30-sec preview

2018 · From the album Dayman - Single

Dayman

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02:00 Runtime

The reading

A cover of the absurd in-show power ballad from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, in which a broken character writes himself as a sun-powered karate hero to outrun the Nightman

02 · Interpretation

Dayman: The Sunny in Philadelphia Anthem, Covered Straight

E Editorial Desk Jun 27, 2026

A two-minute cover of a sitcom joke

The song is a cover. The lyrics belong to "Dayman," the in-universe power ballad written by Charlie Kelly on the FX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, first performed in the 2008 episode "The Nightman Cometh" and its lead-up. RMB's 2018 single does not rewrite the words. It takes the same handful of lines and presents them as a stand-alone track, clocking in at almost exactly two minutes. Understanding the song means understanding what those lines were doing in the first place, and what changes when you strip away the laugh track.

In the show, "Dayman" is the counterpart to "Nightman," a much darker song Charlie wrote about a figure who comes into his bed at night. The joke, and the unease underneath it, is that Charlie does not seem to realise he has written a song about being assaulted. "Dayman" is his answer: an invented hero who fights the Nightman off. So the lyric's silliness, the karate, the friendship for everyone, the sun, is doing real work. It is a child's drawing of a protector, made by an adult who cannot say plainly what he needs protection from.

What the lyrics actually do

There are only four lines of content, repeated. The hero is named ("Dayman"), given an enemy ("Fighter of the Nightman"), given a domain ("Champion of the sun"), and given two powers: martial skill ("Master of karate") and a social gift ("friendship for everyone"). That last pairing is the giveaway. A serious fantasy hero would have a sword and a vengeance. Dayman has karate and friends. The song's emotional logic is the logic of a lonely person inventing a best-case version of himself: strong enough to win a fight, but mostly just wanting company.

The structure does the rest. After one clean statement of the four lines, the song breaks them up with the long, drawn-out "Ah" between each phrase, mimicking the way the original is performed as an overblown rock ballad with each line treated as a thunderous revelation. The repetition is not lazy writing; it is the form of the joke. A power ballad pretends every word is monumental. Sung this way, even "friendship for everyone" lands like a battle cry.

Why anyone covers this

By 2018, "Dayman" had been a fan ritual for a decade. Always Sunny audiences sing it at conventions, at karaoke, at bars. Covers, parodies and EDM remixes proliferated online. RMB's version belongs to that ecosystem: a short, single-purpose track that lets listeners hear the song without cueing up a streaming episode. The artistic choice that matters is tone. A cover can play the song as ironic karaoke, or it can play it straight, as the show itself does in the climactic stage performance. Treating it straight is what makes the joke survive a second listen; the more sincerely you sing about being the champion of the sun, the funnier and sadder the gap between the words and the person who wrote them becomes.

Why it endures

"Dayman" endures because it is one of television's better Trojan horses. It is catchy enough to lodge in your head after one viewing, simple enough to sing without rehearsal, and built on a premise (a man so damaged he writes himself a karate-powered sun god to fend off his abuser) that the audience only fully registers later. A cover like RMB's is part of how that joke keeps travelling. The song was never meant to be good in the conventional sense. It was meant to be the most earnest thing a broken character could produce. That is why people keep singing it.

Themes catalogued

fandom cover song absurdism heroism loneliness

Track Info

Released May 4, 2018

Album Dayman - Single

Length 02:00

Listen elsewhere

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03 · Lyrics

"Dayman"

Dayman

Fighter of the Nightman

Champion of the sun

Master of karate

And friendship for everyone

Dayman

Fighter of the Nightman

Champion of the sun

Master of karate

And friendship for everyone

Dayman

Fighter of the Nightman

Champion of the sun

Master of karate

And friendship for everyone

Dayman

(Ah)

Fighter of the Nightman

(Ah)

Champion of the sun

(Ah)

Master of karate

And friendship for everyone

Lyrics via Google. Copyright belongs to rights holders.

04 · FAQ

Frequently asked

Is RMB's 'Dayman' the same song from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia?

Yes. The lyrics are identical to the song Charlie Kelly performs in the 2008 episode 'The Nightman Cometh' and earlier in the season. RMB's 2018 single is a stand-alone cover, not an original composition, which is why it runs only two minutes and recycles four lines.

What does 'Fighter of the Nightman' mean in 'Dayman'?

On the show, the Nightman is the subject of a separate, much creepier song Charlie wrote, widely read as being about a figure who assaults him in bed. 'Dayman' is the imagined hero who fights that figure off, which is why the line frames the character primarily by his opposition to the Nightman rather than by his own deeds.

Why does 'Dayman' include 'Master of karate and friendship for everyone'?

The pairing is the song's emotional tell. A serious power-ballad hero would be defined by violence alone, but Dayman is also defined by wanting company. It reads as a lonely character inventing the strongest, most popular version of himself in the same breath.

Why is the song so short and repetitive?

There are only four content lines, repeated with long sustained 'Ah' vocalisations between them. The two-minute runtime and looping structure mirror how the song is staged in the show as an overblown rock ballad where each line is treated as a monumental reveal.

Why do people keep covering 'Dayman'?

It has become a fan ritual for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia viewers, sung at conventions, bars and karaoke nights. Covers, remixes and parodies have circulated online for years, and RMB's 2018 single fits that pattern: a short, single-purpose recording that lets listeners hear the song outside of the episode.

Is 'Dayman' meant to be taken seriously?

Both, which is the point. Within the show it is played absolutely sincerely by a character who believes in it, while the audience understands it as absurd and slightly tragic. A cover that performs the lines straight, rather than winking at the joke, preserves that double reading.