D. J. David B. Spins Comics-Tunes: Batman Returns
It’s been said that the Batman TV show was the greatest pop culture phenomenon of our time and it made a record-breaking impact on American music. It was said by me. (I thought I recognized my voice!) It’s hard not to sound like a broken record (horrors!) but when one is the official curator of the nexus of music and comics as am I, one can’t ignore Batman and the wealth of music he has inspired, can one?
The Batman Theme has to be one of the simplest hit tunes ever written, and certainly one of the simplest lyrics. “Batman. Batman. Batman. Batman.” That’s it! Unless you count “na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na.” And yet, this unassuming handful of chords was recorded by dozens of musicians and was incredibly successful on the charts. It continues to be covered by new artists to this very day!
Today I present a track from that first wave of Batmania, dating back to 1966.
With the crest of the wave already past, surf music was well on the wane. So surf pioneers Jan & Dean jumped on the Batwagon to release an entire ALBUM of Batacular tunes including their spiffy cover of the TV show theme.
You can hear this Bat-masterpiece just by clicking the link below!
— DJ David B.
Someone made me a tape of JAN & DEAN MEET BATMAN about twenty years ago and I loved it! It’s like they GOT what was special, cool, zowie and camp about the series and transferred it to LP with an extra layer of parody on top. So many of the other cash-ins didn’t have a clue.
Yeah, back to the Bat-music!
Don’t suppose you’ve heard the version that was done by the Flaming Lips sometime in the late 80′s? Now THAT’s a rocking version of it, oh yes.
I’ll add the Flaming Lips to my “to do” list!