When I was travelling on the Osaka Metro, and heard that melody playing in the stations, I just kept expecting 'Top of the world' to start playing after! :D
This is so damn cute and happy you can't help but smile right along with them. No irony, no pretense, just three chords, a back beat, and Engrish lyrics delivered with sincere smiles--what is there not to like?
Last year i was on three concerts of shonen knife Here in Germany and i can say that was the best of Concert i ever hast Seen !Naoko atsuko and risa are so cool and There playing was fantastic ! Thank you and greetings from Germany !
Shonen Knife's Top of the world version is outstanding! Karen Carpenter would absolutly love it and beeing proud of what this girls did with her track. The Album "If i were a carpenter" is a must have for music lovers. Karen would have been so proud... May she rest in peace!
Go dig up a vid of Karen playing drums - it'll just deepen your conviction, because her drumming style was flat out, fast, & hard. I can easily imagine her drumming on this version.
Saw them in 92' and then again in 2016. Three rocking ladies having as much fun in their 40s as they did back in the day. Always brings a smile to my face. Thank you Shonen Knife! Brown mushroom!
This was one of the livelier cuts on the alt rock Carpenters tribute album, "If I Were a Carpenter." Glad they included a Japanese group on the album, since the Carpenters were more popular there than than they were in the U.S., at least in the years following Karen Carpenter's loss.
I saw Shonen Knife when they toured the U.S. They played in a local music place in Eugene, Oregon called the WOW Hall on April 4, 1997. It was awesome! :)
Beautiful. Everything about this is beautiful. I have their studio version of this on my ipod and I listen to it whenever I need to be cheered up. THANK YOU, Karen and Shonen Knife!
of all the covers from the album 'If I were a Carpenter' this one was always my favorite, I just love the way they rock it out but yet simply. I only just found out they're Japanese. Sorry didn't even know who Shonen Knife was but now I do. GREAT rendition. Makes me happy to hear it.
This is after Michie left the band? I got to hang out with them in 1996 when they came to Atlanta, had my picture made with Atsuko and Naoko. Michie spent a lot of time talking with me and a few Japanese friends before the show. I love everything they've ever done. After the show I told Naoko my favourite song was Parallel Woman and she told me it was the first song she ever wrote. I didn't know that! I really love them. True punks!
I was feeling kind of down, and my music library was just shuffling through the library, and all of a sudden Shonen Knife comes on! I've been totally ecstatic ever since :)
Rock, this jam have been lighting me up ever since they released in on the Birds and the B Sides CD! Are you sure you don't need a US tour roadie ladies??? They are one of the best things to come out of the 90s
oh yes, GC Smith and S. Barry. THATwas a great tribute album and yes this tune WAS the high light. I listened to it again and again. Northampton, MA '94/5. memories bring tears to a middle aged man. Rachel Anderson, hope you are having a good life.
2019 i was on three concerts of the Girls Here in Germany and i must say IT was a dream ! Such powerful Girls one of the best concerts i have Seen ! Thank you shonen Knife ! Greetings from Germany ! About shonen Knife i came to the japanese Indie and Punk / Pop Musik and i must say that IS my think i found the blue Hearts the overburner in Punk Musik i must say hiroto the Coolness in Person ! But this Times are gone ! Greetings from Germany again !
Great musicians! I love their 'sound' and that wide-open stage set up is wonderful to look at! It's nice to see the bands not all huddled together on a crowded stage. (Especially when they are as pretty as these three little ladies.)
Formation and early years. Shonen Knife was formed in December 1981 in Osaka, Japan, by Naoko Yamano on guitar and vocals; her college friend Michie Nakatani on bass, keyboards, and vocals; and Naoko's then 17-year-old sister Atsuko Yamano on drums.
I remember hearing about this group a few years ago, but I never listened to their music. I regret that decision. Shonen Knife is quite an incredible power trio!
Who are the 95? This is so joyful. Just look at how they are enjoying themselves. The world needs a lot more of this in 2017. 2016 has been pretty awful for a lot of people across the globe.
This band is new to me..... but what a great and lively performance. Three ladies who really seem to enjoy themselves.....and therefore are sexy as hell!!
I worked the opening night at the Richard and Karen Carpenter theater at Long Beach State University shonen knife was there to do their cover of " top of the world" they were awesome!!
Oh yeah, absolutely. I like all of SK's drummers, and you gotta' give special props to Atsuko for being a founding member, but Etsuko by FAR in that regard. Really talented too!
I loved this version of the song from the Shonen Knife. Actually, the whole Carpenters tribute album, If I Were A Carpenter, was excellent! Sonic Youth's cover of "Superstar" was appropriately creepy while the Cranberries take on "Close To You" ranked 3rd on my fave list from the album. The Carpenters may not get the respect or adulation other bands from the same period are accorded but that doesn't mean they didn't write or make music that was enjoyable.
