Early in my freshman year in college, a friend of mine in the dorm told me about the single “Superstar”.  I was used to only the most reverent language being used when talking about Jesus; but even considering that Judas Iscariot is the one singing, and despite the frequent protests about “don’t get me wrong”, the lyrics were startling to me:   

 

     Every time I look at you

     I don’t understand     

     Why you let the things you did

     Get so out of hand . . . 

 

     Did you mean to die like that?

     Was that a mistake or

     Did you know your messy death

     Would be a record breaker? . . . 

 

     Jesus Christ

     Jesus Christ     

     Who are you?  What have you sacrificed?

     Jesus Christ

     Superstar

     Do you think you’re what they say you are?

 

“Superstar”, with lead vocals by Murray Head, was released in late 1969 before the album Jesus Christ Superstar was even completed, much to the chagrin of MCA Records.  (Head later recorded the main single from another Tim Rice production, Chess, called “One Night in Bangkok”, which came out in 1975). 

 

(October 2014)