Sakamoto began his career while at university in the 1970s as a session musician, producer, and arranger. His first major success came in 1978 as co-founder of YMO. He concurrently pursued a solo career, releasing the experimental electronic fusion album Thousand Knives in 1978. Two years later, he released the album B-2 Unit. It included the track "Riot in Lagos", which was significant in the development of electro and hip hop music. He went on to produce more solo records, and collaborate with many international artists, David Sylvian, Carsten Nicolai, Youssou N'Dour, and Fennesz among them. Sakamoto composed music for the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and his composition "Energy Flow" (1999) was the first instrumental number-one single in Japan's Oricon charts history.
As a film-score composer, Sakamoto had won an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and 2 Golden Globe Awards. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) marked his debut as both an actor and a film-score composer; its main theme was adapted into the single "Forbidden Colours" which became an international hit. His most successful work as a film composer was The Last Emperor (1987), after which he continued earning accolades composing for films such as The Sheltering Sky (1990), Little Buddha (1993), and The Revenant (2015). On occasion, Sakamoto has also worked as a composer and a scenario writer on anime and video games. In 2009, he was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the Ministry of Culture of France for his contributions to music.
Sakamoto entered the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1970, earning a B.A. in music composition and an M.A. with special emphasis on both electronic and ethnic music. He studied ethnomusicology there with the intention of becoming a researcher in the field, due to his interest in various world music traditions, particularly the Japanese (especially Okinawan), Indian and African musical traditions. He was also trained in classical music and began experimenting with the electronic music equipment available at the university, including synthesizers such as the Buchla, Moog, and ARP. One of Sakamoto's classical influences was Claude Debussy, who he described as his "hero" and stated that "Asian music heavily influenced Debussy, and Debussy heavily influenced me. So, the music goes around the world and comes full circle."
Sakamoto released his first solo album Thousand Knives of Ryūichi Sakamoto in mid-1978 with the help of Hideki Matsutake—Hosono also contributed to the song "Thousand Knives". The album experimented with different styles, such as "Thousand Knives" and "The End of Asia"—in which electronic music was fused with traditional Japanese music—while "Grasshoppers" is a more minimalistic piano song. The album was recorded from April to July 1978 with a variety of electronic musical instruments, including various synthesizers, such as the KORG PS-3100, a polyphonic synthesizer; the Oberheim Eight-Voice; the Moog III-C; the Polymoog, the Minimoog; the Micromoog; the Korg VC-10, which is a vocoder; the KORG SQ-10, which is an analog sequencer; the Syn-Drums, an electronic drum kit; and the microprocessor-based Roland MC-8 Microcomposer, which is a music sequencer that was programmed by Matsutake and played by Sakamoto. A version of the song "Thousand Knives" was released on the Yellow Magic Orchestra's 1981 album BGM. This version was one of the earliest uses of the Roland TR-808 drum machine, for YMO's live performance of "1000 Knives" in 1980 and their BGM album release in 1981.
Sakamoto's production credits represent a prolific career in this role. In 1983, he produced Mari Iijima's debut album Rosé, the same year that the Yellow Magic Orchestra was disbanded. Sakamoto subsequently worked with artists such as Thomas Dolby; Aztec Camera, on the Dreamland (1993) album; and Imai Miki, co-producing her 1994 album A Place In The Sun. In 1996, Sakamoto produced "Mind Circus", the first single from actress Miki Nakatani, leading to a collaboration period spanning 9 singles and 7 albums though 2001.
Roddy Frame, who worked with Sakamoto as a member of Aztec Camera, explained in a 1993 interview preceding the release of "Dreamland" that he had had to wait a lengthy period of time before he was able to work with Sakamoto, who wrote two soundtracks, a solo album and the music for the opening ceremony at the Barcelona Olympics, prior to working with Frame over four weeks in a New York studio. Frame said that he was impressed by the work of YMO and the Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence soundtrack, explaining: "That's where you realise that the atmosphere around his compositions is actually in the writing - it's got nothing to do with synthesisers." Frame's decision to ask Sakamoto was finalized after he saw his performance at the Japan Festival that was held in London, United Kingdom.
