is a song by Japanese singer-songwriter Tetsuya Takeda from his third album and the theme song of ' in 1985. It was released on 1 March 1985 by Polydor Records as the lead single from the album. The song was inspired by Takeda's childhood and his perspective on adulthood at the time.
Takeda wrote the theme song for the Doraemon films from ' in 1980 to ' in 1996, and "Childhood" was the first song whose main vocalist is Takeda.
Beyond serving as the theme song, "Childhood" is also featured in a scene where a character plays it on guitar in '. Despite that, there are differences between the VHS and DVD releases and the theatrical release because sound effects were converted into stereophonic sound in the VHS and DVD releases. The song's lyrics appeared in a double-page spread in the latter part of the manga. On the page, Doraemon's gang uses a gadget to become invisible while Shizuka and Suneo were operating modified tanks.
An episode on 1 October 2004, of Doraemons 1979 TV series featured "Childhood" as its insert song. It was also used in on 1 March 1996.
While the song was not used in , it was featured in one of the advertisements, alongside "" by Official Hige Dandism. One of its lyrics was also tweeted on 22 November 2021.
Takeda described the song in his commentary as "I believe we all have moments when recalling our childhood, while gradually sinking into a melancholic mood and start losing ourselves for a while; I want to turn these vivid scenes into my song."
Takeda's difficult childhood inspired the song. He grew up in Hakata, when everything was still poor in post-war times, and his parents "fought about money all the time". Their fight reached its peak on his father's payday, when the drunken father fought about money with his mother. Takeda, who cannot do almost everything at the time, can only go to local parks where he doesn't have to listen to all the fights. When seeing incandescent lamps, which were still rare in his childhood, Takeda saw a kaleidoscope-like rainbow from his tears. According to Takeda, it was his way to comfort himself when he was seven years old. He also realised that he would become a factory worker like his father during that time, and "felt so anxious" that he "wanted to be a child forever". These "personal memories" have therefore formed the song's first part, in addition to express "the intrinsic sorrow well of children". In the second part, he remembered the feeling of waking up to an empty home, and therefore built the part. For the refrain, Takeda commented that:
<blockquote>"Why did we grow up? When did we grow up?" The questions in the lyrics point to the uncertainties we face while growing up. It overlaps with our adolescent wishes â that wanting to grow up while still wanting to remain a child, or even refusing to become an adult. I believe these hesitations align with what Doraemons world want to convey.</blockquote>
The song received acclaim from Doraemon fandom. In a survey conducted by Shogakukan on the seventh issue of ', the song was ranked 1st in readers' voting of the best Doraemon film's theme songs. Takeda himself expressed that "Childhood" is his favourite theme song among all Doraemon films.
According to his interview in the Sports Hochi, Takeda stated that Fujiko F. Fujio, author of Doraemon, was delighted by the song and praised his talent after reading the lyrics. Takeda believed that his compliment could be traced back to his nostalgia for Hokuriku, where he had a rough childhood as well. The Sports Hochi also praised the song as "The best song that rarely appeared in Doraemons history."