Tsubasa o Kudasai
Tsubasa o Kudasai (翼をください, literally "Please Give Me Wings") is a popular Japanese folk song written by Michio Yamagami (山上路夫) and composed by Kunihiko Murai (村井邦彦).
General
The song was composed for the Nemu Popular Festival '70 (合歓ポピュラーフェスティバル'70, nemu popyurâ fesutibaru '70) that took place in Shima, Mie in 1970. The song appeared on the popular single record Takeda no komoriuta (竹田の子守唄) released by the folk group Akaitori (赤い鳥) on February 5, 1971, becoming nationally known. In September 1973, Sumiko Yamagata released a reprise of the song in the album Ano hi no koto wa (あの日のことは).
Shôji Hashimoto, the editor of the publishing house Kyouiku Geijutsu Sha, decided to include the song in a choir textbook, causing it to be sung by choirs across Japan. By the second half of the 1970s, most people in Japan were familiar with the song. Kaori Kawamura made a reprise of the song in 1991.
In November 1997, Junko Yamamoto, the lead singer from the folk group Akaitori, released the song as a single. The song was chosen as the official theme of the soccer team of Japan during the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
A version of this song performed by Megumi Hayashibara is part of the soundtrack for the film Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance by Hideaki Anno.
In 1972, Akaitori also released an English version titled "I would give you anything".
Covers
Many Japanese artists have released a cover version of this song:
- Babymetal
- D=OUT
- NUM42
- Sayaka Ichii with Yūko Nakazawa
- Kazumasa Oda
- Kanon
- Kamifūsen
- Skoop on Somebody
- JELLY→
- Sōjirō
- Duke Aces
- Da kāpo
- Hideaki Tokunaga
- Megumi Hayashibara (present on the soundtrack of Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance)
- Ayaka Hirahara
- Saki Fukuda
- Veil ∞ Lia & Aoi
- ManaKana
- Mucc
- Shūichi Murakami
- Saori Yuki
- Tanaka Yukio and Minami Maho (present on the soundtrack of BECK: Mongolian chop squad)
- Misato Watanabe
- Sakurakō Keion-bu (present on the soundtrack of K-ON!)
- Sayaka Sasaki (Second end credits of Nichijou)
- Misaki Iwasa
- Yui
- Megumi Toyoguchi (episode 7 of Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School Despair Arc)
This song has also been covered by several non-Japanese artists:
- Susan Boyle
- Jason Kouchak
- Hayley Westenra
- Beckii Cruel
- Kat McDowell
- Only Wednesday Music