The Japanese song "Yatta," sung by the group Happatai, swept through East Term II 2003. Since then it has been played at most East Dances, term I included, with an official dance to boot. The dance is one of the easiest for new TiPsters to learn and most contagious. More recently, the dance has been nicknamed "taking a Yat".

At the second dance of East Term 1 2007, Sam Prevatt announced that "YATTA!" has officially been canonized as the sixth "canonical TIP song," joing the ranks of "Brown-Eyed Girl," "Blister in the Sun," "American Pie," "It's the End of the World," and "The Time Warp." Some disagree on whether or not a song can actually be canonized.

During the beginning and end parts of the song, in which is sung "G! R! Double-E! N! Leaves!" the dancers do their best to approximate each letter (for the word "leaves," the letter L), a la YMCA.

The dance is based on the dance from Happatai's video of the song, which is sung wearing nothing but tighty-whities with large fig leaves on them. The video should really be watched before attempting the dance.

The bridge between each verse and the refrain, which sounds to the untrained, English ear somewhat like "You! You! You! You! Us! Us! Us! Us!", is exemplified by pointing forward four times, moving the hands in a circle outward, and then pointing inward at oneself with the thumbs four times.

For the refrain, all dancers place their arms in such a way as to resemble goal posts, palms outward. They bounce twice on the right foot, then twice on the left, repeating the cycle until the refrain is over. The bounces coincide with the words "Yat-ta! Yat-ta!", etc., and many TiPsters sing along.

Alspaugh's dorm entrance for the East Term 2 2006 Quadfest included this portion of the Yatta dance. The TiPster played duck-duck-goose. When one "goose" was tagged, they were tagged in a way that indicated for them and the tagger to "Yatta-dance" around the circle in slow motion.

It should be noted that during 2003 Yatta was danced, en masse, on the circle quad facing the Union. In 2004, when Daag introduced the song to Term I, he led the dance on the circle quad and the TiPsters danced on/near the steps facing him. Needless to say that when Term II rolled around several TiPsters were miffed at the change.

At the 2003, Term II quadfest, Brown, the home of the craze, led by Peter Sloan used a faux-translation of the lyrics, displayed as "subtitles" (strips of poster board) for one of its dorm cheers. At that year's Lip Sync, five 3rd Year boys (among them, of course, Peter Sloan) performed it in a TIP-propriate manner: dressing in all white with leaves taped tastefuly over a vital area.

This was also performed in a similar way at West term II '04, but during the Talent Show instead.

During Term II 2010 at East, the song was performed by ten of the most awesome and popular fourth years who dressed up Peter Sloan style and performed at the last dance. The dance was in everybody's eyes, the best last dance at TIP ever, partially due to the incredible performance of the ten fourth years.

Yatta is the only one of the seven Official TIP Songs not available in any form on Spotify.

Lyrics

as provided on http://web.mit.edu/patil/www/web/yatta.txt

G R Double-E N Leaves G R Double-E N Leaves

It's so easy! Happy-go-lucky! We are the world! We did it! Hyuu! Hyuu! Hyuu! Hyuu! Osu! Osu! Osu! Osu! (Ai!) Yatta! Yatta! Daigaku gohgaku Yatta! Yatta! Shachoh shuunin Happa ichimai areba ii. Ikite iru kara lucky da!

Yatta! Yatta! Tohsen kakujitsu Yatta! Yatta! Nihon daihyoh Yannaru kurai kenkoh da. Everybody say yatta!

Nippon kyuukyuu (demo) Ashita wa wonderful Ijiwaru saretemo futon haireba Guu guu guu guu! Pass pass pass pass (Ohayo--!)

Yatta! Yatta! Kuujikan suimin Yatta! Yatta! Neoki de jump Donna ii koto aru daroh ikite ita kara lucky da!

Yatta! Yatta! Kimi ga kawareba Yatta! Yatta! Sekai mo kawaru Marugoshi dakara saikoh da massugu tattara kimochi ii--!

O-mizu nondara umee! (Yatta!) Hi ni atattara attakee! (Yatta!) Koshi kara warattara omoshiree! (Yatta! Yatta!) Inu-katte mitara kawaii! (Yatta!)

[Repeat]

Surechigai-zama hohoemi kureta Nido to aenaku-tatte ii kimi ga ita kara lucky da!

Heisei fukyoh seiji fushin Reset sae surya saikoh da! Minna iru kara tanoshii--!

Yatta! Yatta! Daigaku kyohshitsu Yatta! Yatta! Movie star Happa ichimai areba ii. Minna issho da happy da!

Yatta! Yatta! Iki wo sueru Yatta! Yatta! Iki wo hakeru Yannaru gurai kenkoh da! Everybody say yatta!

[Repeat *] Bye-Q!

And, translated into English: G R Double-E N Leaves G R Double-E N Leaves It's so easy! Happy-go-lucky! We are the world! We did it! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! (Unh!)

All right! All right! We're doin' great in college! All right! All right! Made president at our jobs! Long as we've one leaf on, we're doin' fine! Hey, we're lucky just 'cause we're alive!

All right! All right! We've been confirmed for the prize! All right! All right! We're representing Japan! We're so healthy, it just makes ya sick! Everybody say "All right!"

Japan's got crises (but) Tomorrow's wonderful Even if somebody's mean to us, we just go to bed and Snore! Snore! Snore! Snore! Pass! Pass! Pass! Pass! (Good morniiiiing!)

All right! All right! We got nine hours of sleep! All right! All right! Woke up and jumped outta bed What kinda great things might await us now? Hey, we're lucky just 'cause we're alive!

All right! All right! If there's a change in you All right! All right! Then the whole world will change too. Getting through it unhurt's the best of all. Just stand up straight because it feels greeeaat!!

I drink water that's tasty! (All right!) I get in the sun and feel toasty! (All right!) Havin' a belly laugh's fun! (All right! All right!) Try keeping dogs--they're cute! (All right!)

[Repeat]

As we brushed past each other, you favored me with a smile. It's okay if we never meet again. I'm lucky you were here just for a while!

We've got recession these days...in government we've no faith. Could we hit "reset," that'd be number one! And since we're all here, it's just so much fun!

All right! All right! In university class All right! All right! We've got a movie star! Long as we've one leaf on, we're doin' fine! We're all together, it's a happy time!

All right! All right! Long as we still can breathe in... All right! All right! Long as we still can breathe out... We're so healthy, it just makes ya sick! Everybody say "All right!"

[Repeat]

Bye-Q!