So sound design was a big part of it for us, and what Ryuichi as producer did was extraordinary with that particular piece of music. And we were so very much into sound design at the time, between Yellow Magic Orchestra and what we were doing at that point in our evolution. I loved all the samples that he was using. Suddenly the flow of writing began to really just open up and new material began arriving. And then Ryuichi gave me 'Forbidden Colours' to work on and it opened the doors for me a little bit. I didn't write anything for a period of time, which was unusual for me. 'I guess after the band had broken up, I wasn't sure what direction I was going to move in. Sylvian said in an interview 2012 about the track: An orchestral version featuring vocals by Sylvian was included on Sakamoto's 1999 album Cinemage.

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 and was later also included as a bonus track on certain editions of his 1987 album Secrets of the Beehive.īoth Sakamoto and Sylvian have since recorded several interpretations of the song, both instrumental (under the title 'Merry Christmas, Mr. The title of the song is taken from Japanese writer Yukio Mishima's 1953 novel Forbidden Colors although not directly related to the film, both works include exploration of homosexual themes, specifically resistance to desires through faith in God.

2.1 7': Virgin / VS601 (UK) and 7' Picture Disc: Virgin / VSY601 (UK).

Forbidden colors ryuichi sakamoto