Sakamoto began working in films, as a composer and actor, in Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983), for which he composed the score, title theme, and the duet "Forbidden Colours" with David Sylvian. Sakamoto later composed Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor (1987), which earned him the Academy Award with fellow composers David Byrne and Cong Su. In that same year, he composed the score to the cult-classic anime film Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise. Sakamoto also went on to compose the score of the opening ceremony for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, telecast live to an audience of over a billion viewers.
Other films scored by Sakamoto include Pedro Almodóvar's Tacones lejanos (High Heels) (1991); Bertolucci's The Little Buddha (1993); Oliver Stone's Wild Palms (1993); John Maybury's Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (1998); Brian De Palma's Snake Eyes (1998) and Femme Fatale (2002); Oshima's Gohatto (1999); and Jun Ichikawa's (director of the Mitsui ReHouse commercial from 1997 to 1999 starring Chizuru Ikewaki and Mao Inoue) Tony Takitani (2005).
Several tracks from Sakamoto's earlier solo albums have also appeared in film soundtracks. In particular, variations of "Chinsagu No Hana" (from Beauty) and "Bibo No Aozora" (from 1996) provide the poignant closing pieces for Sue Brooks's Japanese Story (2003) and Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel (2006), respectively. In 2015, Sakamoto teamed up with Iñárritu to score his film, The Revenant starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.
Sakamoto also acted in several films: perhaps his most notable performance was as the conflicted Captain Yonoi in Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, alongside Takeshi Kitano and British rock singer David Bowie. He also played roles in The Last Emperor (as Masahiko Amakasu) and Madonna's "Rain" music video.
In 1994, Japan Football Association asked Sakamoto to compose the instrumental song "Japanese Soccer Anthem". This instrumental song played at the beginning of Japan Football Association-sponsored events, such as Emperor's Cup matches.
In 2006 Sakamoto, in collaboration with Japanese music company Avex Group, founded Commmons (コモンズ, Komonzu), a record label seeking to change the manner in which music is produced. Sakamoto has explained that Commmons is not his label, but is a platform for all aspiring artists to join as equal collaborators to share the benefits of the music industry. On the initiative's "About" page, the label is described as a project that "aims to find new possibilities for music, while making meaningful contribution to culture and society". The name "Commmons" is spelt with three "m"s because the third "m" stands for music.
Sakamoto's first of three marriages occurred in 1972, but ended in divorce two years later—Sakamoto has a daughter from this relationship. Sakamoto then married popular Japanese pianist and singer Akiko Yano in 1982, following several musical collaborations with her, including touring work with the Yellow Magic Orchestra. Sakamoto's second marriage ended in August 2006, 14 years after a mutual decision to live separately—Yano and Sakamoto raised one daughter, J-pop singer Miu Sakamoto. He has lived with his manager and wife Norika Sora since around 1990 and has two children with her.
Beginning in June 2014, Sakamoto took a year-long hiatus after he was diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer. In 2015, he returned, stating: "Right now I'm good. I feel better. Much, much better. I feel energy inside, but you never know. The cancer might come back in three years, five years, maybe 10 years. Also the radiation makes your immune system really low. It means I'm very susceptible to another cancer in my body."
On June 14, 2018, a documentary about the life and work of Sakamoto, entitled Coda, was released. The film follows Sakamoto as he recovers from cancer and resumes creating music, protests nuclear power plants following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster, and creates field recordings in a variety of locales. Directed by Stephen Nomura Schible, the documentary was met with critical praise.
On January 21, 2021, Sakamoto shared a link on his official pages, which contained a letter announcing that though his throat cancer went into remission, he was now diagnosed with rectal cancer, and that was currently undergoing treatment after a successful surgery. He wrote: "From now on, I will be living alongside cancer. But, I am hoping to make music for a little while longer".
