Superman (It's Not Easy)

Wow! Is this song so difficult to figure out? He gave you a video that shows you what it’s about. The song is about being a man in America today. 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. Many of us grew up reading Superman comic books and wanted to be like him. Unfortunately we are simply not equipped to be him as we are mere mortals and are thus doomed to fail in the endeavor. So unable to live up to the expectations we fall away from our family’s because we believe that we have let them down. In the end all we really want is the love of an adoring wife and our children. To be happy with our own families 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. At the end of the video he lays down with his wife and child because he ultimately has decided that it is what he wants and he is happy with his decision. Just take a look around at men today and pay attention to all the toughness they display. Half of the men in the country want to be gangsters and the other half is driven by the desire to make piles of money. None of it makes them happy. If you listen to the bands other music like ‘100 years’ and the ‘Riddle’ you will note that he sings about the need/desire for men to be family men first and foremost. With out something to work and live for we are nothing and our lives are wasted. Yes, I am a both a husband and father and have struggled with both myself.

I believe that this song has amazing perspective into the minds of people who are known for their greatness and outward appearances. They seem perfect to everybody else because so much pressure is put on them to do so. The song talks about superman because he is seen as this perfect man who can do almost anything. He is most well known for fighting crime and “saving the day”. He is held up to a really high standard. Inside, he hates being who people see him to be and only being judged by his outward appearances. He wants people to realize that there is more to him and that he is not perfect. There is too much pressure put on him to reveal this truth to the world so he feels as if he’s dying inside. He wants to be more; he wants to be anything different that what people make him out to be.

What he's saying is that everyone thinks his life is easy and perfect and its not and he just wishes people didn't think so much of him and he's trying so hard to please everyone and he just can't. He gets frustrated and just wants to die (hence the kryptonite) sometimes. The silly red sheet is about how he's just a normal person hiding behind the mask society has put on him. He tries to make people see that he's not as strong as he looks and even he has breakdowns sometimes. He won't fly because he refuses to be fake and pretend that everything is okay and that his life is perfect because thats not what life is.

It's about what it means to be a man. Everyone knows a "real man" is a bullet-proof hero. A real man is strong and dependable in the face of any challenge. A real man never cries or asks for help at any cost, even the ultimate cost.

The "silly red sheet" is a metaphor for the utter BS that so many men think society expects of them. I'll never know for certain, but this song makes me cry because I think the silly red sheet is exactly what killed my uncle.

This is a great song- lyrics are strong and fullfilled. On to the lyrics-

Basically, he's saying that behind every hero, every public figure, they're just a normal person.

I think that this song is about how you are two sides of the same coin. I mean, you have two faces, the one that most people see, and the one that you, for whatever reason, hide.

The song was written and released in 2000, long before 9/11?

To me, its about an individual who seems to have everything and nothing at the same time. The person has all of these abilities to become something great but the downfall of everything around him has lead to a lack of will and faith. The downfall has altered their view on the World and people and he is in a constant battle internally to figure out what his life means.

As for the Superman reference about suicide, I don't believe its about killing oneself. Kryptonite is the one thing that can affect Superman. I find that he wants to use the kryptonite to "cry" and "fall upon his knees" - temporarily taking away his powers and giving him a sense of vulnerability, much like people use alcohol and drugs to cope/avoid their feelings of pain inside.

To me this song seems to be about someone who is struggling to simply be who they are inside...to get away from the surface views that life and society generally base everything on. And to be allowed to do so, in spite of all that others have preconceived them to be already!

On a personal level, I likened it to being placed on pedestals by others who never seem to get past the surface of looks and their own blinders...never seeing into the heart, into the humanism of the person they have so deemed to deserving of pedestalism and so boldly lifted them right on up there without ever asking or even considering how the person feels, REALLY, inside.

Yet the other person is saying that they are more than meets the eye and NOT all the others view them to be. That they are simply on lifes journey just like everyone else is, in hopes of finding the best of all that they are, and are to become...knowing that others think it bonkers that they aren't content with all they view and think them to be already. Yet this person seeks, in spite of oposition and others views, something REAL...something better than being chosen as someones hero or role model. They seek something that no one can ever take from them unless they willingly hand it over...They seek...THEMSELF, and all that they are meant to be.

i agree with phoebe -- this song is completely reminscient of Smallville -- it's Clark Kent, all the way.

on a personal note -- this song never fails to lift me up. it makes me think of someone who is being "put on a pedestal" by everyone around him, and everyone thinks he's this great guy. In his eyes he's "only a man in a silly red sheet," who has his own problems, and he wants to be able to show them but he can't for fear of letting someone down.

To me, this song is not about "Superman". It's about celebrities, athletes and all types of famous people. It means that it really is not easy to be famous and sometimes, it's too much to bear. It also kind of talks about how they are just normal people in a respect and that they deserve the right to dream and such.