The 1990's was GOLDEN. This song was in a commercial for Internet Explorer 1.0 and when I saw it as a kid, I asked my parents what it was, and that is what got me in computers. Now, I know a lot about Computer Science and it is my job. Nostalgia hits me like a semi-truck...
@nibbles1637 "Daydream Believer" is one of the most covered songs of all time. I love that song, and when I see their anime version, it's so dang cute that it's easy to miss how thoroughly they blow the windows out of that song. They are truly a great band!
Tell me about it! This song alone helps lift my mood when I am down. I broke up with someone recently and it was painful to do it, and this song really helps put me back where I need to be. Arigatou gozaimasu, Yamano-san!
That intro riff is the melody that plays at train stations here in Osaka! So cute!
awesome. never knew that.
❤️
god i never realized until you pointed it out!! omg
I thought that was what I heard the one time I was in Osaka. I also know they wrote a song called "My Favorite Town Osaka."
When I was travelling on the Osaka Metro, and heard that melody playing in the stations, I just kept expecting 'Top of the world' to start playing after! :D
This is so damn cute and happy you can't help but smile right along with them. No irony, no pretense, just three chords, a back beat, and Engrish lyrics delivered with sincere smiles--what is there not to like?
*Its year 2020 and still listening to this cool music and i really miss the golden age of 90's. I miss you shonen knife greetings from philippines*
Daydream believer! Pembo Ganiola Family Yeah!
Last year i was on three concerts of shonen knife Here in Germany and i can say that was the best of Concert i ever hast Seen !Naoko atsuko and risa are so cool and There playing was fantastic ! Thank you and greetings from Germany !
Shonen Knife's Top of the world version is outstanding! Karen Carpenter would absolutly love it and beeing proud of what this girls did with her track. The Album "If i were a carpenter" is a must have for music lovers. Karen would have been so proud... May she rest in peace!
Go dig up a vid of Karen playing drums - it'll just deepen your conviction, because her drumming style was flat out, fast, & hard. I can easily imagine her drumming on this version.
It is impossible not to love Shonen Knife.
It is also against the law.
with a life time sentence
Nawwww, it's possible
Totally agree mate!
Haha
Joy and bliss. They're having such a great time, it's contagious. So much fun, and performed without irony.
Saw them in 92' and then again in 2016. Three rocking ladies having as much fun in their 40s as they did back in the day. Always brings a smile to my face. Thank you Shonen Knife! Brown mushroom!
This was one of the livelier cuts on the alt rock Carpenters tribute album, "If I Were a Carpenter." Glad they included a Japanese group on the album, since the Carpenters were more popular there than than they were in the U.S., at least in the years following Karen Carpenter's loss.
G. C. Smith Yes. exceptional album. exceptional cover. I love her accent on "top of the world."
I saw Shonen Knife when they toured the U.S. They played in a local music place in Eugene, Oregon called the WOW Hall on April 4, 1997. It was awesome! :)
This song makes me unreasonably happy!
her accent makes it 100% more awesome
This makes me feel like there is still positive energy in the world.
So much joy in the sound, the passion in each performer's expression and movement...this is absolutely wonderful. Just wonderful.
想像してたビジュアルと違うけど
Top of the worldのカバーの中で1番好き
I admit it.....I have a HUGE crush on the drummer.
You finally admitted it!
Can't blame you!
She's married...that is why she left the band. I think she still lives in LA.
NOOOO!! My heart is broken. :( lol
You'll also have a huge crush on the newest drummer, Risa. The brightest smile I've seen on any drummer.
当時の懐かしい気持ちに満ちてます。
というのも、高校生だったのか中学生の頃だったのか定かでは無いのですが、
イケて無い自分が天才たけしの元気が出るテレビを毎週観ていて
元気を貰っていた頃が懐かしいです。
最近、マツコさんのとある番組を毎週録画していてソレを見返していて、
この曲が取り出されてて、当時の思い出がよみがえって来ました（少年ナイフさんって海外でも活躍されてるのも知りました）♩
This band is awesome. Just discovered today. Sounding like the Ramones
Osaka Ramones!🤘
they are a ramones tribute band and very popular in england, too.
This is by far the greatest Carpenters cover ever done! and you can even sing along with this version! Rock on and stay cute!!
Im dead inside and I still Love this song... my mom used to sing it to me when I was little
This always brings a song in my heart, a spring in my step and a smile on my face.
