Eien no Tsubasa
| Eien no Tsubasa | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by B'z | ||||
| from the album ACTION | ||||
| Released | May 9, 2007 | |||
| Promotions | #1 (For Those We Love) #2 (Fist of the North Star Film) #2 (Polemelo JOYSOUND CM) | |||
| Length | 9:58 | |||
| Label | Vermillion Records | |||
| Producer | Tak Matsumoto | |||
| B'z singles chronology | ||||
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Eien no Tsubasa (永遠の翼, Eternal Wings) is the forty-third single by B'z, released on May 9, 2007. At release, the song premiered at the top spot and became the thirty-eighth consecutive single to do so for the band.
The song would become the first film theme that B'z contributed to a work that wasn't part of the Detective Conan franchise when it served as the theme to I Go to Die For You (俺は、君のためにこそ死ににいく, Ore wa, Kimi no Tame ni Koso Shini ni Iku—released internationally as For Those We Love). The film centers around young kamikaze pilots during the second World War. After B'z were requested for the theme song, Tak and Koshi visited the town of Chiran in Kagoshima Prefecture. There, they visited the Chiran Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots
B'z made several television appearances to promote the single, including filming an interview segment on News Zero which marked their first time appearing on a news program. Following the interview, the band performed "Eien no Tsubasa" in full.
Two promotional videos were prepared for the title song: a normal video featuring the band and actors, and another with footage from the film for which the song served as the theme. In addition, another video was shot and aired for the B-side, "Lonely Stars", although it only covered the first half of the song.
After first week sales in excess of 150,000, the single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan and was the twenty-seventh highest selling release of 2007.
Track listing
- Eien no Tsubasa — Eternal Wings, 永遠の翼
- Tak recalled during an interview with News Zero that: "When I went to Chiran that day, the sky was really blue—really calm. After seeing that, I really opened up to that image." The song and the imagery that inspired it made quite an impression on Tak himself, who would revisit it on two occasions. In 2010, he said he thought back to the band's visit to Chiran when he wrote something of a sequel to the song in "hotalu" for his joint album with Jazz legend Larry Carlton, Take Your Pick. Later, Tak would craft an instrumental version from the original composition for his 2012 solo album Strings of My Soul.
- Lonely Stars — ロンリースターズ
- The song was performed on the May 4, 2007 edition of Music Fighter, just four days prior to release. It is one of the few B-sides to have a separate promotional video filmed for broadcast.
Personnel
B'z
- Tak Matsumoto: Guitar, Music Composition, Arrangement
- Koshi Inaba: Vocals, Lyric Composition, Arrangement
Drums
- Josh Freese
Bass
- Shawn Hurley
Production
- TAMA STRINGS: Strings (Track 1)
- Akihito Tokunaga: Arrangement (Track 1)
- Daisuke Ikeda: Arrangement (Track 2)