Junko Ohashi & Minowa Central Station -- Rouge et Noir

 

It's still a couple of months away from the first anniversary since singer Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）passed away last November but I decided to put up a song from her and her band Minowa Central Station today. As is the case with her thrumming disco "Safari Night", "Rouge et Noir" is also from her December 1978 album "Flush". I'm still scratching my head about why it was given that title and the album cover seems to have her reacting like "What the heck did you want to call it again?!".

Anyways, "Rouge et Noir" may be a French title but the song is sultry bossa nova from Brazil thanks to Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）with Takashi Matsumoto's（松本隆）lyrics painting a night of trysting in the titular colours of red and black. For the record, the rouge belongs to the setting sun and the (hotel?) room while the noir refers to the night and the discarded clothes on the floor. Blanc makes a cameo appearance as the wall reflecting the silhouettes of the tangled bodies including the hands holding the afterglow cigarette. Man, Matsumoto was really busy with the mind that night! But then again, his lyrics had to stand toe-to-toe with the woozy arrangement including the meowing electric guitar.