"Forbidden Colours" is a 1983 song by

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 ...

and

Ryuichi Sakamoto was a Music of Japan, Japanese musician, composer, keyboardist, record producer, singer and actor. He pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the Synthesizer, synth-based band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his ...

. The song is the vocal version of the theme from the

Nagisa Oshima is a Japanese name, Japanese given name used by either sex and is occasionally used as a surname. Written forms Nagisa can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *渚, "beach, strand" *汀, "water's edge/shore" *凪砂, "lu ...

film ''

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence , also known as , is a 1983 war film co-written and directed by Nagisa Ōshima, co-written by Paul Mayersberg, and produced by Jeremy Thomas. The film is based on the experiences of Sir Laurens van der Post (portrayed by Tom Conti as Lt. Col. J ...

.'' It appears on the film's soundtrack album and was released as a single on

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

in 1983 (the second collaborative single release by Sylvian and Sakamoto, following 1982's "

Bamboo Houses "Bamboo Houses" is an electronic song by Japanese musician-composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and English singer-songwriter David Sylvian, released as a single on Virgin Records in 1982. It reached number 30 on the UK charts in the second week of August ...

").

Background

The title of the song is taken from Japanese writer

Yukio Mishima Kimitake Hiraoka ( , ''Hiraoka Kimitake''; 14 January 192525 November 1970), known by his pen name Yukio Mishima ( , ''Mishima Yukio''), was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Ultranationalism (Japan), ultranationalis ...

's 1951 novel ''

Forbidden Colors is a 1951 novel by Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, translated into English in 1968. A part two titled was published in 1953. The name ''kinjiki'' is a euphemism for same-sex love. The kanji means "forbidden", and in this case means "erotic ...

''. In 1984 the track was re-recorded and released as the B-side to "Red Guitar", the lead single to Sylvian's first solo album ''

Brilliant Trees ''Brilliant Trees'' is the Solo album, debut solo studio album by the English musician David Sylvian, released on 25 June 1984 by Virgin Records. The album peaked at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified Gold Record, Gold by the ...

'' and was later also included as a bonus track on certain editions of his 1987 album ''

Secrets of the Beehive ''Secrets of the Beehive'' is the fourth studio album by English singer-songwriter David Sylvian. The album was released on 19 October 1987 in Europe and the United States. The album peaked at No. 37 in the UK album chart. The album was rel ...

''. Both Sakamoto and Sylvian have since recorded several interpretations of the song, both instrumental (under the title "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence") and vocal. An orchestral version featuring vocals by Sylvian was included on Sakamoto's 1999 album '' Cinemage''. Sylvian said in an interview 2012 about the track:

Track listing

All music by Ryuichi Sakamoto; lyrics by David Sylvian on "Forbidden Colours", "Bamboo Houses" and "Bamboo Music".

7": Virgin / VS601 (UK) and 7" Picture Disc: Virgin / VSY601 (UK)

;Side one # "Forbidden Colours" – 4:42 ;Side two # "The Seed and the Sower" – 5:00

12": Virgin / VS601-12 (UK)

;Side one # "Forbidden Colours" – 4:42 ;Side two # "The Seed and the Sower" – 5:00 # "Last Regrets" – 2:40

1988 3" CD: Virgin / CDT18 (UK)

# "Forbidden Colours" – 4.42 # "Bamboo Houses" – 5.26 # "Bamboo Music" – 5.38

Chart positions

Personnel

– keyboards,

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

, lyrics

Production

– producer * Recording and mixing – Ryuichi Sakamoto, Seigen Ono, Shinichi Tanaka * Recording assistant – Michio Nakakoshi *

–

artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

, cover design * Yuka Fujii –

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

References

{{authority control 1983 singles Songs written by David Sylvian Songs written by Ryuichi Sakamoto Virgin Records singles David Sylvian songs 1983 songs LGBTQ-related songs New-age songs