Tears (X Japan song)

"Tears"
Single by X Japan
from the album Dahlia
Released	November 10, 1993 (1993-11-10)
Format	8cm CD
Recorded	One on One Recording
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	15:36
Label	MMG
Producer(s)	Yoshiki
X Japan singles chronology
"Say Anything" (1991) "Tears" (1993) "Rusty Nail" (1994)
Music sample "Tears"

"Tears" is the ninth single by the Japanese heavy metal band X Japan, released on November 10, 1993.

Overview

It is the band's first single to be released under the name X Japan and the first to feature Heath on bass. The ballad was written and composed solely by Yoshiki about the death of his father, but he co-credited it to the alias Hitomi Shiratori (白鳥瞳) because he was concerned how fans would react to a softer song from the band.^[1] It would later appear on the album Dahlia and the soundtrack for the South Korean film Windstruck.^[2] The song was also used as the theme song for the Japanese TV drama Nikushimi ni Hohoende.

The B-side is the lyric-less classical version of the song, which was previously on Yoshiki's solo album Eternal Melody. It was produced, arranged and conducted by famed music producer George Martin and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.^[3]

A live performance of "Tears" was included as the B-side to their 1996 single "Dahlia". Yoshiki's MySpace currently streams a different version of the song entitled "Tears (Unreleased Version)".

The title song was covered by South Korean rock band TRAX, as a b-side on the Japanese version of their "Scorpio" single, which was produced by Yoshiki.^[4] They also covered it in Korean on the Korean version of their aforementioned single.

Commercial performance

The song reached number 2 on the Oricon charts, and charted for 16 weeks.^[5] In 1993, with 380,150 copies sold was the 77th best-selling single of the year, and in 1994, with 456,790 copies sold was the 50th best-selling single. Certified as double Platinum by RIAJ, is the band's best-selling single.

Track listing

All music composed by Yoshiki, track 1 lyrics by Hitomi Shiratori and Yoshiki. 

Personnel

X Japan

• Toshi – vocals
• Pata – guitar
• hide – guitar
• Heath – bass
• Yoshiki – drums, piano, synthesizer

Other

• Co-producer – X Japan
• Strings arranger, conductor – Dick Marx
• Strings performer – Y&D Orchestra
• Engineers – Rob Jacobs, Rich Breen, Mike Ging
• Assistant engineers – Mike Stock, Tal Miller
• Mixing – Mike Shipley
• Mastering – Stephen Marcussen (Precision Studio)

References