"Canton" is an

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

song by English new wave band

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It was originally released on the album '' Tin Drum'' in 1981, and was then released as the only

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

Oil on Canvas Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or copper for several centuries. ...

'' in May 1983. It peaked at number 42 on the UK Singles Chart.

Original recording

"Canton" was the first song recorded for Japan's album '' Tin Drum'', along with "Talking Drum" and

David Sylvian David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt; 23 February 1958) is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan (band), Japan. During his time in Japan, Sylvia ...

said the two songs "worked so well we’d arrange the rest of the album around the same ideas. Difficulty with recording arose when

Mick Karn Andonis Michaelides (Greek: Αντώνης Μιχαηλίδης; 24 July 1958 – 4 January 2011), better known as Mick Karn, was a British musician who rose to fame as the bassist for the art rock/ new wave band Japan. His distinctive fretles ...

had to rub the aluminium neck of his Travis Bean bass guitar quite frantically and the heat generated "was enough to bend the metal out of pitch". Because of this, the guitar had to be cooled down mid-recording and to get around this problem, Karn switched to a local bass manufacture

Wal WAL or Wal may refer to: Places * Wał, Lublin Voivodeship, village in eastern Poland * Wał, Masovian Voivodeship, village in east-central Poland Codes * Sierra Leone, country in West Africa, license plate code * Wales, constituent nation of ...

, "which worked perfectly on the first take". The band also found under some

tarpaulin A tarpaulin ( , ) or tarp is a large sheet of strong, flexible, water-resistant or waterproof material, often cloth such as canvas or polyester coated with polyurethane, or made of plastics such as polyethylene. Tarpaulins often have reinf ...

an instrument made of

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

that was several feet in height and width and sound was "produced by rattling peas within the bamboo" and these "duplicate the piece’s main melody".

Steve Jansen Steve Jansen (born Stephen Ian Batt, born 1 December 1959) is an English musician, composer and record producer. Biography Jansen was a founding member of the band Japan (band), Japan, along with his brother David Sylvian (vocals, guitars and ...

recalled that "‘With songs such as ‘Canton’ and ‘Visions of China’ the drums were driving the structuring of the tracks".

Themes

The title refers to

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

and is one of the numerous tracks thematically related to China, and Asia in general, in the band's discography.

Reception

Reviewing the single for ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...

'', Simon Hills wrote "Sounds like the theme music to ''The Secret Lovers of

Chairman Mao Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

''", with "more oriental, and totally glib, 'art' on the flip side with ' Visions Of China' in which the group imagine all the royalties they could get by selling a record to the country with the biggest population".

Track listings

7" # "Canton" – 4:05 # " Visions of China" – 3:45 12" # "Canton" – 5:36 # "Visions of China" – 3:45

Personnel

– keyboards, cover design *

– fretless bass,

dida In England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, the Diploma in Digital Applications (DiDA) was an optional information and communication technology (ICT) course, usually studied by Key Stage 4 or equivalent school students (aged 14–16) ...

Richard Barbieri Richard Barbieri (born 30 November 1957) is an English musician, composer and sound designer. Originally a member of new wave band Japan (and their brief 1989–1991 reincarnation as Rain Tree Crow), he became the keyboard player in the prog ...

– keyboards *

– drums, percussion *

Masami Tsuchiya Masami Tsuchiya may refer to: * Masami Tsuchiya (Aum Shinrikyo) (1965–2018), member of the Aum Shinrikyo movement *Masami Tsuchiya (singer) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. He rose to prominence in the late 1970 ...

– keyboards * Yuka Fujii – photography *

John Punter John Punter (born 27 January 1949) is an English and Canadian former record producer and recording engineer. He has worked with many bands and musicians, such as Spoons, Japan, Procol Harum, Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, Re-Flex, Doctors of Madness, ...

– engineer, producer * Nigel Walker – engineer

Charts

References

{{Japan (band) 1981 songs 1983 songs 1983 singles Songs written by David Sylvian Japan (band) songs Virgin Records singles