Beautiful. Everything about this is beautiful. I have their studio version of this on my ipod and I listen to it whenever I need to be cheered up. THANK YOU, Karen and Shonen Knife!
of all the covers from the album 'If I were a Carpenter' this one was always my favorite, I just love the way they rock it out but yet simply. I only just found out they're Japanese. Sorry didn't even know who Shonen Knife was but now I do. GREAT rendition. Makes me happy to hear it.
Wasn't obvious they were Japanese the first time you heard it?
Love Shonen Knife , so happy I discovered them 😊
This is after Michie left the band? I got to hang out with them in 1996 when they came to Atlanta, had my picture made with Atsuko and Naoko. Michie spent a lot of time talking with me and a few Japanese friends before the show. I love everything they've ever done. After the show I told Naoko my favourite song was Parallel Woman and she told me it was the first song she ever wrote. I didn't know that! I really love them. True punks!
Nice video
Super
@Antonio Gramsci you are so lucky to have met the band in the flesh - I have such a crush on Michie - is she as sweet face-to-face?
I can't believe you went to see them without me and no, the fact we don't know each other AT ALL is no excuse. 😁👌💯👍
I was feeling kind of down, and my music library was just shuffling through the library, and all of a sudden Shonen Knife comes on! I've been totally ecstatic ever since :)
Jesus, this is about as close to perfect as music gets. Sublime.
I love the way Naoko takes a cover version and just rocks the shit out of it. She is my never failing remedy when ever i feel down.
Shonen Knife u rock !! Awesome !
***** Ouressssssssssssss
I have my nephew John to thank for introducing me to this band; it was a life changer. ^_^
good for you!! I love Shonen Knife Since 1994
Impossible to listen to any of their songs without smiling. Called a cross between the Supremes and the Ramones.
Happy 40 years Shonen Knife.
I've never seen anything so beautiful in all my life. They're so happy! That's how to rock n' roll.
Your love put me,
On the top of the WORD..
Shonen Knife
Love this song. It always cheers me up no matter how down I am..
I miss the 90's..
Superb Jam session of a classic song. This rocks!!!
Your song has put me on top of the world...
I saw them at the Big Day Out Festival in Sydney in 1997. So good, and this is by far THE BEST cover version of any song ever.
Rock, this jam have been lighting me up ever since they released in on the Birds and the B Sides CD! Are you sure you don't need a US tour roadie ladies??? They are one of the best things to come out of the 90s
oh yes, GC Smith and S. Barry. THATwas a great tribute album and yes this tune WAS the high light. I listened to it again and again. Northampton, MA '94/5. memories bring tears to a middle aged man. Rachel Anderson, hope you are having a good life.
I normally dislike covers, but being a fan of Shonen Knife for longer than I can compute, I really like their version.
a great japanese band....love this cover ..so Ramones
Kurt Cobain's favorite band.
CeruleanFilms Depends who you ask. Plenty of other contenders - Television, the Beatles, the Vaselines, Mudhoney...
Krist liked them too
Kurt booked them as an opening act for Nirvana; he said they made him cry.
You just blew my mind into a thousand pieces.
I love well done covers. rarely are they better that the original. This cover is a lot better in my opinion! Plus their energy makes me smile!
2019 i was on three concerts of the Girls Here in Germany and i must say IT was a dream ! Such powerful Girls one of the best concerts i have Seen ! Thank you shonen Knife ! Greetings from Germany ! About shonen Knife i came to the japanese Indie and Punk / Pop Musik and i must say that IS my think i found the blue Hearts the overburner in Punk Musik i must say hiroto the Coolness in Person ! But this Times are gone ! Greetings from Germany again !
Great musicians! I love their 'sound' and that wide-open stage set up is wonderful to look at!
It's nice to see the bands not all huddled together on a crowded stage. (Especially when they are as pretty as these three little ladies.)
I just saw them in San Diego!! Great time, very good concert!!
this is the first Shonen Knife song I've heard back in 1994. great cover. I also like their song ESP
the cover of all covers
Formation and early years. Shonen Knife was formed in December 1981 in Osaka, Japan, by Naoko Yamano on guitar and vocals; her college friend Michie Nakatani on bass, keyboards, and vocals; and Naoko's then 17-year-old sister Atsuko Yamano on drums.
This never fails to bring a smile to my face. They're great! Thanks so much for posting. :)
My parents showed me this video back in 2010 and I instantly recognized it today.
I remember hearing about this group a few years ago, but I never listened to their music. I regret that decision. Shonen Knife is quite an incredible power trio!
They're great! They play with such energy and their 'open' or uncluttered stage set up really helps showcase the pretty little ladies.
Whenever I watch this video, I have to replay it. I just like it that much!
