses a parody of the Spider-Man theme as its theme song.

Lyrics

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

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 Spiderman.

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

Spiderman, Spiderman
Friendly neighborhood Spiderman
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.

External links

• Animated Superheroes - Video and cover versions of the Spider-Man theme song.

Reference