Lyrics and music by David Bowie
When all the world was very young And mountain magic heavy hung The supermen would walk in file Guardians of a loveless isle And gloomy browed with superfear their tragic endless lives Could heave nor sigh In solemn, perverse serenity, wondrous beings chained to life Strange games they would play then No death for the perfect men Life rolls into one for them So softly a supergod cries Where all were minds in uni-thought Power weird by mystics taught No pain, no joy, no power too great Colossal strength to grasp a fate Where sad-eyed mermen tossed in slumbers Nightmare dreams no mortal mind could hold A man would tear his brother's flesh, a chance to die To turn to mold Far out in the red-sky Far out from the sad eyes Strange, mad celebration So softly a supergod cries Far out in the red-sky Far out from the sad eyes Strange, mad celebration So softly a supergod dies
The signature guitar riff for this song was lifted from a 16 year old Jimmy Page who "donated" it to David when they played together in The Manish Boys. Jimmy had no use for it and suggested David may make better use of it. Not only did it spawn The Supermen, Reeves Gabrels developed it into Dead Man Walking. You can hear David relating this story on The Unreleased Stuff.