Are a Drag

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Are a Drag is the second album by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, released in 1999 on the Fat Wreck Chords independent record label.

The album is made up mainly of show tunes. The album's title alludes to the fact that most of the songs on the album feature vocalist Spike Slawson singing songs that were originally performed by female characters in their original stage shows/movies (with the exception of the Phantom's part in "Phantom of the Opera", "Science Fiction/Double Feature" which was sung by a female traditionally, but more popularly by Richard O'Brien in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and "Rainbow Connection").

The album's cover features the members of the band dressed up, in drag, as five characters from the musicals represented in song: a member of A Chorus Line ("What I Did For Love"), Annie Mudge from Annie ("Tomorrow"), Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz ("Over the Rainbow"), Sandy Dumbrowski from Grease ("It's Raining on Prom Night"), and Dr. Frank-N-Furter from The Rocky Horror Show ("Science Fiction/Double Feature").

Like many other Gimme Gimmes albums, Are a Drag contains many elements of mash-up - more specifically, musical allusions to punk or power-pop songs in their covers. The intro to the song "My Favorite Things" quotes "Generator", by Bad Religion, and at the end of "Tomorrow", Fat Mike can be heard singing "Mommy's alright, daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird" - a lyric from "Surrender" by Cheap Trick.

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Musical	Length
1.	"Over the Rainbow"	E. Y. Harburg	Harold Arlen	The Wizard of Oz	1:32
2.	"Don't Cry for Me Argentina"	Tim Rice	Andrew Lloyd Webber	Evita	2:29
3.	"Science Fiction/Double Feature"	Richard O'Brien	O'Brien	The Rocky Horror Show	2:34
4.	"Summertime"	DuBose Heyward, Dorothy Heyward, Ira Gershwin	George Gershwin	Porgy and Bess	2:10
5.	"My Favorite Things" (contains an interpolation of "Generator" by Bad Religion, written by Brett Gurewitz)	Oscar Hammerstein II	Richard Rodgers	The Sound of Music	1:52
6.	"Rainbow Connection"	Paul Williams, Kenneth Ascher	Williams, Ascher	The Muppet Movie	2:18
7.	"Phantom of the Opera"	Charles Hart, Richard Stilgoe, Mike Batt	Andrew Lloyd Webber	The Phantom of the Opera	1:45
8.	"I Sing the Body Electric"	Dean Pitchford	Michael Gore	Fame	1:44
9.	"It's Raining on Prom Night"	Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey	Jacobs, Casey	Grease	2:57
10.	"Tomorrow" (contains an interpolation of "Surrender" by Cheap Trick, written by Rick Nielsen)	Martin Charnin	Charles Strouse	Annie	1:31
11.	"What I Did for Love"	Edward Kleban	Marvin Hamlisch	A Chorus Line	1:46
12.	"Cabaret"	Fred Ebb	John Kander	Cabaret	3:24

Band

• Spike Slawson - vocals
• Chris Shiflett (a.k.a. Jake Jackson) - lead guitar
• Joey Cape - rhythm guitar
• Fat Mike - bass
• Dave Raun - drums

Additional musicians

• Karina Denike - backing vocals
• Sara K. Fisher - backing vocals

See also

• Me First and the Gimme Gimmes discography