Aki Yashiro -- Namida Koi （なみだ恋）

This was another track on that compilation CD of Mood Kayo I purchased in the last few weeks. But Aki Yashiro's（八代亜紀）"Namida Koi" (Tearful Love) is one of those strange creations in that it doesn't sound like a pure Mood Kayo although that boozy saxophone is in there and the setting is the bar-filled alleyways of Shinjuku. Jun Suzuki's（鈴木淳）melody sounds remarkably light for a Mood Kayo; listening to this, I would have been expecting a cup of hojicha instead of a tumbler of Old Parr. Those strings seem to take the song and Yashiro into countryside enka territory hinting at a more positive outcome to the romantic relationship playing away.

Former actress Keiko Yuuki（悠木圭子）was responsible for the lyrics for Yashiro's 4th single which became her first big hit when it was released in February 1973. It peaked at No. 12 on the Oricon weeklies and punched her first ticket to the Kohaku Utagassen that year.