Spider-Man theme song

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The theme song of the 1967 cartoon show Spider-Man has become a popular standard. The lyrics were written by Academy Award winner Paul Francis Webster, while the music was composed by 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 web-slinger as 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.

[edit] 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: The Animated Series, 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 for the original Spider-Man game created for PlayStation, Sega Dreamcast, N64 and PC by Neversoft.
• 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.
• The Ramones as a hidden track in the vinyl version of their 1995 album ¡Adios Amigos! and their 1996 album Greatest Hits Live. This version was also on the 1995 compilation album Saturday Morning Cartoon's Greatest Hits. It was also performed live at their last ever concert and recorded on We're Outta Here.
• String Cheese Incident play an extended instrumental version during concerts.
• Covered somewhat unfaithfully by Tenacious D at concerts.
• Remixed by Norwegian group Ugress on their 2002 album Resound.
• Actor Jack Black did his own version of the theme song in a part of a Spider-Man movie spoof on MTV.
• Sampled by Will Smith in the song "Here He Comes" in his 2005 album Lost and Found.
• The Flaming Lips for the 2007 Spider-Man 3 soundtrack.
• The song has recently been covered by band The Ultimate Generation.
• The song also was prominently sampled in the great Luke Ski and Sudden Death's comedy music hit "Peter Parker", which was Dr. Demento's top request of 2002.
• Was on the 2007 album "Dick at Nite" by Richard Cheese who, in the style of lounge, is known for covering popular songs with his band Lounge Against The Machine.
• Sampled by Timbaland in the song "Here We Come", featuring Missy Elliott & Magoo, on his 1998 album Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment.

[edit] 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]
• Nintendo of America also parodied the song in a Bomber Man 64 Commercial during the 1997 holiday season.[3]
• 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.