The studio core comprises Spike Slawson on vocals, bassist Fat Mike, Joey Cape on guitar and backing vocals, Dave Raun on drums, and Chris Shiflett on guitar (his brother Scott of Face To Face/Viva Death fills in for Chris on tour). Touring members have included Brian Baker (Bad Religion/Minor Threat), Barry DaLive (Crosstops/RKL), Eric Melvin (NOFX), Matthew MacNasty (bagpipes player from the Real McKenzies), and Warren Fitzgerald (The Vandals).
Originally a themed 7" singles project, now each of their full length albums covers a different genre of music spanning the 50's to the 90's. Their first release in 1997 was entitled Have a Ball, followed by Are a Drag in 1999. In 2001 they released Blow in the Wind and two years later released Take a Break. Almost immediately after the release of Take a Break the released a live album Ruin Johnny's Bar Mitzvah The genres they've butchered now include country, on Love Their Country featuring covers of songs made popular by The Dixie Chicks, Johnny Cash and others. Their most recent release is a collection of B-sides from their album Have a Ball, simply titled Have Another Ball.
The Gimme Gimmes perform to entertain themselves as much as for the entertainment of their fans. Their albums and concerts are some of the most lighthearted and off the wall musical experiences in the punk world. Concerts are often interrupted between songs to freshen cocktails at the on stage tiki bar. CD liner notes relate the hardships of recording such as Fat Mike getting so caught up in "Wild World" that he believed he was Fat Stevens, a guitar-toting Islamic Extremist, so that when Spike sang "All My Lovin" he mistook it for "Allah my Lovin" and condemned Spike to death for heresy.
The Gimmes are also known for their costumes. Each album has a 'theme' for which they all dress up for the cover art and live shows. Some themes include red suits, metallic suits with fezzes, cheerleader outfits, drag (each Gimme dressed as a character from a musical they took songs from on the cover of Are a Drag: Chris Shiflett was Columbia and Spike was Dr Frank N. Furter from Rocky Horror, Joey Cape was Annie, Fat Mike was Sandy from Grease and Dave Raun was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz). During a Warped Tour they dressed as AFI, to the confusion of many fans. Most recently they have been dressing as cowboys, but are possibly best known for their lurid Hawaiian shirts.
Or their live album, "Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah", the band performed for a crowd of 30 at a Bar Mitzvah. The CD contained video of the actual event and the liner notes were written by attendee Benjamin Rosenblatt who describes the events: "They made a lot of mistakes. They even started a song then stopped, then started again." -track 7 "Strawberry Fields Forever" on the CD.
Hava Nagila
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Hava nagila
Hava nagila
Ve' Nismecha
Hava nagila
Hava nagila
Hava nagila
Hava neranena
Hava neranena
Hava neranena
Ve' Nismecha
Hava neranena
Hava neranena
Hava neranena
Ve' Nismecha
Uru, Uru achim
Uru achim belev sameach
Uru achim belev sameach
Uru achim belev sameach
Uru achim belev sameach
Uru achim
Uru achim
Belev sameach
The song "Hava Nagila" by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is an adaptation of the traditional Jewish folk song of the same name. The lyrics of the song are primarily in Hebrew, with the refrain "Hava Nagila" repeated throughout, along with "Ve' Nismecha" and "Hava Neranena". These phrases roughly translate to "let's rejoice" and "let's sing".
The song is an upbeat celebration of life and community, with the repeated refrain of "Hava Nagila" inviting everyone to move and dance together. The line "Uru, Uru achim" which means "awaken, awaken brothers" is a call to gather and celebrate together with joyous hearts. This sense of togetherness and celebration is further emphasized in the line "belev sameach", which means "with a happy heart".
Overall, "Hava Nagila" is a song that celebrates the joy and togetherness of Jewish culture and community, and the Me First and the Gimme Gimmes version brings a punk rock flair to this timeless classic.
Line by Line Meaning
Hava nagila
Let us rejoice
Ve' Nismecha
And be happy
Hava neranena
Let us sing
Uru achim
Awake, brothers
Belev sameach
With a joyful heart
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, ACUM Ltd.
Written by: JO PLEE, HERBERT THOMAR, DP
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Micha John Manowski
Today's already Wednesday the 20th of November 2019, at 6.48 o' clock, local time of Berlin, Central European time;
Belated and always related I wish schono tauwo u'messuko and additionally merry christmas.
Have a good one,
to all those who are well-intended.
MJM alias Cpt. John
#EUnionwithBrit
#Millennials
TheLivesOfMe
love this song love this album. THANK YOU!
Kegfreak
I just started the Sabbath with this jem!
Matt Kaleta
I ain't even a jew. I just love this song! Thumbs up for 90s punk rock cover bands!
Angela Golenia
Fantastic ❣
Rebekah Stone
This is the jam bruh
MartyMcFly -
I wonder how they got to play at the bar mitzvah did they know someone who knows the band?
Joeri Damian
Haha fat Mike is Jew-ish. he's not religious. But the NoFX in Israel video explains this pretty well.
jo ad
I would convert to Judaism just to get me first to play my mitzvah
silas jamal
they legit played at a bar mitzvah, the whole album is the live recording of it
panpantesmort
That's not what they say on the wikipedia