Joe Hisaishi -- Hareta Hi ni...（晴れた日に...）

Try as I might, I couldn't find the original version of "Hareta Hi ni..." (On A Clear Day...) from Joe Hisaishi's（久石譲）soundtrack of Studio Ghibli's marvelous "Majou no Takkyubin"（魔女の宅急便...Kiki's Delivery Service）from 1989 on YouTube. The above abbreviated cover version is the closest to what I heard accompanying Kiki on her way to her new home in the movie.

I mean, there are plenty of wonderful cover versions with various instruments but there was just something with the original arrangement that made things so inviting for not only the teenage witch but also for us viewers when it came to the seaside town. Can't be sure whether "Hareta Hi ni..." was meant to be Kiki's theme song or the town's anthem, but aside from the opening and ending themes by Yumi Arai（荒井由実）, this particular track is the one other song that I've always associated "Majou no Takkyubin" with all these years.

There is something simultaneously friendly, majestic and adorable with "Hareta Hi ni..." which I see and hear as a piece reminiscent of a leisurely circus waltz. Again, referring to the Yuming（ユーミン）themes, through the blog, I've treated "Rouge no Dengon"（ルージュの伝言）and "Yasashisa ni Tsutsumareta nara"（やさしさに包まれたなら）as her classic 1970s New Music creations surprisingly grafted onto a Ghibli soundtrack, but "Hareta Hi ni..." is the song that truly belongs to the Kiki movie. The above version, by the way, is a jazz cover on an album called "Ghibli Jazz 2" by All That Jazz.