Tsubasa o Kudasai

Tsubasa o Kudasai (翼つばさをください, lit. "Please Give Me Wings") is a popular Japanese folk song written by Michio Yamagami (山上さんじょう路ろ夫おっと) and composed by Kunihiko Murai (村井むらい邦彦くにひこ).

General

The song was composed for the Nemu Popular Festival '70 (合歓ごうかん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 (竹田たけだの子守こもり唄うた) released by the folk group Akaitori (赤あかい鳥とり) 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 (あの日ひのことは).

Shoji 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.

Megumi Yokota once sang this song at a school competition.

The song was chosen as the official theme of the national team of Japan during the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

The song was used in the popular manga Goodnight Punpun.

A version of this song performed by Megumi Hayashibara is part of the soundtrack for the 2009 anime film Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance by Hideaki Anno.

Covers

Many Japanese artists have released a cover version of this song:

• Babymetal
• D=OUT
• Sayaka Ichii with Yūko Nakazawa
• Kazumasa Oda
• Kanon
• Houkago Tea Time
• Hideaki Tokunaga
• Megumi Hayashibara (present on the soundtrack of Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance)
• Ayaka Hirahara
• Saki Fukuda
• 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
• Kat McDowell
• Beckii Cruel
• Only Wednesday Music (Yandere Simulator Promo)
• CameronF305