Be My Last

CD Art

Artist

Utada Hikaru

Single

Be My Last

Released

2005.09.28

Catalog Number

TOCT-5002 (CD+DVD)

TOCT-5001 (CD Only)

Price

¥1,320 (CD+DVD)

¥660 (CD Only)

CD Tracklist

1. Be My Last

DVD Tracklist

1. Be My Last (PV)

Information

Be My Last is Utada Hikaru's 14th single. This song was used as the theme song for the movie "Haru no Yuki", or its English title "Snowy Love Fallin' in Spring".

The cover art was taken in Prague, Czech Republic. The large, dark building shown to the left is Hradcany Castle.

This single reached #1 in Oricon charts on the first day of release, and charted for 14 weeks. In 2005, this single sold 143,916 units, making it the #70 single of 2005. However, the most recent sales figure is 150,928 units. Despite this single reaching #6 on the World Charts for single sales, this single did not even chart on the airplay chart. Though Be My Last did not relatively sell many physical units, it became a top seller on iTunes Japan, reaching #1 and even becoming the second most downloaded song of 2005 at the Japanese store.

A season of live shows were planned to showcase Be My Last, with five performances listed (this is much unlike the one performance of Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro, or Utada's usual two or three). However, these were planned a month after the release of the single due to Utada being in UK/Europe at the time of release to promote You Make Me Want To Be a Man. The timing of these lives has also fit in with the release of Haru no Yuki. Also planned with these live performances is an internet streaming of Be My Last available from Utada's Toshiba-EMI website. The streaming includes a performance as well as Utada answering a few questions from fans. It was available from the 11th until the 20th of November.

Matsuura Aya and Guitar Samurai covered Be My Last together live on Utawara on October the 30th, 2005.

Song Information

Lyrics

Utada Hikaru

Music

Utada Hikaru

Other Information

Arrangement: Utada Hikaru

Keyboards and Programming: Utada Hikaru

Acoustic Guitar: Kon Tsuyoshi

Drums: Forrest Robinson

Additional Programming: Brio Taliaferro for 365 Artists

All Vocals: Utada Hikaru

Mixing: Goetz B. for 365 Artists at Olympic Studios, London

Recording: Matsui Atsushi for Birdie House at Bunkamura Studio, Tokyo, Studio Terra, Tokyo and Matrix Studios, London.

Mastering: Tom Coyne at Sterling Sound, NY

Music Video

Be My Last's PV was directed by Kiriya Kazuaki, and was filmed entirely in Prague, Czech Republic. Special guests in the PV are the Czech rock band, Zina & Stereophonic Punx.

PV Cast

• Lead Man - Karel Dobry
• Lead Woman - Andii David
• Little Girl - Feng Zhang, Sandra Ferreira
• Little Boy - Jiri Kopejtko
• Dad - Lee Davidson
• Stunt Woman - Zuzana Drdácká

Utada Quotes

• (On the difficulty of the aaaahhha's) "I'm not really sure which 'ahhaa' part they're referring to, so it's a little hard to answer. I wonder if they're asking about the 'aaaaahhhaa' or 'ahhhhaaa'? Or maybe even the 'aaaahhaaaaahaaaa'? There's that one, too. Well, they're actually all quite easy to sing." --Utada Hikaru

• (On the song's meaning) "Ummm... Well it was with a feeling of 'I want this to be my last!,' in terms of difficult times or events." --Utada Hikaru

Disambiguation

There are three versions of Be My Last in Utada's discography. These include:

Be My Last

Found on Be My Last single as track one and and on ULTRA BLUE album as track #11. This is the version set to the PV.

Be My Last (Internet Live Version)

Found on Utada Hikaru Single Clip Collection Vol.4 music video DVD as track #10. This was originally available for download from Utada's Toshiba-EMI website from November 11, 2005 until November 20, 2005. This version was recorded live in one of Toshiba-EMI's offices, and was preceded by a self interview session based on sent in fan questions. The performance was filmed from five different camera angles (each separate angle was available to download). This version is a live acoustic version, where Utada sings and plays the guitar. Many of the "Ahh"'s in the original version have been replaced with "Mmm"'s.

Be My Last (Utada United Live)

Found on Utada United 2006 DVD as track #12. This version features Utada singing exclusively with a cello.

TV Performances

• [2005.10.28] Bokura no Ongaku (Orchestrated version)
• [2005.11.03] Utaban
• [2005.11.04] Music Fighter
• [2005.11.11] Music Station (A Cappella with cello)
• [2005.11.14] HEY!HEY!HEY!

Oricon Chart Positions

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Week Rank	Sales	Total Sales	Date
-	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	80,064	80,064	2005.10.10
1	8	6	7	5	7	8	6	23,724	103,788	2005.10.17
7	15	17	14	13	10	11	12	11,573	115,361	2005.10.24
9	17	18	16	20	15	12	17	6,673	122,034	2005.10.31
9	20	18	12	14	8	7	15	7,737	129,771	2005.11.07
7	27	30	23	16	15	15	21	7,205	136,976	2005.11.14
15	35	35	35	32	26	24	32	3,908	140,884	2005.11.21
23	25	28	33	32	46	25	31	3,032	143,916	2005.11.28
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	66	1,734	145,650	2005.12.05
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	83	1,157	146,807	2005.12.12
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	114	904	147,711	2005.12.19
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	87	1,058	148,769	2005.12.26
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	122	826	149,595	2006.01.02
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	158	952	150,547	2006.01.09+16
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	193	381	150,928	2006.01.23

Total Reported Sales: 150,928

External Links

• Oricon Profile