is the 11th single by Japanese rock band Godiego

Godiego

is a popular band from Japan, consisting of the Mickie Yoshino, Yukihide Takekawa, Takami Asano, Steve Fox, and Tommy Snyder...

. The song was used as the theme song for the 1979 film adaptation of the manga of the same name

Galaxy Express 999

is a manga written and drawn by Leiji Matsumoto, as well as various anime films and TV series based on it. It is set in a space-faring, high-tech future in which humans have learned how to transfer their minds into mechanical bodies, thus achieving practical immortality.The manga won the...

. The song was composed by Godiego vocalist Yukihide Takekawa and arranged by Godiego keyboardist Mickie Yoshino. Like many Godiego songs, it is both in Japanese and English; the English lyrics were written by Yōko Narahashi and the Japanese lyrics were written by Keisuke Yamakawa. The song reached #2 on the Oricon

Oricon

, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

 charts and was the #1 song on The Best Ten for seven weeks.

To differentiate it from the theme song of the anime which has the same name in Japanese, it is often referred to by its English title which is stylized as "THE GALAXY EXPRESS 999".

Album cuts

• Magic Capsule
• Godiego Hit Special
• W Deluxe
• Godiego The Best All English Songs
• 15th Anniversary Godiego Box
• Godiego Great Best (Japanese & English editions)
• Galaxy Express 999: Eternal Edition File No.7&8
• Galaxy Express 999: Song Collection

Cover versions

Several groups and artists have covered the song since its release in 1979. It was included on Animetal

Animetal

was a Japanese novelty heavy metal band who specialized in metal covers of theme songs from classic and modern Japanese anime and tokusatsu television series....

's Animetal Marathon VI

Animetal Marathon VI

is the sixth full length album by Japanese heavy metal band Animetal. This album focuses on the ending themes of the Super Robot series, as well as other series...

, Masaaki Endoh

Masaaki Endoh

is a Japanese singer/songwriter who is prominent in the area of soundtracks for anime and tokusatsu productions. He is one of the founders of the anison supergroup JAM Project and has been a regular member ever since its inception in 2000. The group recently celebrated their 10th Anniversary with a...

's Enson2

Enson (album)

Enson is an album by Japanese J-pop and anison artist Masaaki Endoh of JAM Project. In this album, and its follow up Enson2 , Endoh covers theme songs from multiple anime, tokusatsu, and video games. During its 3 weeks on the Oricon Weekly Album Charts, the first album peaked at #43...

, and by Exile with Verbal

Verbal (rapper)

Verbal is a Japanese third generation Zainichi Korean hip-hop MC, who debuted in 1998 as a member of the J-Pop hip-hop duo m-flo....

 of M-Flo

M-flo

is a Japanese hip hop group consisting of producer and DJ Taku Takahashi and emcee Verbal.Former member Lisa left the group in 2002 to pursue a solo career, and the remaining members then started the M-Flo Loves... project working different vocalists for each song over three albums, including the...

 on Exile Catchy Best in 2008. The Exile cover was digitally commercially successful, being certified by the RIAJ as being downloaded more than one million times as a ringtone, and more than 500,000 times as a full-length cellphone download.