''Funky Days!'' (ファンキーデイズ!) is the fourth domestic single by

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese hip-hop group

Lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

, released on July 30, 2003. It was their first to be released after their debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

'' Life On Da Beat,'' bringing in their new era of ''

Brand New Era ''Brand New Era'' (stylized as ''BRAИD ИEW ERA'') is the second studio album by Japanese hip-hop group Lead on August 25, 2004. The album charted at No. 11 on the Oricon charts and remained on the charts for three weeks. Bonuses with the album ...

'' (2004). The single charted well on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

charts at #10 and remained on the charts for five weeks. Bonuses with the single included one of five possible

trading card A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other ...

s, a

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in which fans could download a specialized

wallpaper Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" (so t ...

or screensaver, and a Lead 2003 Summer Campaign

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

Information

''Funky Days!'' (ファンキーデイズ!) is the fourth single by Japanese hip-hop dance group

released three months after their debut

'' Life On Da Beat'' on July 30, 2003. The single performed well on the

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In J ...

s, taking #10 for the weekly ranking, and remained on the charts for five consecutive weeks. The single was released as a standard CD and came with three bonuses: one of five possible

s, a

where fans could download a Lead-themed

and screensaver, and a Lead 2003 Summer Campaign

. Along with the title track and its corresponding instrumentals, the

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

"All My Life ~Manatsu no Umi Monogata~" (ALL MY LIFE ～真夏の海物語～ / ''Midsummer Ocean Story'') was included, as was a 2003

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

of their debut song "

Manatsu no Magic is the debut single by Japanese hip-hop group Lead released on July 31, 2002. The single debuted on Oricon at #18 and remained on the charts for five weeks. The success of the single and their following single, " Show Me the Way", helped them w ...

." The 2003 remix was done by AKIRA, who created the side-project PALM DRIVE. While the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was released for syndication upon the single's release, it did not become available to purchase until the release of their first video compilation, '' Lead Movies 1'', in September of that year. "Funky Days!" was written and composed by

musical composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Shinji Tamura, with lyrics written by

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income ...

Atsuyuki Enokido. The song carried both elements of

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

and hip-hop music. The coupling track, "All My Life ~Manatsu no Umi Monogata~," was written and composed by Yasushi Sasamoto.

Background and composition

"Funky Days!" was written and composed by musical composer Shinji Tamura, with lyrics written by Atsuyuki Enokido. Atsuyuki has written lyrics for the comedy group No Plan, who occasionally perform music, Mitsuo Iwata and Abe Natsumi. Shinji Tamura is most well-known for composing the music for

Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...

games, most notably ''

Tales of Phantasia is an action role-playing game originally developed by Wolf Team. It is the first title in Namco's ''Tales (video game series), Tales'' series. Initially released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Famicom in December 1995, it was ...

'' (1999), which is part of the '' Tales of...''

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

series. The coupling track, "All My Life ~Manatsu no Umi Monogata~," was written and composed by Yasushi Sasamoto, who worked with Lead on their previous songs, "Manatsu no Magic", " Show me the way" and " Fly Away," and who composed much of the music from their ''Life On Da Beat'' album. Yasushi has also worked predominantly with the female vocal group

MAX Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

. Their other efforts include Hitomi Shimatani, Aya Matsuura and MISIA.

Track listing

Charts

References

External links

Lead Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Funky Days! 2003 singles 2003 songs Pony Canyon singles J-pop songs Lead (band) songs