Flaming Lips Look To 'Superman' For New Single

02/09/2000 10:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(2/9/00, 10 a.m. ET) - More than six months after its initial release, thetwisted orchestral pop of the Flaming Lips 's **The Soft Bulletin** will get another shot at a wider audience by way of a newmaxi-single featuring the album track, "Waitin' For A Superman,"which arrives in stores this week.

The song was written with the cancer death of Lips frontman WayneCoyne 's father in mind, and at a time when the band pondered its ownviability in the music marketplace. Still, Coyne tells LAUNCH that theinspiration for it is not at all that clear cut. "I think any time thatyou sort of squish poetry and philosophy into the same sort of thing, itcomes out sounding, oh, you know, somewhat heavy and religious, don't youthink? And I love those sorts of things. So, I think the idea of mesaying, 'Waiting for a superman,' when it's put in the right context, Ithink people take that as having a little bit more of philosophical edge toit than just simply talking about, you know, the comic book character orsomething."

The maxi-single includes three versions of "...Superman" as wellas two songs resurrected and mixed down from the Lips' 1997 effort, **Zaireeka** -- a four-disc collection that required listeners tospin all discs simultaneously on separate players. Three videos are alsofeatured on the new CD single. Meanwhile, the Flaming Lips will once againhit the road with their eye-popping live show next month, supported byScottish outfit, **Looper** . Look for the band to appear on NBC's **Late Night With Conan O'Brien** on March 3 and you can catch someof the band's videos right here on LAUNCH.

-- Neal Weiss, Los Angeles

Got news tips, comments, or questions? Send them to newstips@launch.com .