Firecracker

Firecracker is a song written by Martin Denny that was originally included on his 1959 album Quiet Village. The song would be re-recorded in 1978 by Yellow Magic Orchestra for their self-titled debut. It ended up being their biggest hit in the United States, peaking at #42 on the Billboard charts on April 24, 1980.

Origin
The song was originally written by American exotica composer Martin Denny, who was well known for composing easy listening interpretations of world music. Firecracker, which was released in August 1959 on his album Quiet Village, was intended to be his take on Chinese and, to a lesser extent, Japanese music.

In the mid-70's, Haruomi Hosono started experimenting with exotica on his solo albums. He even performed Firecracker with his band Tin Pan Alley as far back as 1976 (though this version was far more faithful to the original than the Yellow Magic Orchestra version).

When Hosono came up with the idea of creating a futurist electronic exotica album in 1978, Hosono decided to revisit the song.

Recording
The recording of the song commenced on July 10, 1978, and was the first song the band recorded together. According to Hosono, the band originally recorded the song against a click with only three other parts: Hosono on bass, Ryuichi Sakamoto on keyboards and Yukihiro Takahashi on drums. The group was dissatisfied with the result, considering it to be too uninspired and similar to the original. The recording was scrapped and the band set out to create a brand new arrangement for the song.

Their arrangement was punctuated by a punchy synth bass riff written by Hosono, as well as a Roland MC-8 sequencer and some improvised piano flourishes courtesy of Sakamoto. The percussion on the track is almost entirely electronically sequenced, though the clap is performed by Takahashi using a Pollard Syn-Drum. The firecracker explosion sound effect at the end isn't electronically generated, but is instead a sound effect.

Release
The song was originally released on Yellow Magic Orchestra's self-titled debut in Japan on November 25, 1978. That same year it was included on a promo 12" intended for Japanese DJ's, serving as the B-side to Tong Poo from the same album.

When the album was released in the United States by A&M Records in 1979, Firecracker was the song selected by A&M to be the lead single. In the US, the song was marketed under a multitude of titles, the most common of which being 'Computer Games' and 'Computer Games (Theme From the Circus)'. This is probably due to some confusion that arose from the fact that on the album, the opening intro track, Computer Games (Theme From the Circus), segues directly into Firecracker.

Aided by Yellow Magic Orchestra's concurrent worldwide tours, Firecracker became a dance hit in the US in 1980, peaking at #42 on the Billboard charts on April 24th of that year, becoming the only YMO song to enter those charts. The band famously mimed the song on American music show Soul Train on November 2, 1980, along with their recent cover of Archie Bell & the Drells' 'Tighten Up'. The performance was followed by an interview with the band by a bemused Don Cornelius, host of the show, who visibly struggled to carry the interview due to the language barrier.

A different edit of "Firecracker", with a 22-second extract of "Computer Game (Theme from The Invaders)" added as an intro, became YMO's biggest hit in the UK. Although the single itself listed both titles correctly (and even provided accurate timings for each), many people failed to realise that "Firecracker" was the title of the main track, and many reference works still just list the single as "Computer Game (Theme From The Invaders)".

When Yellow Magic Orchestra's recording of Firecracker became a US hit, the band received a telegram from Martin Denny, thanking the band for covering his song and wishing it luck on the charts. Denny would later return the favor in 1990 when he recorded the album Exotica '90 with a variety of Japanese musicians. The album included a new re-recording of Firecracker.

Live performances
The band would go on to perform the song in almost every set of theirs between 1978 and 1980. It was briefly retired for the 1981 Winter Live Tour, in order to make room for their more recent material, though it would make a comeback for their final 1983 tour, becoming the final song performed by the band during their initial run when they played it on December 22 of that year at the Budokan.

Outside of YMO, the song has become a staple of Hosono's setlist, first making an appaearance on May 8, 1976 when his band Tin Pan Alley (which included Sakamoto on keyboards) performed it in Chinatown, Yokohama.

Legacy
Yellow Magic Orchestra's version of the song is infamous for being the catalyst of a feud between American pop singers Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez in 2000. Carey had planned to sample the recording for her song 'Loverboy', off her album Glitter. A month after she obtained the rights to the sample, Lopez used the same sample for her song 'I'm Real' off the album 'J.Lo', effectively stealing her idea. Since Carey's album was to be released a month after Lopez's, she reluctantly decided to change the sample to one from 'Candy' by American funk band Cameo.

Norwegian electronic artist Todd Terje covered the song on his 2016 EP The Big Cover-Up. The cover is largely based on Yellow Magic Orchestra's version.