Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Sing in Japanese

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes released Sing in Japanese earlier this week. The punk band performs only covers, usually in themed releases. For example, Love Their Country covered country music, while Blow in the Wind was music from the 60's. This time, they are turning Japanese with six songs originally from Japanese artists. I shall do my best in this article to provide links for you to hear the original versions of each tune.

Track one is "Hero", originally by Kai Band. Here is a live performance from 1979. And, here is a studio recording.

Track two is "Kokoro No Tabi", originally by Tulips. Here is Tulips performing the song in 1973. And, here is a cover by GO!GO!7188. I like this cover more as much as the one from The Gimmes.

Track three is "Kekkon Shiyoyo", originally by Takuryo Yoshida. Here you will find a live performance. MFAGG usually incorporate some traditional punk sound into their covers. For this song, they use the intro of Social Distortion's Story Of My Life, which somewhat resembles the Japanese original, and works very well.

Track four is "C-C-C", originally by The Tigers. This time, the intro is borrowed from Agent Orange's Bloodstains.

Track five is "22 Sai No Wakare", originally by 70's band, Kaze.

The last track of this EP is "Linda Linda", originally by The Blue Hearts. In the movie Linda Linda Linda, some students learn the song for a school talent show. And, they do a great job.

In my opinion, music from Me First and the Gimme Gimmes only works when you can compare their renditions to the originals. It took a bit of searching to find all the songs, but after doing so the EP is even more enjoyable to listen to. I look forward to their next foreign-language release, as I understand they are planning songs from some other countries as well. Enjoy!