Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Reimy/Yumi Matsutoya -- Seishun no Regret (青春のリグレット)


My audio relationship with Reimy(麗美) started when she had already been well into the singer-songwriting phase of her career in the late 80s and early 90s, so it was a revelation to find out that she had started out in the mid-80s singing somewhat more aidoru-ish songs. I think the distinction between the two phases was sharp enough that at this point, I have a couple of BEST albums by the Okinawan singer representing those two different eras.

In any case, "Seishun no Regret" (Teenage Regrets) is Reimy's 2nd single from that early era, released in May 1984. I may have mentioned in one of the early articles on her that she seemed to have had some career grooming by the Matsutoyas, including a stint as one of the backup chorus during Yuming's (ユーミン)concerts. And so it was pretty natural that the Queen of New Music created this song for Reimy. Since I had become acquainted with Yuming's cover of the song first, it was interesting to hear the original ballad arrangement with that somewhat gloppy techno beat holding things down. And watching the official music video above, early Reimy was quite different in the looks department, compared to the short haircut and the zippier fashion that she was sporting at the end of the decade. And her voice was more akin to that of Hiroko Yakushimaru(薬師丸ひろ子) back in those days.


As I said, the first version of "Seishun no Regret" that I had heard was Yumi Matsutoya's(松任谷由実)cover which got onto her 1985 17th album, "Da-Di-Da", although my first time with it was via her BEST album, "Neue Musik" from 1998. Yuming's version is quite a bit more fun-loving and would probably be figuratively better translated as "Teenage Celebration". My image whenever this song plays is of some high school girls on the weekend taking off in a convertible for the beach. Not sure on the lyrical level, but the song certainly sounds joyful.



And in a bit of a cameo, Miki Imai(今井美樹) gives her own take on "Seishun no Regret" via her latest album, "Dialogue" which is a tribute to Yuming's music.

3 comments:

  1. I like all 3 versions but Reimy's original version is by far my favourite. It has a very depressing sound to it that I like and the music video has a doll playing a harmonica which is hilarious! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATbsQ7oawYg

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  2. The stark difference in arrangements always intrigued me, so I took some time to look at the lyrics.
    The song opens with the lines "We shook hands and parted ways/saying 'We'll laugh it off when talking about it later'", painting a picture of a bitter break-up neither one wanted, but felt obliged to go through. With that information, Yuming's arrangement feels like someone actively laughing it off to ease the pain felt, while Reimy's version rings truer to the singer's feelings. Both are really interesting song choices to accompany the lyrics, and now I can't imagine having one without the other.

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    Replies
    1. Hello there. Yes, it's quite intriguing how a song, despite having the same melody and lyrics, can change in tone dramatically depending on the arranger. One example that I know off the top of my head is "Anata no Sora wo Tobitai" which was created by Ami Ozaki for Mariko Takahashi when she went solo from Pedro & Capricious back in the late 1970s. Takahashi's original was quite triumphant whereas Ozaki's cover sounded quite a bit more defeated.

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