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"Spaceship Superstar" is the first official single by the Canadian rock band Prism. The song was written by Jim Vallance. It was also the first single from the band's self-titled debut album. "Spaceship Superstar" reached No. 63 on the Canadian Singles Chart and No. 82 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart in the United States. In 1978, "Spaceship Superstar" received the Certificate of Honour from Performing Rights Organization of Canada (PROCAN). The song was used as the wake up song for the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' crew members in 2011.


Composition

The song was written by Jim Vallance under the pseudonym "Rodney Higgs". He first worked on the song in 1975, but finished in 1977. By the time the song became a hit, Vallance had already left Prism. According to Vallance, the influence on the lyrics of the song came from the George Lucas film ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'', which was released as he was writing the song. Musically the song was influenced by "
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, songs from the album '' Who's Next'' by
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, and " Free Ride" by the Edgar Winter Group.


Versions

The album version of "Spaceship Superstar" is 4 minutes and 9 seconds long, while the single version is only 3 minutes and 20 seconds long (excludes the extensive intro). A live version is included on '' Live Tonite'', which is 4 minutes and 17 seconds long.


Usage

On Sunday March 6, 2011 Prism's "Spaceship Superstar" was chosen as the wake up song for the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' crew members. This was a significant point in history as it was the last day that the crews of ''Discovery'' and the International Space Station were together before ''Discovery'' returned to Earth in the last mission of ''Discovery''.


Personnel

Prism *
Lindsay Mitchell Lindsay Christopher Mitchell (born 28 May 1949) is an English-born Canadian musician and songwriter who achieved success as the guitarist and founder of the Canadian rock band Prism. Early life Born on May 28, 1949, in North London, England, M ...
guitar, backing vocals *Ron Tabakvocals *John Hallkeyboards * Jim Vallancedrums * Tom Lavinguitar *Although Ab Bryant is considered the bassist and is pictured on the American cover, he did not take part in the recording. Session Musicians *Graeme Coleman
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electric piano *Peter Bjerring ARP Odyssey synthesizer *Jack Lavinbass * Bruce Fairbairnbacking vocals *David Sinclairbacking vocals


Charts


References


External links


Discogs
{{Prism (band) 1977 singles Prism (band) songs Space rock songs Songs about spaceflight