May

May
Single by B'z
from the album ELEVEN
Released	May 24, 2000
Promotions	#2 (Suntory "Super Chu" CM)
Length	08:32
Label	Rooms Records
Producer	Tak Matsumoto
B'z singles chronology

May is the twenty-eighth single by B'z, released on May 24, 2000. The band's second single of 2000 following "Konya Tsuki no Mieru Oka ni", it likewise debuted at the top of the charts and gave the band their twenty-third consecutive number-one single. The release reached Double Platinum status, with over 457,000 copies sold in the first week alone. After spending thirteen weeks on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart, the song finished 29th in sales for the year of 2000.

For the first time since the release of the band's seventh single, "ZERO", the title song of this release featured no tie-in promotion. Additionally, the single was not performed on television despite it being a common practice for the band in that era. A music video was filmed and broadcast on various music channels at the time, featuring the band and cloaked extras in the famed Oya Stone Museum in Tochigi, Japan. On the production side, Kousuke Ooshima, who previously served as keyboardist on the SURVIVE tour in 1998 while Takanobu Masuda was occupied with other commitments, collaborated on the arrangement for the song.

The title song went on to be collected on the band's 2000 studio album ELEVEN later that year but was not performed on the subsequent album tour, B'z LIVE-GYM 2001 "ELEVEN". It was, however, performed during the earlier summer tour B'z LIVE-GYM Pleasure 2000 "juice". Since that tour, the song has not been played live. Similarly, its B-side has never been played live. In 2005, the single would be collected for the first time on B'z The Best "Pleasure II" and would be collected for the second time in 2013 with the release of B'z The Best XXV 1999-2012.

Seventeen years after its debut, a performance of the song from B'z LIVE-GYM Pleasure 2000 "juice" was finally made available on home video release as part of the premium collection B'z COMPLETE SINGLE BOX and its included DVD set.

Track listing

All music and guitar by Tak Matsumoto. All lyrics and lead vocals by Koshi Inaba.

May
File:s28 01.ogg For its release, B'z set out to make "May" a single that emphasized "the basics" as its theme while also being one that emitted a typical B'z atmosphere. However, upon release, fans expressed surprise, feeling that the song was a type that hadn't been on a single before, which was a reaction that Tak and Koshi did not expect. The title came from it being released in the month of May, with Tak being the one to make the suggestion. An additional reason given was the muted feeling of the lyrics being similar to "May disease"—a phenomenon in Japan used to describe the malaise and dread of returning to work and school following the April Golden Week holidays. Koshi mentioned that it was difficult to get the tone right while recording the vocals, as he did not want to stress too much emotion. One-time support member and B'z LIVE-GYM '98 "SURVIVE" keyboardist Kousuke Ooshima participated in producing the track and is credited with aiding in arrangement. The song was performed only during B'z LIVE-GYM Pleasure 2000 "juice" and was not released on home video until a single performance made its way into the premium video boxset B'z COMPLETE SINGLE BOX in 2017.
You pray, I stay
File:s28 02.ogg A demo of the song was carried out with recording engineer Mike Clink in Los Angeles. However, the recording and production took longer than the recording of the title song. Two months prior to the single's release during the band's March 31, 2000 appearance on Music Station, the band were listening to the song in the dressing room with their supporting band. Upon hearing that iteration of the song, Tak was not content, and said, "Let's work on it one more time." It later became the theme to a Suntory commercial, for their drink "Super Chu". The song is one of a number of B'z B-sides that have never been played live.