In light of Batman V. Superman...
Have you ever tried to figure out this Five For Fighting (FFF) song from 2009? Obviously, we can all Google the associated Youtube / Vimeo video which offers the original artist’s perception. 

One man’s impression, this song is about what it’s like being a man in America for the new millennium. In me own darn interpretation… 

Men are socialized to be strong, dependable, resolute, and more or less emotionless. It’s a message to America that men are in trouble because they are required to repress their emotions and expected to live up to a ridiculous ideal of what it is to be a man. 

As boys we were often told not to cry or whine because big boys don’t do so. Using Superman in the song is just a simple way to communicate the idea that we feel like we have to save the world each and everyday and never complain about what it cost us. Of course, the metaphor grows as many of us grew up reading Superman comic books and had these role model icons in TV and Movies. 

Unfortunately we are simply not equipped to be him as mere mortals. We’re doomed to fail in the lofty endeavor. So unable to live up to the expectations many of us distance ourselves from our families. Because, we believe that we have let them down. 

In the end all we really want is the love of our life partners and our children. We need to find the better part of what we really are and be happy with that so that we can be good husbands and fathers. The meaning of the line “it’s not easy to be me” is quite often misunderstood. What it actually means is that to be himself he has to fight everything that society tells him to be so that he can be himself. In FFF’s  video, our protagonist lays down with his wife and child .He’s ultimately has decided that this bond is what he wants and he is happy with his decision; he’s found “home.” 

Some men want to be gangsters; others are driven by the desire to make piles of money. Some just want to express themselves through their art which is a form of acknowledgement that the were here on the =is planet and left something positive behind. Some never find happiness. 

Five for Fighting’s other music like ‘100 years’ and the ‘Riddle’ provides a venue to express similar themes, a need/desire for men to be family men first and foremost. Without something to work and live for…we lead lives that don’t deliver “meaningful work”. Sometimes a song helps add meaning to an otherwise conflicted existence.


Superman - Michael Delgorio

Everyone loves a good story. We've enjoyed telling them in words, pictures and music. 

Please follow MichaeldelAard here and on twitter @MichaeldelAard. We've long been moved by the rough cuts, bootlegs and demos by storied artists both past and present because they show pure emotion, high creativity unfettered by auto-tune and over-production. The elimination of anything that could remotely resemble anything but a perfect track is not part of this stream. This project is more about spontaneity. You'll find perfectly human imperfections and, spare (lean and mean)demo productions throughout. On occasion, though all tracks were recorded ultra-simply on an iPhone's voice memo app, we would pull a track into GarageBand to add a track or sound effects (as in several of the originals, herein)...but all in all these are low-fat productions that reflect our most basic love for music and storytelling. Nothing more than that. Should a track tickle your ear, we'd be most grateful to here about it. Thanks for the opportunity to share with you. Follows, comments and shares are welcome.