Track Listing

1. Jonny's Blessing
2. Stairway to Heaven
3. Heart of Glass
4. Delta Dawn
5. Come Sail Away
6. O Sole Mio
7. Strawberry Fields Forever
8. Auld Lang Syne
9. The Longest Time
10. On My Mind
11. Take it on the Run
12. Superstar
13. Hava Nagila
14. Hava Nagila (Christmas Arrangement)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59491 in Music
• Released on: 2004-10-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Enhanced, Live
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.com
Whether or not Me First and the Gimme Gimmes were successful in their attempt to Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah depends, naturally, on Jonny. If he's a fan of pop (and circumstance) classics reconfigured as punk, Jonny's special day must have been quite a treat because that's what he got. The Gimmes brought their tongue-in-cheek sneering delivery and souped-up versions on hits such as "Take it on the Run" and "Strawberry Fields Forever." Me First even tackles "Stairway to Heaven" here. And, as you might guess, "Hava Nagila" closes the set. This CD is a low-brow party favor, perfect for 13-year-old boys actually. Others may be worn a little thin depending on how hilarious they find a rocked-up "Delta Dawn." Still, the band barrels through this party of friends and relatives with plenty of charm. Listeners will visualize the Bar Mitzvah dance floor while they place bets on whether or not Richard Cheese gets billed at Jonny’s prom. --John Moe

Customer Reviews

Baruch Ata Adonai Eloyhaynu
This is a live recording by the world's greatest cover band. The Gimmes are a collection of super-talented musicians posing as a couple of shmucks, and they rock. The whole performance is hysterical in Me First fashion, you will not stop laughing as well as enjoying many new offerings from these punk-rock kings. Do yourself a huge favor and by all available releases from the Gimmes. Do yourself an even bigger favor and by them direct from Fat Wreck Chords and save yourself a few bucks.

By the way Fat Mike may not be a genius but his political sense is deadly accurate.

Not a masterpiece, but thoroughly entertaining
After reading some of the other reviews, I've got to say... some of you people need to relax about the lack of refinement on this CD, and get a sense of humor. First of all, don't forget they're still a punk band. Punk *by definition* does not have to be perfect or conform to any rules -- some of you obviously aren't old enough to have ever attended a live punk show in the 70's/80's (or even now). If you need orderly conduct in your music, then you should be listening to Jessica Simpson, not punk. But even with all the mistakes and drunkenness, they still manage to "rock out" and play a pretty tight set...

As for the goofy banter and sloppiness, I found it charming and amusing. There's nothing "obscure" about their humor, unless of course you have a very narrow and conservative sense of humor (in which case, you've probably been taking their music far more seriously than it's meant to be taken). Just because you don't get it, doesn't mean that it's not funny.

The title alone, "Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah" made me laugh, and it was obvious to me that it was a live album. If you couldn't figure that out from the title and cover, you should be blaming yourself not the band.

Okay, so this review was more of a critique of other reviews. But hopefully it will convince a few people to ignore reviews from some of the more uptight and humorless "fans", and give this CD a chance.

Real entertainers
I got this after I heard 'Are A Drag' and figured that it couldn't be for real. Well, I'm sure that it is. These guys are great. I turned a lot of people onto them that wouldn't even get into punk but know these songs and enjoy what they do with them. The quality of the recording is pretty amazing. It might be lame to say, but it's probably one of the best live recordings that I've come across. Their remakes of tunes are just great and you can tell that they are pretty serious about their love for the music that they do. I didn't cringe like one reviewer did at Stairway to Heaven, it was as short as it needed to be without being blasphemous. The singing is really great on this and the things that they say between the songs are quite humorous. One wish? They recorded their break (which was kind of odd but not unlike them probably) so that it ate up time on the disc. I would've like more songs, they were just sounding great!! If you like music because it entertains you, this is for you. I am a pro musician and usually analyze music. I don't to this; it's meant to be for enjoying and nothing else.