The '' Cowboy Bebop''

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...

was accompanied by a number of soundtrack albums composed by

Yoko Kanno is a Japanese composer, arranger and music producer best known for her work on the soundtracks of anime series, television series, live-action films, video games, and advertisements. She was born in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. She has wri ...

and

Seatbelts A seat belt (also known as a safety belt, or spelled seatbelt) is a vehicle safety device designed to secure the driver or a passenger of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision or a sudden stop. A seat belt reduc ...

, a diverse band Kanno formed to create the music for the series, with a principal focus in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

. The soundtrack was released in the American market by

Victor Entertainment , also known as in Japan, is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Ent ...

, a subsidiary of

JVC Kenwood , stylized as JVCKENWOOD, is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. It was formed from the merger of Victor Company of Japan, Ltd (JVC) and Kenwood Corporation on October 1, 2008. Upon creation, Haruo Kaw ...

Theme songs

"Tank!"

"Tank!" is the series' opening song. The song, written by

and performed by

, has an extensive

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

solo played by

Masato Honda Masato Honda (本田雅人, born November 13, 1962), is a Japanese saxophone player, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. Born in Nakamura City, Kochi Prefecture (now Shimanto City), he graduated from Kunitachi College of Music. He is most well ...

, as well as a fill part at the end. The song is a

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

piece in a Latin-infused

hard bop Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospe ...

style with a

rhythm section A rhythm section is a group of musicians within a music ensemble or band that provides the underlying rhythm, harmony and pulse of the accompaniment, providing a rhythmic and harmonic reference and "beat" for the rest of the band. The rhythm sec ...

that combines a

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

and

bongo drum Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

s. "Tank!" is primarily an instrumental piece, though it does feature some spoken male

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...

s (provided by long-time collaborator with Kanno, Tim Jensen) in the introductory portion of the song, thematically jazz in style. The vocal portion provides a lead-in to the instrumental portion, and its final lyrics, "I think it's time we blow this scene. Get everybody and the stuff together. Okay, three, two, one let's jam", signal the beginning bursts of the majority, purely instrumental end of the song. It has been featured on the soundtracks to the series and was used on the preview for TV series '' My Own Worst Enemy''. Figure skater Kevin Reynolds performed his short program for the 2016 Canadian National Figure Skating Championships to "Tank!", and did it dressed as

Spike Spiegel is a fictional character introduced as the protagonist of the 1998 anime series '' Cowboy Bebop''. Spike is a former member of the criminal Red Dragon Syndicate, who left by faking his death after falling in love with a woman named Julia. He is ...

"The Real Folk Blues"

"The Real Folk Blues" is the first ending theme for ''Cowboy Bebop''. The song was performed by Seatbelts, featuring vocals by

Mai Yamane is a Japanese singer, known for her work on the '' Cowboy Bebop'' soundtrack with Yoko Kanno and her 1980 hit ''Tasogare''. Early life and solo career Her career started in 1979 when she participated and won the prize in Yamaha Music Foundation' ...

. The song was composed and arranged by Yoko Kanno, with lyrics by Yūho Iwasato. The track appears on the series-related album . The song is one of few songs in the series to be sung in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. The song is not used for the end credits in "Jupiter Jazz, Pt. II" (the song used for the end credits in "Jupiter Jazz, Pt. II" is "Space Lion") and the finale, "The Real Folk Blues". However, an alternate version of the song entitled "See You Space Cowboy..." plays during the final episode as the prelude to the climax. It appears on the ''Cowboy Bebop Blue'' album as a bonus track.

Studio recordings

''Cowboy Bebop''

''Cowboy Bebop'' is the first album created for the series, and the most easily categorized in terms of genre, as an outlet for many of the trademark

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...

tracks. It begins with the show's theme song, "Tank!". The track "Bad Dog No Biscuits" opens with a cover of the

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

composition " Midtown" before diverting in its interpretation. The album received a rating of five out of five stars from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'' Cowboy Bebop Vitaminless''

is the first mini-album. It features the end credits theme from the series, "The Real Folk Blues". The middle section of "Spy" was later reprised in "You Make Me Cool", which appears on the ''No Disc'' album.

