Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi Dake wo Kizutsukenai
| Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi Dake wo Kizutsukenai | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by B'z | ||||
| Released | March 17, 1993 | |||
| Promotions | #1 (Saiyuuki Theme) | |||
| Length | 7:32 | |||
| Label | BMG Rooms Vermillion Records (2003 Remaster) | |||
| Producer | Tak Matsumoto | |||
| B'z singles chronology | ||||
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Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi Dake wo Kizutsukenai (愛のままにわがままに 僕は君だけを傷つけない, Even if Love is Selfish, You're the Only One I Won't Hurt) is the twelfth single by B'z, released on March 17, 1993. As their best-selling single with over 2,000,000 physical copies sold, it is a song that is commonly associated with the band and their image. While a non-album single at the time, it has been collected on numerous collections, including B'z The Best "Pleasure", B'z The Best "ULTRA Pleasure", and B'z The Best XXV 1988-1998.
While a massive hit for the band and truly one of their break through singles, it did not come easily. Tak noted in an interview with a Chinese magazine that the band spent "a great deal of time writing lots of different melodies and lyrics" before it was finally in a satisfactory state. Koshi joked in the same interview that it may be their most "selfish" (a play on wagamama from the title) song of all time in that regard. Additionally, the oriental-themed intro was added because the band knew it would serve as the tie-in to Saiyuuki (or Journey to the West) and wanted it to suit the occasion.
Interestingly, despite being the band's best-selling single in their history, the song has had long periods of dormancy on the live stage. In fact, from 1994 to 2003, it was not performed on any occasion. The band noted this was because, in previous outings, they were not sure that it really shined in live form. It was not until B'z LIVE-GYM The Final Pleasure "IT'S SHOWTIME!!" and B'z LIVE-GYM 2010 "Ain't No Magic" that the song at last got its due on the live stage and was preserved on both concerts' home video releases. Despite the periods of inactivity, the song has been performed over 160 times and ranks in the band's top twenty-five most-performed. An especially notable performance came during B'z LIVE-GYM 2008 "ACTION" when the band performed the song in entirely acoustic form.
No music video was commissioned for the single's release, as was common for the band at the time. As a substitute in subsequent years, live footage from various years has been used when needed for television broadcasts. For the year of its release, "Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi Dake wo Kizutsukenai" was performed only once, on Music Station. However, it was revived ten years later and performed twice alongside then-new single "IT'S SHOWTIME!!" on another Music Station Special as well as during CDTV 10th Anniversary Greatest Premiere Live.
At the time of release, the single quickly proved itself as one of the band's biggest hits. In its first week alone, it sold over 725,000 copies—their most at the time—and earned them the top spot on the Weekly Oricon Singles chart, a position it retained for four weeks. The single continued to sell strongly throughout the year, eventually amounting to over 2,000,000 sold and being named the second highest-selling single of the entire year for 1993. As a result, it has been certified twice Million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan and also Gold as a full ringtone download. Additionally, the song was named one of the Best 5 Singles at the 8th Japan Gold Disc Awards. It was also later named the 21st best-selling single in Oricon history.
The single was simultaneously remastered and re-released on March 26, 2003 along with nine other of the band's older singles and the then-latest single, "IT'S SHOWTIME!!". On the daily chart at launch, B'z held a monopoly over the chart's top eleven slots, with the new single ranking at the top and the re-issues covering the remaining ten. Ultimately, B'z would set a record that week for holding nine of the Top 10 slots for the week of release, with "Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi Dake wo Kizutsukenai" coming in fifth place.
Track listing
All music and guitar by Tak Matsumoto. All lyrics and lead vocals by Koshi Inaba.
- Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi Dake wo Kizutsukenai — Even Though Love is Selfish, You're the Only One I Won't Hurt, 愛のままにわがままに 僕は君だけを傷つけない
- File:s12 01.ogg Unquestionably one of the band's signature songs, "Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi Dake wo Kizutsukenai" is not only the B'z song with the longest title but also one with a very distinguished history. Despite its massive sales and status as their best-selling of all time, the band were not certain it fit the live stage and did not perform it whatsoever between 1994 and 2003. In fact, through 2010, it had only been included for five tours. Koshi had long wanted to write a song with a long, distinct, and rhyming title like this, but even then, the song was originally only titled "Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni" before being expanded later in production.
- JOY
- File:s12 02.ogg A song that incorporates oriental elements akin to the A-side, "JOY" was considered the product of the band experimenting with different sounds at the time. Although featured on one of the band's most popular singles, it has not yet been performed live and has not been collected on any album aside from a remix being featured on B'z The "Mixture" in 2000. The song has not been forgotten by fans nonetheless—in a 2014 poll whose results were published in Be With! Vol. 104, "JOY" ranked in at 52 in songs fanclub members wanted to hear live for the 2015 LIVE-GYM. Similarly, it previously ranked in at 49 in fan voting for the band's second compilation album B'z The Best "Treasure" in 1998.
Reversion history
| Original Song | Reversion History |
|---|---|
| Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi Dake wo Kizutsukenai SINGLE (1993)
|
KARAOKE: Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi Dake wo Kizutsukenai [Karaoke Version] (1996) |
| JOY B-SIDE (1993)
|
REMIX: JOY -Mixture mix- (2000) |
Live appearances
Live Performances
- Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi Dake wo Kizutsukenai [151 SHOWS]
B'z LIVE-GYM '93 "RUN" [39/49 SHOWS]- B'z LIVE-GYM '94 "THE 9TH BLUES -Part1-" [41/55 SHOWS]
- B'z LIVE-GYM The Final Pleasure "IT'S SHOWTIME!!" [22/23 SHOWS]
- B'z LIVE-GYM 2008 "ACTION" [30/53 SHOWS] (Acoustic Version)
- B'z LIVE-GYM 2010 "Ain't No Magic" [19/19 SHOWS]
- JOY
Home Videos
Sales data
| No. | Cover | Single | Physical Copies Sold | Chart Positions | Certification | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIRST WEEK | LIFETIME | WEEK | MONTH | YEAR | ||||
| 12 | 
|
Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni |
725,340+ |
2,021,000+ |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2x Million |
Personnel
B'z
- Tak Matsumoto: Guitar, Music Composition, Arrangement
- Koshi Inaba: Vocals, Lyric Composition
Support Members
- Ikkoh Tanaka: Drums
- Masao Akashi: Bass, Arrangement
- Yuichi Ikusawa: Chorus (Track 1)
- Maki Ohguro: Chorus
- Koji Yamamoto: Sax (Track 1)
- Tsuru Sawano: Trumpet (Track 1)
- Yasushi Gotanda: Trumpet (Track 1)
- Hiroyuki Nomura: Trombone (Track 1)
- HIIRO Strings: Strings
Production
- B+U+M
- Chris Bellman: Remastering (2003 reissue, Bernie Grundman Mastering L.A., U.S.A.)