"Life in Tokyo" is a song by the British 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 ...

. A collaboration with disco producer

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer and music producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering Euro disco and electronic dance music. His work ...

, who also co-wrote the song with

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 ...

, it marked a change of direction from the band's previous sound. Originally released as a single in 1979, it was reissued twice before it finally became a hit on the UK Singles Chart in 1982.

Composition

The song was written by Giorgio Moroder and band vocalist

. The musical style is in line with Moroder's electronic disco style as already employed on albums by

Donna Summer Donna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music ...

, Munich Machine and on his own ''

From Here to Eternity ''From Here to Eternity'' is a 1953 American romantic Drama (film and television)#War drama, war drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and written by Daniel Taradash, based on the 1951 From Here to Eternity (novel), novel of the same name by J ...

'' in 1977. Moroder's trademark arpeggiated

synthesiser A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

can be heard throughout the track.

Release

The single was originally released in 1979 in 7" and 12" formats, the latter accommodating a longer version, again reflecting Moroder's style of producing disco versions such as with Donna Summer's "

I Feel Love "I Feel Love" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, '' I Remember Yesterday'' (1977). The album concept was to ha ...

". The single failed to become a hit in the UK. It was released again by Hansa in early 1981, after the band had enjoyed moderate success in 1980 with their album ''

Gentlemen Take Polaroids ''Gentlemen Take Polaroids'' is the fourth studio album by the English band Japan, released in November 1980 by Virgin Records. Background ''Gentlemen Take Polaroids'' was the band's first album for the Virgin Records label after leaving Han ...

'', released by Virgin. This release featured " European Son" as the B-side, although again failed to chart. The single was released a third and final time in October 1982, after the band's success with the '' Tin Drum'' album and singles such as "

Ghosts In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

" and " Cantonese Boy". This issue was a remixed version by

Steve Nye Steve Nye is an English music producer for several artists. Career Nye started out as a tape op at AIR Studios in London in 1971, where producer Rupert Hine discovered him. There he got into engineering (and later producing) many well-known ...

and finally made "Life In Tokyo" a hit reaching no. 28 in the UK singles chart. Its release was supported by the group themselves, with Sylvian co-ordinating the sleeve design. Both sides feature "Life in Tokyo", with a new 12" remix. The B-side, "Life In Tokyo Theme" is an approximately 2 minute instrumental version of the song, but doubled in length by being presented in a drastically slowed down mix.

Track listings

7": Ariola Hansa / AHA 540 (1979, UK) #"Life in Tokyo" (Short Version) – 3:30 #"Life in Tokyo" (Part 2) – 3:29 7" Ariola America / 7756 (1979, US) # "Life in Tokyo" – 3:30 # "Love Is Infectious" – 4:09 ;12": Ariola Hansa / AHAD 540 (1979, UK) #"Life in Tokyo" (Long Version) – 7:05 #"Life in Tokyo" (Short Version) – 3:30 12": Ariola America / AR 9019 (1979, US) # "Life in Tokyo" (Long Version) – 7:05 # "Love Is Infectious" – 4:09 7": Hansa / HANSA 4 (1981, UK) #"Life in Tokyo" – 3:30 #" European Son" – 3:37 12": Hansa / HANSA 12-4 (1981, UK) #"Life in Tokyo" (Extended Version) – 7:05 #"European Son" (Extended) – 5:00 7": Hansa / HANSA 17 (1982, UK) #"Life in Tokyo" (Special Remix) – 3:59 #"Life in Tokyo" (Theme) – 3:53 12": Hansa / HANSA 12-17 (1982, UK) #"Life in Tokyo" (Extended Remix) – 7:05 #"Life in Tokyo" (Theme) – 3:53

Charts

References

External links

* {{authority control 1979 songs 1979 singles 1981 singles 1982 singles Japan (band) songs Songs written by David Sylvian Song recordings produced by Giorgio Moroder Songs written by Giorgio Moroder