Memoryworm

Once again I had a dream wherein I had to remember something. I was just conscious enough to puzzle it out, then recite it over and over and over in my head until I got it just right, and then I woke up.

It's kind of like an earworm, only with words instead of songs and tunes.

Anyway, for some reason I had to remember the spoken introduction to the old TV series Adventures of Superman, the one with George Reeves as Superman. I'm not sure why I had to recite this legendary opening, but I did. I worried over it, because I kept getting the very first parts wrong. I kept thinking, "Faster than a locomotive... no, that's not it. Hmm. Ah! Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive!" and then I'd move on from there, teasing the words out of the dark recesses of my memory.

Eventually I woke up, but the memoryworm stayed with me all day, poking at my mind as I tried to update a course on mortgage products. ("No wonder," I hear you cry.)

It's not all that odd that my subconscious would choose Adventures of Superman. I watched that show religiously in the 60s, when it was already in reruns. I wanted to be Lois Lane when I grew up. She was so smart! She was a reporter! I also had a crush on Clark Kent. He was so suave. Even though he was supposed to be mild mannered, I thought he was great. Of course, he always found a way to strip off his suit and glasses and leap out of the window when Superman's presence was required.

Be that as it may, I couldn't get the damn thing out of my head. So I opened up a new Word document and typed out what I remembered, without looking it up. This is what I typed:

Faster than a speeding bullet...
More powerful than a locomotive...
Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound...

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's SUPERMAN!

Yes, it's Superman, strange visitor from another planet, who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands, and who (disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper) fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American Way!

Then I looked it up.

HAH! So I punctuated it differently, but I got it right! Which only goes to show, I suppose, that I watched way too much TV when I was a kid.

Comments

[Stephanie]

I know dreams can be strange, but that one takes the cake! :)

[Jim]

I started out listening to Superman on the radio. When he would fly, first you would hear him say "Up, up, and away!" and then a whooshing sound effect. Being a little kid, I somehow got it into my head that he needed to say that up-up-and-away bit in order to fly, so when a television finally arrived in our house (at just about the same time that Superman first arrived on television) I was a bit startled to see him just leap up and fly without shouting out "Up, up, and away!"

[TexasPeach]

Very strange one Mary...and I have been known to have some reaaaallly weird dreams. also....Thank you very much...now those words are running through my brain! How sad is it that I too knew all the words????

[l'empress]

That's the introduction from the radio version too, I'm pretty sure. I didn't watch it on television because we didn't have one then.

[Candy]

Oddly enough, I was trying to incorporate that into a comment on someone else's post this week and couldn't remember it so I gave up. You were a day late and a penny short, m'dear.

[Bev]

(I could have recited it too...not only was I a religious fan of the show but when the kids grew up, THEY became religious fans, especially Ned who WAS Superman.