Song History
"Distance" originally appeared in the Distance album, and was planned to be released as a single. However, Utada heard of a school stabbing rampage in which 6 year old schoolgirl Rena Yamashita (山下玲奈) had died. Rena had previously won an essay competition; writing about how she wanted to become a singer just like Utada. Utada decided to rearrange the song into ballad form, creating the song "Final Distance". The Japanese Ministry of Education decided to incorporate Hikaru Utada's ballad "Final Distance" in the high school music textbook starting spring semester 2001, which was announced on 8th of April. In order to pass the proposal, they needed 313 points. The proposal was passed with 319 points. They will be targeting high school students in their second year to test the new curriculum. According to the publisher of arts in education, the song was chosen because it is closely familiar with high school students.
Read more about this topic: Final Distance
Famous quotes containing the words song and/or history:
“She sang a song that sounds like life; I mean it was sad. Délira knew no other types of songs. She didn’t sing loud, and the song had no words. It was sung with closed lips and it stayed down in one’s throat.... Life is what taught them, these Negresses, to sing as if they were choking back sobs. It is a song that always ends with a beginning anew because this song is the picture of misery, and tell me, does misery ever end?”
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“It’s not the sentiments of men which make history but their actions.”
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