Donna Summer -- Last Dance

 

Welcome to the regular weekly Reminiscings of Youth session where I post about songs that I used to hear in my youth (toddlerhood, young adulthood). This time around, I'm also including this one since it's been reported that the late great Donna Summer (who had passed away in 2012) was just inducted into The Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

It's kinda too bad that the only trailers I could find of the movie "Thank God It's Friday" from 1978 are pretty darn murky, but I guess that they reflect how dark the interior of the discos were back in the day, aside from the blinding lights. As a kid, I barely remember that there was a movie with that title during the Age of Disco. I had no idea that it had starred Jeff Goldblum, Debra Winger (her first appearance in a motion picture) and Terri Nunn who would become the lead singer of the 80s New Wave band Berlin. Last but not least, it also had Summer with a pretty meaty role.

Ah, someone turned on the lights a bit more. Thank you! And on a great song, too, as Summer let loose a disco classic in the movie "Last Dance". I heard "Last Dance" here and there over the years through the radio and TV and more recently via YouTube. Nope, never danced to it which for sighted people was just as well. I think the Torch Lady (the Columbia Pictures logo) in the movie cut up the rug a whole lot better than I ever could.

Created by Paul Jabara, "Last Dance" was released in July 1978, some weeks following the release of the movie. It starts off with a ballad-like opening before the gates open and the joy of disco floods the floor. For those of a certain age, the song has probably evoked some good-time memories. It hit No. 10 on Canada's RPM and then No. 3 on America's Billboard. It won the Oscar for Best Original Song and a Grammy for Best R&B Song for Jabara and then a Grammy for Summer for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female.

Just a day after the release of "Last Dance", Oricon put up its weekly single rankings. Here are Nos. 1-3.

1. Circus -- Mr. Summertime

2. Pink Lady -- Monster （モンスター）

3. Eikichi Yazawa -- Jikan yo Tomare （時間よ止まれ）

Sayaka Ito -- Broken Generation

 

Early last month, I introduced 1980s rock-n-rollin' singer Sayaka Ito（伊藤さやか）to the blog with her "GO! GO! POP-TOWN" from 1982. Wasn't sure whether the song was just that one foray into the 1950s and 1960s that a lot of those Harajuku dancers were into at around the same time.

Well, it looks like the old-fashioned rock-n-roll music life was just the thing for her. In June 1983, Ito released her 5th single, "Broken Generation", and this time, compared to "GO! GO! POP-TOWN", she's eschewed the New Wave aspect and went for the basic old school. In fact, I'd say that the melody by Ginji Ito（伊藤銀次）and arrangement by Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）was more reminiscent of the stuff that Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）would make up. I get images of a 1950s motorcycle gang living the free and untamed life and roaming the byways and highways of the city and life in general. Heck, even the singer herself in the thumbnail above looks like she could have been the gang leader's girlfriend (get a load of that hair!). Hitoshi Shinohara (篠原仁志...aka Heart Box) was the lyricist here.

Mia Masuda -- Fuwa Fuwa（ふ・わ・ふ・わ）

 

I haven't been to this place in quite a while but Fuwa Fuwa is our local establishment for Japanese-style pancakes. To be honest, during my time in Japan, I hadn't been aware that my old stomping grounds were famous for fluffy souffle pancakes. Sure, I used some of that pancake mix from Morinaga in Ichikawa, but I never got anything nearly as airy as the pancakes they make at Fuwa Fuwa.

But I digress. Another object that has been given the name is one of aidoru Mia Masuda's（増田未亜）songs. "Fuwa Fuwa" (Fluffy) is a track on her August 1989 debut album "Pure", and Masuda certainly sounds quite fluffy here; heck, the first word in Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）lyrics is marshmallow. One can't get fluffier than that.

Ken Sato（佐藤健）, Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）husband and composer of many of her City Pop songs, was responsible for the melody. It was truly made for an aidoru but with an extra level of class thanks to those strings and a general arrangement of pop music that sounds as if it had been meant for someone like Mariko Nagai（永井真理子）or Miki Imai（今井美樹）. So, perhaps the vocals and the overall atmosphere were the fluffier parts of "Fuwa Fuwa".

Noriyuki Makihara -- Shouri no Egao（勝利の笑顔）

 

It's been just about six years since I put up my most recent Noriyuki Makihara（槇原敬之）song onto the blog, so allow me to rectify this situation.

