Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Wednesday cover: "Pac-Man-kuume" by Tijamaria (Finland)

Another international cover from 1983, this time with all-original music and vocals. And unlike the original, this one features no arcade samples, just synthesized effects.

This one also is a promotion for the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man, as can be seen by the back cover. My working theory is that Atari licensed the song in territories where the original song wasn't released, like Finland and Australia. (Photos courtesy Ville Ranki.)



They then found local artists to perform the song in the native language. (Or, in the case of Australia, they just used the original.) Unfortunately, I've found no confirmation of this theory beyond the existence of the records.

Getting back to this release, the B-side is a love song whose title doesn't translate well I'm told. The orange sticker basically says "sample record / not for sale."

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