Miki Matsubara -- Wave

The last time that I had written about a Miki Matsubara（松原みき）song was "Jazzy Night" back around last Xmas.

Well, one of the icons of City Pop actually tackled something jazzy in her October 1984 album of covers "Blue Eyes". For this article, it's "Wave", a bossa jazz number that I first caught on Van Paugam's City Pop radio recently and then heard again last night at the same place. This cover by Matsubara is really elegant and classy, and I think the night driving scene that was playing on YouTube as "Wave" was playing really set a fine mood. Wouldn't it be something to hear on the car radio as you're headed over Tokyo's Rainbow Bridge for some fine dining in a hotel-top restaurant?

The original version of "Wave" was recorded as an instrumental by the one and only Antonio Carlos Jobim as the title track for his 1967 album with the Portuguese title being "Vou Te Contar".

Jobim also provided the English lyrics for other singers such as Frank "Ol' Blue Eyes" Sinatra and Johnny Mathis to use in their versions. Sinatra's "Wave" was released on his 1971 album "Sinatra & Company". I don't think I had ever heard Ol' Blue Eyes hit the low notes like that before.