1919
坂本龍一 Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
About a man riding ′cross the desert and it starred Gregory Peck
He was shot down by a hungry kid trying to make a name for himself
The townspeople wanted to crush that
Kid down and string him up by the neck
Well, the marshal, now he beat that kid to a bloody pulp
As the dying gunfighter lay in the sun and gasped for his last breath
Turn him loose, let him go, let him say he outdrew me fair and square
Well, I keep seeing this stuff and it just comes a-rolling in
And you know it blows right through me like a ball and chain
You know I can′t believe we've
Lived so long and are still so far apart
The memory of you keeps callin' after me like a rollin′ train
I can still see the day that you came to me on the painted desert
In your busted down Ford and your platform heels
I could never figure out why you chose that particular place to meet
Ah, but you were right, it was perfect as I got in behind the wheel
Well, we drove that car all night into San Anton′
And we slept near the Alamo, your skin was so tender and soft
Way down in Mexico you went out to
Find a doctor and you never came back
I would have gone on after you but I
Didn't feel like letting my head get blown off
Well, we′re drivin' this car and
The sun is comin′ up over the Rockies
Now I know she ain't you but she′s here
And she's got that dark rhythm in her soul
But I'm too over the edge and I ain′t in
The mood anymore to remember the times when
I was your only man
And she don′t want to remind me
She knows this car would go out of control
Brownsville girl with your Brownsville
Curls, teeth like pearls shining like the
Moon above
Brownsville girl
Show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you're my honey
Love
Well, we crossed the panhandle and then we headed towards Amarillo
We pulled up where Henry Porter used to live
He owned a wreckin′ lot outside of
Town about a mile
Ruby was in the backyard hanging
Clothes, she had her red hair tied back
She saw us come rolling up in a trail of dust
She says, "Henry ain't here but you can
Come on in, he′ll be back in a little while."
Then she told us how times were tough
And about how she was thinkin' of bummin′ a
Ride back to from where she started
But she changes subject every time money came up
She said, "Welcome to the land of the living dead."
But you can tell she was so broken-hearted
She said, "Even the swap meets
Around here are getting pretty corrupt."
"How far are y'all going?" Ruby asked us with a sigh
"We're going all the way ′til the wheels fall off and burn
′Til the sun peels the paint and the seat
Covers fade and the water moccasin dies."
Ruby just smiled and said, "Ah, you know some babies never learn."
Something about that movie though
Well I just can't get it out of my head
But I can′t remember why I was in it
Or what part I was supposed to play
All I remember about it was Gregory Peck and the way people moved
And a lot of them seemed to be lookin' my way
Brownsville girl with your Brownsville
Curls, teeth like pearls shining like the
Moon above
Brownsville girl
If you show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you′re my honey
Love
Well, they were looking for somebody with a pompadour
I was crossin' the street when shots rang out
I didn′t know whether to duck or to run, so I ran
"We got him cornered in the churchyard," I heard somebody shout
Well, you saw my picture in the Corpus
Christi Tribune. Underneath it, it said, "A
Man with no alibi."
You went out on a limb to testify for me, you said I was with you
Then when I saw you break down in
Front of the judge and cry real tears
It was the best acting I saw anybody do
Now I've always been the kind of person
That doesn't like to trespass but sometimes
You just find yourself over the line
Oh if there′s an original thought out there, I could use it right now
You know, I feel pretty good
But that ain′t sayin' much. I could feel a whole lot
Better
If you were just here by my side to show me how
Well, I′m standin' in line in the
Rain to see a movie starring Gregory Peck
Yeah, but you know it′s not the one that I had in mind
He's got a new one out now, I don′t even know what it's about
But I'll see him in anything so I′ll stand in line
Brownsville girl with your Brownsville
Curls, teeth like pearls shining like the
Moon above
Brownsville girl
Show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you′re my honey
Love
You know, it's funny how things never
Turn out the way you had ′em planned
The only thing we knew for sure about
Henry Porter is that his name wasn't Henry
Porter
And you know there was somethin′ about
You baby that I liked that was always too
Good for this world
Just like you always said there was
Something about me you liked that I left behind
In the French Quarter
Strange how people who suffer together
Have stronger connections than people who
Are most content
I don't have any regrets, they can talk about me plenty when I′m gone
You always said people don't do what they
Believe in, they just do what's most convenient
Then they repent
And I always said, "Hang on to me
Baby, and let′s hope that the roof stays on."
