You Don’t Mess Around With Jim

One of the Things I Love the most are pop songs featuring super-hero references. And one of the all-time best is "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" by Jim Croce, which goes a little like this in the chorus:

They say you don't tug on Superman's cape,
You don't spit into the wind,
You don't pull the mask of the ol' Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jim.

Since many of you may be too young to have ever heard of Jim Croce, here's the song. Feel free to name-drop other songs you like that reference super-heroes in the comments!

26 Responses to You Don’t Mess Around With Jim

  1. ajw says:

    my dad sings that all the time so this is where it came from

  2. ajw says:

    oh and his name is jim

  3. Solander says:

    One of my favorite songs is Superman’s song, by the Crash Test Dummies:

  4. Rosco says:

    From a mix-tape I’ve always wanted to make…

    -Jimmy Olsen’s Blues, by the Spin Doctors

    -Sunshine Superman, by Donovan

    -Ode to a Superhero, by “Weird Al” Yankovic

    -Aquaman’s Lament, by Mark Aaron James

    -Ghost Rider, by Rollins Band

    -Wolverine’s Theme, by Modern Humorist

  5. Nick Hentschel says:

    From the same fount that gave us, “Leroy Brown”!

    The most obvious would be:
    “I am, I am Superman…and I can do anything….”

  6. TheNate says:

    Best: Ramones’ cover of Spider-man:

    It’s a fun and fun-loving tribute

    Worst: Either of these two Marvel Comics produced songs:


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pdeML8vkLs

    Instead of making songs, how about making interesting stories?

  7. RJ mcd says:

    http://www.lyricsdepot.com/donovan/sunshine-superman.html

    it mentions two heros superman and green lantern

  8. Jim Croce is perhaps the greatest singer-songwriter of all time!

    @Solander: Love that song. “Afternoons and Coffeespoons” is another favorite.

    @Nick: That would be R.E.M. from the album “Life’s Rich Pageant.”

    After two weeks, got my wi-fi going! It wasn’t the router, it was my wi-fi card encryption protocol. WPA… AES.. WEP… 124-bit… blah blah blah.

  9. spidercow2010 says:

    I input my symptoms on WebMD: It told me I have network connectivity problems.
    Completely off topic, but I blame Atomic Punk.

    Um, there’s that theme from the sitcom ‘Scrubs’ with the “I’m not Superman” line, and “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” by Five For Fighting. Neal Hefti, as I recall, got pretty good radio airplay for his TV ‘Batman’ theme, as did Al Hirt’s TV ‘Green Hornet’ theme (jazzy trumpet rendition of “The Flight of the Bumblebee”), but of course that had no lyrics (not that ‘Batman’ did either, other than “Batman, nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh Batman”). That’s all I got.

  10. The Doomed Pixel says:

    Three Doors Down’s song “Kryptonite” is entirely Superman related. One of my favorites.

  11. Myro says:

    Atomic Punk (6): Glad to hear your WiFi issues are cleared up. Have you considered professional installation in the future? Or investing in a copy of “Home Networking for Dummies?” Just a thought.

    spidercow: (7): Apparently, you forgot the theme for “Wonder Woman” from the Lynda Carter tv series.

    All I got is T-Rex’s “Teenage Dream”

    Silver Surfer
    And the ragged kid
    Are all sad and rusted
    Ah, they don’t have a gift

    Doesn’t make a lick of sense, but it’s the only thing I’ve heard in the last week that seemed remotely relevant to the topic at hand.

  12. Gero says:

    For those who’ve never heard of the late, great Jim Croce, four words: Time In A Bottle. One of the greatest slow, sad, love songs ever…

  13. Nick Hentschel says:

    Let’s not forget the Spin Doctors’ hit album of the early 90’s, “Pocket Full of Kryptonite.”

  14. Jeff Hebert says:

    I also love this bit from the Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week”:

    Hold it now and watch the hoodwink
    As I make you stop, think
    You’ll think you’re looking at Aquaman
    I summon fish to the dish
    Although I like the Chalet Swiss
    I like the sushi
    ‘Cause it’s never touched a frying pan

    Anybody can make a heroic song with Superman, but Aquaman?! That takes skillz, y’all! Then they go for gold with a Sailor Moon reference:

    Like Kurosawa I make mad films
    Okay I don’t make films
    But if I did they’d have a samurai
    Gonna get a set of better clubs
    Gonna find the kind with tiny nubs
    Just so my irons aren’t always flying off the backswing
    Gotta get in tune with Sailor Moon
    ‘Cause that cartoon has got the boom anime babes
    That make me think the wrong thing

    Good stuff and happily on my iPod.

  15. Myro says:

    Nice one Jeff! I’d like to say I’m surprised I forgot that one, but nothing surprises me anymore about what I forget. Still, though, Barenaked Ladies is like the comfort food of music for me at times, so I should have got that one.

  16. VonMalcolm says:

    Top This! Thundercat and Voltron in the same song!
    (Do they qualify as Superheroes?)

    Nelly, P. Diddy, Murphy Lee – Shake Your Tailfeather

    [Verse 3: Murphy Lee] + (Nelly)
    Yo, I’m the big booty type
    I like em thick with they mind right (Awe)
    Banging personality conversate when the time right (Naw)
    I’m not hard I got women to handle that
    They be like he the man when I’m really a Thundercat
    Come on you know the tics connect like Voltron
    Collect so much grass popo thinking we mow lawns

    Video:

  17. VonMalcolm says:

    Shake Your Tailfeather also makes reference to Starvin’ Marvin!

  18. TheNate says:

    Can’t believe I forgot the Ballad of Hank Pym:

  19. Yojimbo Jones says:

    bad religon do what you want “go to hell with superman and die like a champion” also funkdoobiest superhoes like 40 superhero reference in that one. and jim croce is the man nuff said

  20. Ray says:

    Great Country Song by Hal Ketchum

  21. @Myro(11): I reverse engineer everything. Mostly beer into water. :p

    Alien Sex Fiend’s version of “Batman”:

  22. zaheelee says:

    I know this doesn’t really count as a superhero song, but I have been singing this all week (ever since I had a Star Wars marathon that was actually brought on by the recent Caption Contest, so… thanks, Jeff!). ANYWAYS, it’s called “The Saga Begins” by “Weird Al” Yankovic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEcjgJSqSRU&feature=BF&list=MLGxdCwVVULXd_3wUbjcTaeOMzHgLLzTIX&index=4

  23. Vengeance says:

    I want to fly like Superman by the Kinks
    “look at that brunt out Superman trying to shoot his dust on the sun” from Dolly Dagger by Jimi Hendrix
    Iron Man by Black Sabbath
    also check this http://www.urbangeek.net/supersongs/a-esongs.html#a

  24. C. Baize says:

    Let’s not forget “Holdin’ Out For a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler.

    Probably neither the Marvel nor DC versions, but she mentions Hercules.
    And then Superman.

  25. News says:

    i want a moustache like that πŸ™‚