''Cowboy Bebop No Disc''

is the second soundtrack album, which has more stylistic variety than its predecessor, incorporating

bluegrass music Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music The term American folk music encompasses numerous music genres, variously known as ''traditional music'', ''traditional folk music'', ''contemporary folk music'', ''vernacular music,'' or ...

, heavy metal,

Japanese pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...

lounge Lounge may refer to: Architecture * Lounge, the living room of a dwelling * Lounge, a public waiting area in a hotel's lobby * Lounge, a style of commercial alcohol- bar * Airport lounge, or train lounge (e.g., AMTRAK's Acela Lounge), a premium ...

, swing,

chorale Chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale: * Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one of the t ...

and

scat-singing In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. ...

, among other styles, as well as the usual blues and jazz pieces.

''Cowboy Bebop Blue''

''Cowboy Bebop Blue'' is the third soundtrack album, featuring many vocal pieces including a unique variation of "

Ave Maria The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary's s ...

" performed by Jerzy Knetig and the

Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra The Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra ( pl, Orkiestra Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie) is a Polish orchestra based in Warsaw. Founded in 1901, it is one of Poland's oldest musical institutions. History The orchestra was conceived on ...

. It was released on May 1, 1999. Regarding the album, Cammila Collar of AllMusic wrote: "Of the more than ten discs released in conjunction with ''Cowboy Bebop'', ''Blue'' is undoubtedly the best, representing the widest variety of genres."

''Ask DNA''

''Ask DNA'' is a maxi single released in 2001, an accompaniment to ''Cowboy Bebop Future Blues''. It consists of a few highlights from '' Cowboy Bebop: The Movie'', including the title theme, "Ask DNA".

''Future Blues''

''Future Blues'' is the main soundtrack from '' Cowboy Bebop: The Movie''. It explores styles such as country-western and Arabic music. The song "3.14" features

Aoi Tada is a Japanese singer and former voice actress. She formerly belonged to Gekidan Himawari. Her most noted voice role is that of Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV in '' Cowboy Bebop''. She also performed an insert song to the series, "Wo Qui No ...

reciting the first 53 digits of pi to a tune.

''Cowboy Bebop Tank! THE! BEST!''

''Cowboy Bebop Tank! THE! BEST!'' compiles previously released material, mostly vocal pieces, with three all-new songs written for the 2005

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

game '' Cowboy Bebop: Tsuioku no Serenade'', featuring the vocals of

Ilaria Graziano Ilaria Graziano (also known as ILA or Nanà; born in Naples, Italy) is an Italian singer. She gained popularity with the release of '' Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex'' and the subsequent original soundtracks, composed by Yoko Kanno. G ...

. The first pressing of the CD included a bonus sticker. These songs were the last new material released by Seatbelts.

Miscellaneous

''Cowboy Bebop Remixes: Music for Freelance''

is a collection of songs remixed by popular American and British DJs, including many from the popular

Ninja Tune Ninja Tune is an English independent record label based in London. It has a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded by Matt Black and Jonathan More (better known as Coldcut) and managed by Peter Quicke and others. Inspired by a visit ...

label.

Mr. Scruff Andrew Carthy (born 10 February 1972), better known by his stage name Mr. Scruff, is an English record producer and DJ. He lives in Stretford, Greater Manchester and studied fine art at the Psalter Lane campus of Sheffield Hallam University. ...

spoke to British magazine ''

Impact Impact may refer to: * Impact (mechanics), a high force or shock (mechanics) over a short time period * Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US Science and technology * Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event * Impact ...

'' of his remix of ''Cat Blues'', telling

Andrez Bergen Andrez Simon Bergen is an Australian musician and writer. , Bergen lived in Tokyo, Japan with his wife, Yoko Umehara, and their daughter Cocoa. He has performed and released electronic music as Little Nobody. Biography Andrez Simon Bergen, ...

that he chose it "as it was a great, old sounding tune, simple with loads of personality. The parts were so well recorded that it was a pleasure to remix! I chopped it up into a kind of stuttering drumbox jazz wobbler". The premise of the album is that the CD is a recording of a

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...

station, and each song is humorously introduced by the DJ (Watanabe), in English. These tracks are called the "Radio Free Mars Talks". They are credited as follows: * Script:

Shinichirō Watanabe is a Japanese anime television and film director, best known for directing the critically acclaimed and commercially successful anime series '' Cowboy Bebop'' and ''Samurai Champloo''. An auteur of the industry, Watanabe's work is characterized ...

