"Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" is a 1983 instrumental by the Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, recorded for the 1983 film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. Sakamoto also recorded a vocal version, "Forbidden Colours", featuring the English singer David Sylvian. In 1999, a remix by Watergate, "Heart of Asia", was successful in the UK and Denmark. In 2024, the German band Kraftwerk covered "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" in tribute to Sakamoto after his death in 2023.

Reception According to the Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw, "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" is one of the most famous film themes of the 1980s, with an "inspirationally catchy westernised pop take on Japanese music". It inspired the mandolin part of the 1991 R.E.M. song "Losing My Religion".

Charts Chart (1983)PeakpositionAustralia (Kent Music Report)88 Chart (2016)Peakposition

Forbidden Colours

Sakamoto created a vocal version, "Forbidden Colours", with the English singer David Sylvian. It reached the top 20 of the UK singles chart in July and August 1983.

After Sylvian's band Japan broke up, he did not write music until Sakamoto invited him to work on "Forbidden Colours". Sakamoto originally expected Sylvian's vocal to follow the instrumental melody, but Sylvian found this impossible and instead wrote a counter-melody. Sylvain said of Sakamoto's theme: "Sonically it was incredible. I loved all the samples that he was using ... Sound design was a big part of it for us, and what Ryuichi as producer did was extraordinary with that particular piece of music."

Sylvian later recorded another version, which is featured as a bonus track for the CD version of Secrets of the Beehive. It also appears in Sylvian's 2012 compilation album A Victim of Stars 1982–2012.

Chart positions Chart (1983)PeakpositionAustralia (Kent Music Report)29Iceland (Dagblaðið Vísir)1

Heart of Asia

In September 1999, the German-Turkish DJ Watergate released a remix, "Heart of Asia". It reached the top ten of the singles charts in Denmark and the UK. The British journalist James Masterton wrote that it was "one of the few dance treatments of a famous song that actually manages to make the original seem almost dull by comparison".

Charts Weekly charts Chart (1999–2000)PeakpositionAustralia (ARIA)98Denmark (IFPI)4Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)18

Year-end charts Chart (2000)PositionIreland (IRMA)98UK Singles (OCC)86

Release history RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)Germany24 September 1999CDUnited Kingdom1 May 2000Positiva

Kraftwerk cover On 27 July 2024, at the Fuji Rock Festival in Naeba, the German band Kraftwerk covered "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" as a tribute to Sakamoto, who died in 2023. The Kraftwerk member Ralf Hütter had been friends with Sakamoto since 1981. After performing "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence", Kraftwerk played their single "Radioactivity", for which Sakamoto wrote additional Japanese lyrics in 2012.

References