There was a movie I seen one time, I think I sat through it twice
I don′t remember who I was or where I was bound
All I remember about it was it starred
Gregory Peck, he wore a gun and he was shot
In the back
Seems like a long time ago, long before the stars were torn down
Brownsville girl with your Brownsville
Curls, teeth like pearls shining like the
Moon above
Brownsville girl
Show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you're my honey
Love
The lyrics to Bob Dylan's "Brownsville Girl" tell a story through a series of memories and flashbacks. The first verse mentions a movie that the singer remembers, which starred Gregory Peck as a gunfighter who was killed by a young boy. As the story unfolds, the singer reminisces about a former lover he met in the painted desert who disappeared while they were in Mexico. The singer is currently driving through Texas with a new woman, who reminds him of his former lover. They visit a woman named Ruby who is down on her luck and they sympathize with her. The singer also recalls being mistakenly identified as a criminal and defended in court by his former lover. Despite the nostalgic memories of his past, the singer concludes the song with the realization that "things never turn out the way you had 'em planned."
Line by Line Meaning
Well, there was this movie I seen one time
About a man riding ′cross the desert and it starred Gregory Peck
A person recalls watching a movie starring Gregory Peck, about a man traveling through a desert.
He was shot down by a hungry kid trying to make a name for himself
The townspeople wanted to crush that
Kid down and string him up by the neck
The singer of the movie was shot by a young man who wanted to prove himself, and the townspeople were angry and wanted to punish him severely.
Well, the marshal, now he beat that kid to a bloody pulp
As the dying gunfighter lay in the sun and gasped for his last breath
Turn him loose, let him go, let him say he outdrew me fair and square
I want him to feel what it's like to every moment face his death
The marshal beat up the young man severely as the singer lay dying. The singer wanted the young man to be let go, so he would understand what it feels like to face death every moment.
Well, I keep seeing this stuff and it just comes a-rolling in
And you know it blows right through me like a ball and chain
You know I can′t believe we've
Lived so long and are still so far apart
The memory of you keeps callin' after me like a rollin′ train
The memories of the past come back to the artist in an overwhelming manner. They can't believe how long they've been apart from someone they loved and the memories keep haunting them like a train rolling by.
I can still see the day that you came to me on the painted desert
In your busted down Ford and your platform heels
I could never figure out why you chose that particular place to meet
Ah, but you were right, it was perfect as I got in behind the wheel
The artist recalls the day their loved one arrived in a broken-down car with platform heels. They couldn't understand why they chose this location, but it turned out to be perfect as they got into the car together.
Well, we drove that car all night into San Anton′
And we slept near the Alamo, your skin was so tender and soft
Way down in Mexico you went out to
Find a doctor and you never came back
I would have gone on after you but I
Didn't feel like letting my head get blown off
The two drove all night to San Antonio and spent the night near the Alamo. The loved one went to Mexico to find a doctor and never returned. The singer didn't follow because they were afraid of being killed.
Well, we′re drivin' this car and
The sun is comin′ up over the Rockies
Now I know she ain't you but she′s here
And she's got that dark rhythm in her soul
But I'm too over the edge and I ain′t in
The mood anymore to remember the times when
I was your only man
And she don′t want to remind me
She knows this car would go out of control
The singer is driving with someone else but remembers the times with their loved one. They're not in the mood to remember the times they were in love and the current person doesn't remind them because they know it would send the singer over the edge.
Brownsville girl with your Brownsville
Curls, teeth like pearls shining like the
Moon above
Brownsville girl
Show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you're my honey
Love
The artist addresses a Brownsville girl, admiring their appearance, and asks them to show them all around the world, expressing their affection for them.
We pulled up where Henry Porter used to live
He owned a wreckin′ lot outside of
Town about a mile
Ruby was in the backyard hanging
Clothes, she had her red hair tied back
She saw us come rolling up in a trail of dust
She says, "Henry ain't here but you can
Come on in, he′ll be back in a little while."
Then she told us how times were tough
And about how she was thinkin' of bummin′ a
Ride back to from where she started
But she changes subject every time money came up
She said, "Welcome to the land of the living dead."
