Itsuko Nakamura -- Tobitai Onna（翔びたい女）

 

Several weeks ago, one of the commenters recommended this song by singer-songwriter Itsuko Nakamura（中村伊都子）who I hadn't heard about before. I couldn't find a lot of information regarding her aside from the fact that she put out one album in 1980 and then a couple of singles in 1978 and 1981 according to Discogs. She had participated in the 17th Yamaha Popular Song Contest in 1979 with her "Last Night"（ラスト・ナイト）which was arranged by Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）.

The one-and-only album was titled "Kassai ga Kikoeru"（喝采が聞える...Can Hear the Applause） and one track that I have for you today is "Tobitai Onna" (The Woman Who Wants to Fly). I love the combination of that playful guitar and the hazy keyboard which starts things off as the lyrics relate the story of a footloose and fancy-free young lady wishing for the good fashionable life, presumably in the metropolis. I gather that "Tobitai Onna" can hover over the dividing line between City Pop and pop, so I've thrown in both names into the Labels.