久しぶりに見たけど、この時のメンバーが個人的に１番好き
Who are the 95? This is so joyful. Just look at how they are enjoying themselves. The world needs a lot more of this in 2017. 2016 has been pretty awful for a lot of people across the globe.
fabricadojoe those 95 are the people who aren't on top of the world (x
2017 was way worse than 2016...let's hope 2018 is better.
fabricadojoe the 95 (currently 118) are guys who hit on Etsuko or Ritsuko and got shot down
Hahaha They are both married mothers now, so, they are probably safe!
'They are a great band and playing awsome, heartwarming music, and i especially fell for the lovely drummer ...
you can not go wrong ever with shonen knife,whatever the decade or line up Naoko leads them to victory every time.
えっちゃんのドラミング忘れないよ！なおこさん最高！ I never forget Etsuko's doruming !
I'm in love with the drummer.
im in love with the bass player.
Ritsuko has left the band on a very extended hiatus, in order to care for her child.
I hope Shonen Knife is still going strong in 2024. Excellent treatment of the Carpenters classic. Karen Carpenter is smiling down from heaven.
They're still around
finally i found it after these years >.< , i heard in FF tokyo drift when sean on a date with neela this song play in background.
I was on the scene, it was 2009, Shonen Knife live in Beijing.
Love this cover! It appeared in the 1990s version of the parent trap! also fun fact: Atsuko makes all the costumes for the band :D
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW!!! im looking for this song for long time. . .i remember my Band with this song . . . number1 !!!
This band is new to me..... but what a great and lively performance.
Three ladies who really seem to enjoy themselves.....and therefore are sexy as hell!!
Dig in to Shonen Knife!! Lots of great music to be heard,, especially their late 80s-early 90s stuff
I can picture Karen and Richard just dancing their asses off to this. You know she would have approved.
Nirvanas favourite band.
I worked the opening night at the Richard and Karen Carpenter theater at Long Beach State University shonen knife was there to do their cover of " top of the world" they were awesome!!
I remember the lineup from the 90's, Fantastic.
How can you not love this song and this performance
Now that's how it's done. Amazing stage set. Punk w/class. Best bubblegum cover ever.
It's awesome that shonen knife covered this cuz it's one of my favorite carpenters songs
I used to watch their Banana Chips MV in MTV Asia before going to school during elementary days.
SHONEN KNIFE RULES. I think Karen would have liked this. R.I.P. Karen; you saved my life.
Heard this in Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift it's freaking awesome ...
ワイルドスピードのサントラでこの歌聞いて惚れた
Oh yeah, absolutely. I like all of SK's drummers, and you gotta' give special props to Atsuko for being a founding member, but Etsuko by FAR in that regard. Really talented too!
I loved this version of the song from the Shonen Knife. Actually, the whole Carpenters tribute album, If I Were A Carpenter, was excellent! Sonic Youth's cover of "Superstar" was appropriately creepy while the Cranberries take on "Close To You" ranked 3rd on my fave list from the album.
The Carpenters may not get the respect or adulation other bands from the same period are accorded but that doesn't mean they didn't write or make music that was enjoyable.
Keep on rockin', mate!
Yancey Cuyugan vv
No matter what....you have to love Shonen knife
素晴らしいクソ！
Etsuko left the band and was replaced by Emi Morimoto...and even more insane drummer.
This still rocks
Fantastic! Saw them twice recently in London...
This gives me life.
This is what you get if the Ramones were reborn as a trio of Japanese women with a bit of b-52's fun to boot.
I love you Shonen Knife and this version
Wow, this was the best song cover on a Carpenters tribute album I had way back. Nice quality video. Thanks for the memories.
This is so SICK! I love this
One of the greatest cover versions ever.
They sure seem to be filled with the joy of playing.
The 1990's was GOLDEN. This song was in a commercial for Internet Explorer 1.0 and when I saw it as a kid, I asked my parents what it was, and that is what got me in computers. Now, I know a lot about Computer Science and it is my job. Nostalgia hits me like a semi-truck...
The more I hear these Osakans, the more I like them.
日本でもっと評価されるべきだ
Such great fun! A nice twist on this classic.
i'm in love with the drummer........greetings from ohio (which i believe in japanese, means "good morning")
Greeting from Ohio means good morning in Japanese apparently lmao
@nibbles1637 "Daydream Believer" is one of the most covered songs of all time. I love that song, and when I see their anime version, it's so dang cute that it's easy to miss how thoroughly they blow the windows out of that song.
They are truly a great band!
Their most formidable lineup...
They took me by surprise many years ago. So innocent yet so wild.
Tell me about it! This song alone helps lift my mood when I am down. I broke up with someone recently and it was painful to do it, and this song really helps put me back where I need to be. Arigatou gozaimasu, Yamano-san!
この曲聴くとスクールオブロックを聴きまくっていた中学時代を思い出す。