But you can tell she was so broken-hearted
She said, "Even the swap meets
Around here are getting pretty corrupt."
"How far are y'all going?" Ruby asked us with a sigh
"We're going all the way ′til the wheels fall off and burn
′Til the sun peels the paint and the seat
Covers fade and the water moccasin dies."
Ruby just smiled and said, "Ah, you know some babies never learn."
The artist goes with someone to Henry Porter's wrecking yard. They meet Ruby, who tells them that times are tough and she wants to go back where she started. She says they're in a corrupt place, and asks where they're going. The artist says they'll keep moving until everything falls apart, and Ruby remarks that some people never learn.
Something about that movie though
Well I just can't get it out of my head
But I can′t remember why I was in it
Or what part I was supposed to play
All I remember about it was Gregory Peck and the way people moved
And a lot of them seemed to be lookin' my way
The artist can't get the movie out of their head, but they don't remember their role or why they were in it. They remember Gregory Peck and the people in the movie looking at them.
Well, they were looking for somebody with a pompadour
I was crossin' the street when shots rang out
I didn′t know whether to duck or to run, so I ran
"We got him cornered in the churchyard," I heard somebody shout
The authorities were looking for someone with a pompadour hairstyle. The singer was crossing the street when gunshots rang out. They didn't know if they should run or duck, so they ran. They hear someone shouting that the criminal is cornered in the churchyard.
Well, you saw my picture in the Corpus
Christi Tribune. Underneath it, it said, "A
Man with no alibi."
You went out on a limb to testify for me, you said I was with you
Then when I saw you break down in
Front of the judge and cry real tears
It was the best acting I saw anybody do
The artist's picture was in the newspaper with a headline stating he had no alibi. The loved one testified on their behalf and said they were together. The artist remembers seeing the loved one cry in court and thought it was the best acting they had ever seen.
Now I've always been the kind of person
That doesn't like to trespass but sometimes
You just find yourself over the line
Oh if there′s an original thought out there, I could use it right now
You know, I feel pretty good
But that ain′t sayin' much. I could feel a whole lot
Better
If you were just here by my side to show me how
The singer tries not to overstep boundaries, but sometimes it happens inadvertently. They wish they had an original thought and feel okay, but they would feel better if their loved one was by their side to guide them.
Well, I′m standin' in line in the
Rain to see a movie starring Gregory Peck
Yeah, but you know it′s not the one that I had in mind
He's got a new one out now, I don′t even know what it's about
But I'll see him in anything so I′ll stand in line
The singer is standing in line in the rain to see a movie starring Gregory Peck, though it's not the one they wanted to see. They don't even know what the new movie is about, but they'll see it because they love the actor.
The only thing we knew for sure about
Henry Porter is that his name wasn't Henry
Porter
The singer and their companion don't know much about Henry Porter, except that his name wasn't really Henry Porter.
And you know there was somethin′ about
You baby that I liked that was always too
Good for this world
Just like you always said there was
Something about me you liked that I left behind
In the French Quarter
The artist liked something about their loved one that they thought was too good for this world. The loved one also saw something in the artist that they liked, but that they left behind in the French Quarter.
Strange how people who suffer together
Have stronger connections than people who
Are most content
I don't have any regrets, they can talk about me plenty when I′m gone
You always said people don't do what they
Believe in, they just do what's most convenient
Then they repent
And I always said, "Hang on to me
Baby, and let′s hope that the roof stays on."
The artist reflects on the strong connections that people have when they suffer together. They don't have any regrets and know they'll be talked about when they're gone. The loved one believed that people do what's most convenient, not what they believe in, and then they regret it. The artist always told the loved one to hold onto them and hope for the best.
All I remember about it was it starred
Gregory Peck, he wore a gun and he was shot
In the back
Seems like a long time ago, long before the stars were torn down
The movie the singer saw starred Gregory Peck, who wore a gun and was shot in the back. It seems like a long time ago, before the world changed.
Writer(s): Dylan Bob, Shepard Sam
Contributed by Andrew B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.