Actress, tarento and singer Mari Hamada（濱田マリ）...not to be mistaken for rock singer-songwriter Mari Hamada（浜田麻里）...has been showing up on television so regularly in dramas and variety programming for so long that it would be natural to forget that a lot of us had first known her primarily as a singer of some eccentric tunes with her old band Modern Choki Chokies（モダンチョキチョキズ）.
From what I remember, the band also took on their fair share of music with some jazziness so it is with delight that I introduce "Santa ga Machi ni Matteiru" (Santa's Waiting In Town). I've heard of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" so I guess this MCC song could apply to Toronto and its world-infamous traffic in which case the title ought to be "Santa's Waiting...and Waiting...and Waiting In Town".
All jokes and rimshots aside, "Santa ga Machi ni Matteiru" is a lovely jazz tune in desperate need of NBC Studios at the top of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel as Hamada sings about waiting for her Christmas present most rapturously and impatiently. Starting with something similar to a Salvation Army brass phrase, the song written and composed by MCC guitarist Osamu Isoda（磯田収）quickly enters a cool and jaunty jazz arrangement. What sells the song to me is Hamada's little girl vocals that are so adorable that I want to grab the song by its cheeks and pinch them. The chorus is also wonderful.
"Santa ga Machi ni Matteiru" can be found on Modern Choki Chokies' 3rd album "Bessatsu Moda Choki Rinji Zoukangou"（別冊モダチョキ臨時増刊号...Supplementary Moda Choki Temporary Special Issue） from June 1994.
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