Hidemi Ishikawa -- Strawberry Shake（ストロベリー・シェイク）

 

It was often the time when I went to diners like Lick's here in Toronto to partake in the food and drink including the all-favourite strawberry milkshake in those tall tin cups. Always had mine with a topping of whipped cream.

So I can't be surprised that there was a Japanese aidoru tune titled "Strawberry Shake" since all things aidoru are sweet and frothy by design. This was the opening track on Hidemi Ishikawa's（石川秀美）July 1984 4th album "Summer Breeze"（サマー・ブリーズ）, and yeah, the titular drink must have been very refreshing during the usual torrid Japanese hot season. The lyrics by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）though seem to talk about a young lady's deep ardor for that special guy.

Prolific composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）was behind the music for "Strawberry Shake". Especially in those 1980s, it was often the time that Japanese composers borrowed hooks from other songs in Japan and elsewhere. I've heard and seen that in other tunes, but this is perhaps one of the few times that Hayashi may have been influenced by two different songs. The jazzy intro and opening verses by Hidemi come right from Elbow Bones and the Racketeers' hit "A Night in New York" from late 1983 (and yeah, a much later tune had its influence from that one), but then when we get into the chorus, it sounds just like Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"September" from 1979, a song that both Hayashi and Matsumoto worked on.