EarthBound Composer Hirokazu Tanaka Gathers Other Hirokazu Tanakas, Has Them Sing About Being Named Hirokazu Tanaka
EarthBound, the SNES game that brought us Super Smash Bros.‘ Ness, was one of the great console RPGs of the ’90s: it was funny, self-aware, and also had great gameplay. It also had a kickin’ soundtrack, composed by Hirokazu Tanaka, who also composed soundtracks for Mario, Donkey Kong, Metroid, and a number of other classic games. Tanaka even got a credit on Buckner & Garcia’s classic 1982 arcade game rock album Pac-Man Fever for providing some of the sounds behind “Do the Donkey Kong.”
Recently, Tanaka gathered together ten other random people also named Hirokazu Tanaka and had them sing a song of his composition called the “Hirokazu Tanaka Song” (“Tanaka Hirokazu no Uta”), the moral of which is that even though they didn’t choose to be called Hirokazu Tanaka, they’ve all come together for the sake of a name, and “there’s only one of me in the whole wide world.” Not only is it a strange novelty single, it’s also really, really catchy:
Here are the lyrics, courtesy of hard-working YouTuber Userofdoom, who translated the Japanese song:
We are Tanaka Hirokazu!
We never asked to be called by this name
(never asked)
Before we knew it that’s just what we were called
(were we?)
Tanaka Hirokazu knows Tanaka Hirokazu
oh yeah!
All called the same name
every one of them like me
But there’s only one of me in the whole wide world
hey!
Tanaka Hirokazu
Come together for the sake of a name!
It’s not like we found this name all by ourselves
(it’s not like that)
Someone with the same name just called us that
(they did, they did!)
Tanaka Hirokazu meets Tanaka Hirokazu
oh yeah!
All called the same name
everyone of them like me
but there’s only one me in the whole wide world
hey!
Tanaka Hirokazu
Come together for the sake of a name!
We never really wanted to be called by this name
(hello, I’m Tanaka Hirokazu)
but when we’re in the same place
that’s what we’re all called
(all of us!)
Tanaka Hirokazu finds Tanaka Hirokazu
oh yeah!
All called the same name
everyone of them like me
But there’s only one of me in the whole wide world
hey!
Tanaka Hirokazu
Forever and for always for a name!
Come together for the sake of a name!
(h/t The Morning News)
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