Back in November 1991, singer-songwriter Mackey released his 4th single, the classic "Fuyu ga Hajimaru yo"（冬がはじまるよ）, a really jolly song for the Yuletide with that wonderful harmonica playing. Well, I've found out that the coupling song for that one is lovely in its own way, if quite wistful.

"Shouri no Egao" (The Smile of Victory) has nothing to do with Christmas and it tells of a romance that never got to be due to various circumstances such as the eddies of fate forcing a pair to drift apart. Starting with a riff that sounds like it was inspired by 1970s soul, Makihara sings about a man suddenly bumping into a woman he had feelings for way back in his high school years as a soccer player. They exchange pleasantries politely but it seems like the woman never really reciprocated those feelings and after she even gives him her contact information, he ends up tearing the memo later on. He has moved on and if there's not even an ember of romantic hope and it was more about lip service, then why bother? They'll probably see each other at a distant school reunion. 

Ryuichi Sakamoto -- Dancing in the Sky

 

Fairly busy day today. Met up with an old friend of mine for lunch (that was one spicy steak sandwich from Bear Steak in The Well) and stopped off at Sonic Boom to pick up an LP for my niece's Christmas present. Needed a double nap when I got home tonight. But I'm ready to do some blogging for Hump Day.

A few months ago, I posted up a Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）song which was his March 2008 single "Koko", a elegiac piece for a Japan Post commercial which could have easily been a musical elegy for Sakamoto himself since he has left us. Well, here is one of the coupling songs from the single which will go down as the shortest song that I've ever covered on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" since I started all the way back in 2012. 

"Dancing in the Sky" is only a minute and nine seconds along but even within its very short time, it manages to weave together a story of sorts. Just with his wonderful piano, The Professor could have been melodically describing a little boy or girl sneaking down to the living room early on Christmas morning to open up those presents. Maybe the dancing in the sky is the joy the kid feels at getting what he wanted. Nope, it's not a Christmas song per se, but it certainly feels really jingly.

Miyuki Kajitani -- Kiss The Sunlight

 

So far, singer-songwriter Miyuki Kajitani（梶谷美由紀）has been represented on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for her contribution to the "Sailor Moon" franchise with the happy-go-lucky ""Rashiku" Ikimasho"（”らしく”　いきましょ）ending theme. And on her J-Wiki page, it's been said that she's been mostly known for her anison.

However, Kajitani did release her 5th single in November 1996, "Kiss The Sunlight", which apparently didn't have any anime connections (although it was used as the ending theme for a weekly animal documentary program on TBS). It's also quite the peppy bossa-pop number that starts with a rollicking keyboard sequence that I quite like. For a while, I thought maybe it could also qualify as a Shibuya-kei piece but ultimately I went with Latin and Pop. Kenzo Saeki（サエキけんぞう）and Kajitani were the lyricists here while Hirofumi Suzuki（鈴木博文）took care of the amiable melody.

TOM★CAT -- Summer Time Graffiti（サマータイム グラフィティ）

663highland via Wikimedia Commons

 

I regret that I never took the opportunity to visit Okinawa during my years in Japan. I have a friend who lives in Naha and we've exchanged correspondence and Christmas cards once a year for many years now. Maybe I'll get that chance someday. Certainly would love to try Okinawan cuisine such as goya champloo and their distinct brand of soba.

One reason that I mentioned the above is that this particular song was used as the campaign jingle for Japan Air Lines' 1985 campaign for Okinawa. "Summer Time Graffiti" was the second single released by the band TOM★CAT. I wrote about these guys back in 2022 with their November 1984 debut song "Furare Kibun de Rock 'n' Roll"（ふられ気分でRock'n' Roll） and they stood out for their main vocalist TOM, aka Atsumi Matsuzaki（松崎淳美）with her distinct look of J-Roy Orbison in hair and sunglasses as she manned the keyboards.

"Summer Time Graffiti" was written and composed by TOM and released in April 1985. It's definitely got that 80s sound with those orchestra hits launching the song off and TOM's keyboard work which almost had me sprouting a mullet from the back of my head. I think that JAL was quite happy with this one for their campaign since it's dynamic enough to make tourists think about parting with their money for a trip down to Japan's southernmost prefecture. "Summer Time Graffiti" made it to No. 13 on Oricon.