Buck-Tick Zone

Original Titles in Japanese

Uta

Kimi E

Titles Translated

Uta - "Song"

Kimi E - "To You" (as in when addressing a letter; note that the letter "he" is read as "e" when used as a particle)

Notes

Ranked #4 on the singles chart. 190,000 copies sold.

The title track is from the album Six/Nine.

This is Buck-Tick's second best-selling single.

The single's packaging is a textured material that sparkles and the cover photo seems to be glued on.

The cover photo is by Spanish conceptual artist Joan Fontcuberta who is also a professor at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona and editor in chief of visual arts journal "PhotoVision". This particular piece is most likely from the exhibition "Fauna" (1987) where the animals appear to be lost discoveries. The exhibition was shown in Japan in 1992 at the Parco Gallery in Tokyo. The title of the piece is the Latin/scientific name of the domestic house cat. Atsushi's love for cats is notorious.

"Uta" was originally titled "Sakebi", which means "To Shout". However, the band was told by higher powers to change the title so they renamed it "Uta", which simply means "Song".

The beginning of "Uta" contains a sample from the movie "Malcolm X" (1992), where the main character portrayed by Denzel Washington gives the speech that contains the line "We didn't land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us!" This phrase was slightly altered in the film from Malcolm X's original speech "Ballot or the Bullet" delivered in 1964. The actual quote is "We didn't land on Plymouth Rock; the rock was landed on us."

The music video has 2 different versions, both directed by Wataru Hayashi. (Third single in a row.) Out of all the video directors that Buck-Tick has worked with, Wataru has worked with the band the most.

Music Video Stills

Uta (single version), directed by Wataru Hayashi