Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence

I remember hearing this song when I was very very young. Therefore, I never really knew the real title of this song. But I knew the tune so well, and for a period of time, I've been trying to find this original version of this "oriental"-sounding song.

I know it had been used in the techno song "Heart of Asia" as a backdrop. Now Utada Hikaru had also used it in one of her new songs in her album "This is the One". "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence - FYI" was the title of Utada's version. I always wondered why this title? It drew some curiosity from me because my bro's name is in it. Then as always, I relied on Google to find what it really referred to. It's actually the name of a movie, from 1984. And the real original version of this song is by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who was also the one who composed the theme song to the movie "The Last Emperor".

Personally I've watched "The Last Emperor" before when I was very little and my parents brought me to the cinemas. I never really understood what the movie was about, I only knew that the male lead is literally the last emperor, but never knew all the political significance of someone like him. Hopefully now that I'm much older, I can understand all that dramatic emotion expressed in the movie. I remembered the theme song was quite emotional and dramatic, I would get goosebumps whenever I hear it. I get the exact same feeling when I listen to "Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence". But I only discovered recently, they were both composed by the same person, Ryuichi Sakamoto (I guess he's someone really famous.) A very talented and accomplished composer and pianist.

Thumbs up for Utada who did a cover using this song. She did the song proud, a very nice R&B version of the song. Probably the best cover using this song so far!

So I wanna share a vid of Ryuichi Sakamoto playing this song on the piano live. I love this version :) Enjoy~