Perhaps the resplendence of the original film-theme musical accompaniment took some of the attention away from what was being sung on first release. Reading through the words of the song today, so familiar after thirty-odd years of listening, it’s astounding how personal they are, especially put in the context of ‘Ghosts’ being the first unabashed attempt at such writing.
I couldn’t go back…so I just wrote directly about myself.’ It was very honest and that’s what made me decide to carry on writing. It still hasn’t got an end to it and the music wasn’t coloured in any way. ‘At that time, I was becoming more obsessed about Christian religion and ‘Forbidden Colours’ was the first time I’d achieved that kind of writing, putting something into lyrics that was just an expression of what I was going through, that had no ending. Do they need something to rely upon because they’re not strong enough in their own life, or are they clinging to them because there’s a real value in it that I miss? I’m interested in people’s philosophies and why they cling to them. I’ve got this thing with religions in general. Questions of faith and doubt became a central theme on Brilliant Trees and in ‘Forbidden Colours’ they found their first articulation. ‘With ‘Forbidden Colours’ I achieved something I’d never achieved before in writing a lyric about myself which had no answer.’ The collaboration with Sakamoto saw the vulnerability extended not just emotions laid bare, but inner struggle revealed even whilst the turmoil continues. The ghosts of my life blew wilder than the wind’ ‘Just when I thought I could not be stopped ‘Ghosts’ was direct, an expression of the singer’s state of being: Personal experience and emotion were only hinted at through oblique reference. Sylvian’s lyrics for Japan often created atmosphere through a collage of highly visual images, taking the listener to another place in imagination still frames in series. I think ‘Forbidden Colours’ was the next piece that clicked.’ (DS, 2001) And once I reached that stage it was a matter of just trying to stay on that path, and there was a struggle between completing a piece like ‘Ghosts’ and then starting out on a new venture like Brilliant Trees: I wrote material and scrapped it, wrote and scrapped it, until something clicked with me. ‘‘Ghosts’ was a pivotal piece…it was a breakthrough in which I thought I was able to talk somewhat directly about personal experiences, but in such a fashion that people could identify with it and have it be relevant in their own lives. It was also recognition that in this song, Sylvian found his voice for the new chapter. The intent of this was not to lend some familiarity and commercial impetus to the new release, but rather to re-work the composition from a new musical palette. An orchestral version featuring vocals by Sylvian was included on Sakamoto's 1999 album Cinemage.When David Sylvian entered Berlin’s Hansa studios in the summer of 1983 to start putting together his debut solo album, Brilliant Trees, amongst his top priorities was returning to the recent chart success ‘Forbidden Colours’, in which his vocal melody was interweaved with Ryuichi Sakamoto’s soundtrack theme for Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. Both Sakamoto and Sylvian have since recorded several interpretations of the song, both instrumental (under the title "Merry Christmas, Mr. 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.
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. It appears on the film's soundtrack album and was released as a single on Virgin Records in 1983 (the second collaborative single release by Sylvian and Sakamoto, following 1982's "Bamboo Houses"). Lawrence (in certain territories retitled Furyo). The song is the vocal version of the theme from the Nagisa Oshima film Merry Christmas, Mr. "Forbidden Colours" is a 1983 song by David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto.
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