Joe Hisaishi -- Jinsei no Merry-Go-Round（人生のメリーゴーランド）

 

Last night on NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）, singer Kumiko（クミコ）performed a lyrics-filled version of the theme song from the Hayao Miyazaki（宮崎駿）movie "Howl's Moving Castle" (2004), and it was OK. However, my feeling was that the original song had packed more of a punch. By the way, I never saw the actual movie with SMAP's Takuya Kimura（木村拓哉）playing Howl himself and Christian Bale dubbing the role in English. I read with some mirth that Bale's work on the movie came on the cusp of him taking on the Batman role and that his performance in "Howl's Moving Castle" was practice for the Dark Knight's terrifying voice. Perhaps in that case, Howl should have been called Growl.

Of course, when it comes to a Studio Ghibli movie with Miyazaki, it's going to be Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）on soundtrack duties, and with "Howl's Moving Castle" came the instrumental "Jinsei no Merry-Go-Round" (Merry-Go-Round of Life). And it's one of those masterpiece creations by the maestro himself that sent shivers up and down my spine. Even more than his wonderful "Hareta Hi ni..."（晴れた日に...）theme for "Majou no Takkyubin"（魔女の宅急便...Kiki's Delivery Service）, Hisaishi encapsulates the pathos, romance, adventure and even some comic relief from the movie into the three minutes and change of this epic waltz. I can see couples in their finest dress whirling around the floor in some European castle while this is playing.

And yet, despite the waltzing nature of the song, it also really sounds like being put on the most amazing merry-go-round of your lifetime. "Jinsei no Merry-Go-Round" was the coupling song for Chieko Baisho's（倍書千恵子）"Sekai no Yakusoku"（世界の約束...Promise of the World） single which I assume is sung during the ending credits of the movie. Baisho played the main character of Sophie in the original version. I'll have to cover that one sometime later on. It was released in October 2004, about a month before the movie came out.