Matte Kudasai

"Matte Kudasai" (Japanese: 待ってください) is a ballad by the progressive rock band King Crimson. Featuring vocals by Adrian Belew, it was released as the first single from the album Discipline (1981). In the UK, the single just missed the chart.[1] The title means "Wait, Please" in Japanese.

"Matte Kudasai"
Single by King Crimson
from the album Discipline
B-side"Elephant Talk"
ReleasedNovember 1981
Recorded1981
GenreProgressive rock
Length3:47
LabelWarner Records
Songwriter(s)Adrian Belew, Bill Bruford, Robert Fripp, Tony Levin
Producer(s)King Crimson, Rhett Davies
King Crimson singles chronology
"Epitaph/21st Century Schizoid Man"
(1976)		 "Matte Kudasai"
(1981)		 "Elephant Talk"
(1981)

"Matte Kudasai" evolved out of a guitar riff played by Robert Fripp during 1980 tour rehearsals for Fripp's short-lived new wave band The League of Gentlemen. That riff, in turn, had similarities to Fripp's song "North Star", which had appeared on his 1979 album Exposure (with vocals, and lyrics, by Daryl Hall). The League of Gentlemen practiced playing along with Fripp; the rehearsal recording was later posted online by Discipline Global Mobile archivist Alex R. "Stormy" Mundy, who dubbed the resulting song "Northa Kudasai" to reflect its intermediate state.[2]

The 30th and 35th anniversary editions of Discipline contain two versions of "Matte Kudasai", the second presented as a bonus track. The first version on these editions is a new release featuring a guitar overdub by Robert Fripp. The bonus track "Matte Kudasai (alternative version)" is the original version from the 1981 LP.

Adrian Belew applies a slide and echo to his guitar to simulate the sound of seagulls twice in the song; once at the beginning, and again near the end.

Personnel

Covers

The short-lived jazz group Crimson Jazz Trio, founded by former King Crimson drummer Ian Wallace to play instrumental jazz versions of King Crimson songs, included "Matte Kudasai" on their first album, The King Crimson Songbook, Volume One (2005).

Jazz singer Kurt Elling covered the song as the opening track of his 2011 album The Gate.

On 20 April 2011, k.d. lang and her band the Siss Boom Bang covered the song as part of her concert at the BBC Radio Theater. The audio and video of that performance were broadcast on 21 April 2011 on BBC Radio 2. Lang noted in her introduction to the song that it was influential on the sound of her fifth album, Ingenue.[3]

The Levin Brothers (keyboardist/arranger Pete Levin and King Crimson bassist Tony Levin) included an instrumental version of "Matte Kudasai" on their 2014 album Levin Brothers.[4]

References
  1. Laswell, Barry (1989). Rock Movers & Shakers. Billboard. p. 281. ISBN 9780823076086.
  2. Mundy, Alex "Stormy". "Northa Kudasai I & II". DGMLive. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  3. k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang - Matte Kudasai on the 2011 BBC Radio Theater broadcast on YouTube.
  4. "The Levin Brothers Homepage". Thelevinbrothers.com. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
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