, Dai Sato * Translation: Agnes S. Kaku * Narration: Peter Duimstra

'' Cowgirl Ed''

''Cowgirl Ed'' is a limited edition Mini-CD. This single came packaged with the first pressing of ''Future Blues'' and is currently out of print.

''Cowboy Bebop Boxed Set''

The ''Cowboy Bebop Boxed Set'' includes four regular size CDs, one bonus

Mini CD Mini CDs, or pocket CDs, are CDs with a smaller diameter and one-third the storage capacity of a standard 120 mm disc. Formats Amongst the various formats are the *Mini CD single, a small disc. The format is mainly used for audio CD si ...

, and a 52-page booklet (in

). The booklet includes trivia, track listings, interviews, and lyrics. Disks 1, 2 and 3 contain new and previously released tracks from the series, performed by

. Disk 4 contains live tracks from

on tour, as well as some unreleased

movie A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

tracks. The dialogue tracks are not songs, rather, they are vocal samples taken directly from the

version of the series. It was released on June 21, 2002, and is now out of production. Sean Westergaard of AllMusic gave the boxed set four out of five stars, citing its eclectic blend of genres and an appeal going beyond anime fans to "any adventurous listener", but also mentioned that the spoken dialogue tracks detracted from its accessibility. The scripts for the dialogue tracks are credited to Shinichiro Watanabe and Dai Sato and the translation was done by Agnes S. Kaku. ''Tracks in bold are exclusive to this boxed set.''

''12" Vinyl Singles''

Accompanying the release of the ''Cowboy Bebop Remixes: Music for Freelance'' album and the ''Ask DNA'' maxi-single were two EPs released on 12-inch vinyl containing a selection of material from the aforementioned albums. Both EPs came in plain white jackets with printed graphics on the record label and played at 33⅓ rpm. Both albums were released independently with ''Remixes'' using the catalog number ''BEBOP 001'' and ''Ask DNA'' using ''BEBOP 002''. The first EP, simply dubbed ''Remixes'' and released in 1999, contains 5 tracks taken from the ''Music for Freelance'' CD. Around the label there are trademarks for Sunrise and Victor Entertainment, followed by a line that reads ''DJ Promo Only Not for Resale''. The track list for the EP is below; The second EP, dubbed ''Ask DNA'' and released in 2001, contains all 5 tracks from the ''Ask DNA'' maxi-single. This EP was released through the ''Cowboy Bebop'' Japanese fanclub as promotional material in limited quantities. It came in a plain white jacket with a sticker on the outside containing the Seatbelts logo and an advertisement for the CD release of ''Ask DNA''. The track list for the EP is below;

The Real Folk Blues Charity Single for COVID-19 Relief

On May 1, 2020, a charity single of The Real Folk Blues was released by Mason Lieberman and

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

to raise money for COVID-19 relief. The track features anime, game and music artists including

and

The Seatbelts is a Japanese band led by composer and instrumentalist Yoko Kanno. An international ensemble comprising both a stable lineup of musicians and various collaborators, the band was assembled by Kanno in 1998 to perform the soundtrack music for the ...

, A-sha Mai Yamane, and Shihori, with cameos by voice-actors

Steve Blum Steven Jay Blum (; born April 29, 1960) is an American voice actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, his most well-known roles include Spike Spiegel from the anime series '' Cowboy Bebop'', Garazeb Orrelios from the animated series ''St ...

and

Beau Billingslea John "Beau" Billingslea (born 1944) is an American actor, known as the voice of Jet Black in the critically acclaimed anime '' Cowboy Bebop'', Ogremon in ''Digimon'' and Homura and Ay, the Fourth Raikage in ''Naruto Shippuden''. In addition to ...

. The single was available as a music video on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, as a stream / download for purchase on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

and was also a Limited-Edition vinyl with B-side remix. Proceeds were donated to the

CDC Foundation The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

and

Doctors without Borders Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...