Superstar

From the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar

Andrew Lloyd Webber (music), Tim Rice (lyrics) (1970)

It was the spring of 1969 when the then twenty-year-old and unknown Andrew Lloyd Webber composed the song Superstar, on the text of his 23-year-old friend Tim Rice in his aunt's seaside villa in Mortola, near Ventimiglia (Italy). The single was released almost quietly in England in November of the same year and in December it came to an unexpected success in the United States. This is the core from which Jesus Christ Superstar - Rock Opera was born in 1970, a double album immortalized then in 1973 by the Norman Jewison film.

Superstar


VOICE OF JUDAS

Every time I look at you I don't understand

Why you let the things you did get so out of hand.

You'd have managed better if you'd had it planned.

Why'd you choose such a backward time in such a strange land?

If you'd come today you could have reached a whole nation.

Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication.

Don't you get me wrong.

I only want to know.

CHOIR

Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ,

Who are you? What have you sacrificed?

Jesus Christ Superstar,

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

VOICE OF JUDAS

Tell me what you think about your friends at the top.

Who'd you think besides yourself's the pick of the crop?

Buddha, was he where it's at? Is he where you are?

Could Mohammed move a mountain, or was that just PR?

Did you mean to die like that? Was that a mistake, or

Did you know your messy death would be a record breaker?

Don't you get me wrong.

I only want to know.

CHOIR

Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ,

Who are you? What have you sacrificed?

Jesus Christ Superstar,

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

Repeat many times


Era la primavera del 1969 quando l’allora ventenne e sconosciuto Andrew Lloyd Webber compose la canzone Superstar, sul testo dell’amico 23enne Tim Rice nella villa sul mare della zia alla Mortola, vicino a Ventimiglia. Il singolo usciva quasi in sordina in Inghilterra nel novembre dello stesso anno e nel dicembre arrivava ad un imprevisto successo negli Stati Uniti. Questo è il nucleo da cui è nato nel 1970 Jesus Christ Superstar – Rock Opera, un doppio album immortalato poi nel ’73 dal film di Norman Jewison.