Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (instrumental)

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" is a 1983 instrumental by Japanese electronic composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. The song was originally made for the film of the same name. In recent years, the song has become a staple of holiday music in the USA, England and Japan. A vocal version of this song was released titled "Forbidden Colours" which featured the same instrumental music and vocals by former Japan frontman David Sylvian charted in the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart and Irish Singles Chart.

Covers

There is a 12" vinyl Italo disco cover version on the Italian record label Discomagic named "Clock On 5 - Theme From Furyo" which was released in 1984. In 2000, a re-mix of Ryuichi Sakamoto's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence called "Heart of Asia" was released in Europe by dance group Watergate, and it reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart. In 2004, Croatian pianist Maksim Mrvica included a piano remix of "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" on his third album, Variations Part I&II. Hikaru Utada also borrows the theme for her 2009 song, "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI" from the album This Is The One.

Mr. Lawrence

Douglas Lawrence Osowski (born January 1, 1969), better known as Mr. Lawrence and sometimes credited as Doug Lawrence, is an American voice actor, writer, comedian, and animator, best known for his work as a writer and actor for the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants and Rocko's Modern Life.

Life and career

Lawrence was born in East Brunswick, New Jersey. He is known for his work on the animated TV series SpongeBob SquarePants, on which he has long-running-roles as Sheldon Plankton, Larry the Lobster, Elaine and various other characters including Artist at Sea.

He was the voice of Edward T. Platypus, Nurse Leslie, Dave, and Ping-Pong on Camp Lazlo. Lawrence also performed the voice of Filburt in Rocko's Modern Life and is recently the voice of the Announcer and Manant in The Aquabats! Super Show!. Lawrence is a standup comedian, cartoonist, writer-director, animator and producer on the television series Johnny Talk. He worked on The Ren and Stimpy Show in its second season as a layout assistant. Apart from his voice work he is a writer on SpongeBob SquarePants and worked as a writer on Rocko's Modern Life and The Twisted Whiskers Show. He is currently a writer and story editor on Mighty Magiswords, Cartoon Network's first original online series.

Christmas and holiday season

The Christmas season, or festive season, (also called the holiday season or simply the holidays, mainly in the U.S. and Canada), is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and Western-influenced countries that is generally considered to run from late November to early January, defined as incorporating at least Christmas, and usually New Year, and sometimes various other holidays and festivals. It incorporates a period of shopping which comprises a peak season for the retail sector (the "Christmas (or holiday) shopping season"), and a period of sales at the end of the season (the "January sales"). Christmas window displays and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies when trees decorated with ornaments and light bulbs are illuminated, are traditions in many areas.

Originally within the Roman Catholic Church, the term "Christmas season" was considered synonymous with Christmastide, a term associated with Yuletide, which runs from December 25 (Christmas Day) to January 6 (Epiphany), popularly known as the 12 Days of Christmas. However, as the economic impact involving the anticipatory lead-up to Christmas Day grew in America and Europe into the 19th and 20th centuries, the term "Christmas season" began to become synonymous instead with the traditional Christian Advent season, the period observed in Western Christianity from the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day until Christmas Day itself. The term "Advent calendar" survives in secular Western parlance as a term referring to a countdown to Christmas Day from the beginning of December.

Merry Christmas (disambiguation)

"Merry Christmas" is a spoken or written greeting traditionally used on or before the Christmas holiday.

Merry Christmas may also refer to:

Film and television

Music

Albums

Merry Christmas (Kate Ceberano album)

Merry Christmas is the first Christmas album recorded by Australian recording artist Kate Ceberano and was certified Gold The album included a duet with Ronan Keating.

Track listing

The 2009 edition of Merry Christmas had 12 tracks, 11 Christmas classics and 'radiate', which was on her previous album "Dallas et Kate". "Radiate" was composed by Dallas Cosmas and Ceberano

The album was re-released in 2010. The 2010 Edition removed 'Radiate' but included three new tracks including duets with David Campbell and Jimmy Little This was released on 12 November 2010.