During the 80s, hiring a Western singer for a movie’s title song was in vogue for Japanese big-budget, special-effects movies, a tradition that has been maintained in the world of advertisement to this day (check out the wonderful collection of movie stars selling out in Japanese commercials). This song was the title song of the, er…Legend of Eight Samurai, featuring young Toshiyuki Sanada (The Last Samurai). It is also one of the 10,000 favorite films of Quentin Tarantino. This song still has a strong following throughout Japan and South-East Asia (I heard it no less than 10 times in the five years I have been in Taiwan. Each time, I stopped whatever I was doing and listened to the end).