Okay, so I’m compiling a playlist of songs originally sung in English that have official Japanese covers. So far, I only have the list below, but I’m looking for more! If you have any suggestions, please let me know!! TIA
– Holding Out for a Hero (Miki Asakura)
– Just the Way You Are (EXILE ATSUSHI)
– Y.M.C.A. (GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE)
Any more? I especially like the older ones; I’m talkin’ ones from the 60’s on. Modern covers are nice too!
29 comments
Not exactly what you are asking but you have to check out 王様
He deliberately does very literal translations of songs. I bet you’d enjoy it.
THE SHOW by Milet
The first one that comes to mind is Sugar Baby Love by Yoko Ishida. And of course there’s Country Roads from the movie Mimi o sumaseba (Whisper of the Heart).
Rainych is an artist who does such covers, just modern ones afaik tho. I recommend [their cover of Doja Cat’s “Say So”](https://youtu.be/EsZbWAqU8xY?si=knTW9q4gDssWX9md)
Mariya Takeuchi also has a lovely cover of Connie Francis’ “Where the Boys Are”, [called “ボーイハント”](https://spotify.link/6Y7LDRNtsDb) (sorry, couldn’t find a good YouTube link), which definitely fits the older song vibe!
Living La Vida Loca by Go Hiromi (and recently re-recorded by Koda Kumi) and Fly Me to the Moon by Utada Hikaru are great.
Eternal flame – Miki Asakura
Tommy February⁶ – Since Yesterday, I’m in the mood for dancing and I only wanna be with you. (All in English tho)
I like this as well:
https://spotify.link/iJABk5MBsDb
Sally Yeh doing Micheal Jackson, no expert on Cantonese so unsure if it’s a straight cover or not.
Ningen Isu (人間椅子) has some covers of rock songs in Japanese. There were some beatles songs and a king crimson one, I don’t recognize the other songs. The songs in question were performed in a concert live so you can find them in YouTube, not in spotify sadly
My Back Pages – Magokoro Brothers https://youtu.be/-WGlfTc3NTE?feature=shared don’t think it’s strictly a one to one cover.
There’s a Japanese version of the song “Tell It To My Heart”, best known from the 1987 Taylor Dane version.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usohbJtqSnY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usohbJtqSnY)
Kentauos Owen has nearly 900 videos of him covering a variety of songs in Japanese.
https://www.youtube.com/@kentaurosowen/videos
Maria count me in
Creep – Angela Aki
The opposite of what you’re after, but いとしのエリー by Southern All Stars was covered in English by Ray Charles. Both versions are good.
Martika released [Toy Soldiers ](https://youtu.be/BuESt-xdsfg?si=afGRYL32EPeDlt6_) in both English and Japanese
[危い土曜日](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abunai_Doy%C5%8Dbi%3A_Candies_no_Sekai?wprov=sfla1) by Candies. The B side is all covers, some in English and some in Japanese. The titular song is great, too (my favorite of theirs).
Iirc there are some more covers of western songs in their discog, as well
Doesn’t Really Matter by Janet Jackson has a nice cover by Hitomi Shimatani called Papillon with different lyrics.
I don’t know The Peanuts too well but I figured they’d probably have a good number of covers of foreign music. Found this one pretty quick: [Sway](https://youtu.be/bHYWm-VidyA?si=m9EDhLb6Mlq1JqC9&t=5m43s). I’m sure they’ve plenty more if you dig
Edit: here’s a medley with a bunch: https://youtu.be/gQuGnVeylW0
“Livin’ La Vida Loca” has a Japanese cover.
Aimer’s Cover Album – Bitter & Sweet, is mostly cover on mostly western Songs, like Poker Face, Viva La Vida, Breaking up is hard to do, etc. Her English is also really good, like you might not noticed she’s japanese >.<
[Daydream Believer (The Monkees) by The Timers](https://youtu.be/HSoKZOg3QEw?si=J0mFMceRR27jSA0v)
How do you say “Melancholy Unzen” in Japanese? Unzen being a name.
憂鬱 雲仙
メランコリーウンゼン
憂 ⁇ なウンゼン
メランコリー雲仙
Is it one of those?
Say So by Rainych (cover of a Doja Cat song)
Just remembered another one.
MOVE OVER by GLIM SPANKY
Last Christmas by EXILE
> Y.M.C.A. (GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE)
Hey, you gotta go with the OG cover by [Saijo Hideki](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASUXW9qF8EM).
Say So by Doja Cat japanese version https://youtu.be/gkZkN1bvn8I?si=mL8uHcAeRTloA6cs
Say so and blinding lights by Rainych!
Tanimaya Hiroko’s [cover](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBuMHYmTSTI) of Styx frontman Dennis DeYoung’s solo hit “Desert Moon”
Fly Me To the Moon is covered by Utada Hikaru. An evangelion character also covered this song.
Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Boys Town Gang is covered by several artists such as Sheena Ringo, Misia, and Kuwata Keisuke. Japanese name for the song is 君の瞳に恋してる
All these suggestions pale in comparison to the epic
[Dempagumi Inc. – Sabotage (Beastie Boys cover)](https://youtu.be/4I7FzsLvJF4?feature=shared)
There is truly no greater cover song than this