I saw ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence’ in 1983 during a screening at a David Bowie convention that I was attending in London having been taken along by my friend Laura.
She was a big Bowie fan and whilst I like his music I was not so much of a devotee and so was not really as excited by hearing the lectures and buying the merchandise as she was, but I did enjoy getting the train to London and travelling on the tube and sitting in the hotel conference room on the floor watching this film watching Ryuichi Sakamoto’s acting and listening to his fabulous music.
I had known about Sakamoto from his work with the Yellow Magic Orchestra and his various collaborations with Japan – most notably ‘Taking Islands In Africa’ on the ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’ album and later that year David Sylvian (fresh from the demise of Japan) recorded a vocal version of this song called ‘Forbidden Colours’ and for many this will be where they will recognise this song from.
David Sylvian has recorded various versions of ‘Forbidden Colours’ but here the original music played by Sakamoto himself is a true testament to his talent and the beauty of his music. Much imitated this is the original.
Now listen to the song….
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