"Be My Last" is

Hikaru Utada , who is also known by the mononym Utada, is a Japanese-American pop singer, songwriter and producer. By 2010, Utada had become one of the most influential, and best-selling, musical artists in Japan. Born in the United States to Japanese parent ...

's 14th

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese single, released on September 28, 2005. It was used for the 2005 film ''

Spring Snow is a novel by Yukio Mishima, the first in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy. It was published serially in ''Shinchō'' from 1965 to 1967, and then in book form in 1969. Mishima did extensive research, including visits to Enshō-ji in Nara, to ...

'', an adaptation of the 1966

Yukio Mishima , born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Nationalism, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was ...

novel of the same name. The cover art was taken in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. The large, dark building shown to the left is

Prague Castle Prague Castle ( cs, Pražský hrad; ) is a castle complex in Prague 1 Municipality within Prague, Czech Republic, built in the 9th century. It is the official office of the President of the Czech Republic. The castle was a seat of power for kin ...

Promotion

Utada had five TV performances a month after it had been released, due to her promotional work in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

for the last ''

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

'' album single, "

You Make Me Want to Be a Man "You Make Me Want to Be a Man" is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist Hikaru Utada, Utada for her fifth studio album and second English album, ''Exodus (Hikaru Utada album), Exodus'' (2004). It was written and produced by Utada, with co-pr ...

", which delayed her performances. The timing of these lives has also fit in with the release of ''Spring Snow''. Also planned with these live performances is an internet streaming of "Be My Last" available from Utada's Toshiba-EMI website. The streaming includes a performance as well as Utada answering a few questions from fans. It was available from the 11th until the 20th of November. On the television program performance at

Music Station is a Japanese music television program. Broadcasting live weekly on TV Asahi since October 24, 1986, it currently airs from 9PM-10PM on Fridays. The program is also colloquially known as , , and . The show is currently syndicated throughout th ...

, Utada was accompanied with a cello as background music for "Be My Last" instead of the CD version which she had used for the other performances.

Aya Matsuura is a Japanese actress and pop singer, from Himeji, Hyogo, Japan. Career 2000–2009: Hello! Project Aya auditioned in 2000 for the fourth Morning Musume & Heike Michiyo Protegee Audition and was selected along with Sheki-Dol to become a part o ...

had also covered "Be My Last" on 30 October 2005.

Chart reception

"Be My Last" reached #1 on the first day of its release on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

chart, and stayed the number one single of the week post that day. To date, "Be My Last" has sold at least 150,000 physical copies. In 2005, this single sold 143,916 units, making it the #70 single of 2005.

Covers

In 2014,

Kazuya Yoshii is a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known as lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band The Yellow Monkey. When they went on hiatus in 2001, before officially disbanding three years later, Yoshii started a solo car ...

The Yellow Monkey The Yellow Monkey, sometimes abbreviated as , is a Japanese rock band originally active from 1988 to 2001, before officially disbanding in 2004. They announced their reformation in 2016. The band's name was derived from the ethnic slur that J ...

recorded the song for ''Utada Hikaru no Uta'', a tribute album celebrating 15 years since Utada's debut.

Track listing

Chart rankings

Certifications and sales

References

{{authority control Hikaru Utada songs 2005 singles 2005 songs Oricon Weekly number-one singles Songs written by Hikaru Utada Pop ballads Japanese film songs