Koutarou Yamamoto -- Mihoko e（美保子へ）

 

My impression of the late singer-songwriter Koutaro Yamamoto（山本コウタロー）was that he was quite the amiable and goofy guy in his T-shirt and bell-bottom jeans according to what I've read and heard through "Mura no Yuubin Haitatsu"（村の郵便配達）of 1972 and via his bands Salty Sugar（ソルティー・シュガー）and Koutarou Yamamoto and Weekend（山本コウタローとウィークエンド）.

So, it's quite the thing to see a much snazzier and older Yamamoto in that suit on the cover of his October 1984 album "Juu-gatsu no Kyori"（10月の距離...October Distance）. He looked like he was ready to party on the dance floors of Roppongi or Shinjuku back then. One song from that album and itself his final single is "Mihoko e" (To Mihoko); the single was released a month earlier. A wistful tune about a fellow who wishes a former flame well when she gets married to another guy, the arrangement of the song still keeps that folksy nature that had been part and parcel of a Yamamoto song from years previously...that is, before a synthesizer crashes the party like a thunder clap near the end for some weird reason. And this time around, Yamamoto doesn't have anything to do with the songwriting. The lyricist was Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）of AKB48 fame and the composer was Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）.

The kanji for Mihoko can also be read as Mioko but I don't think I could hear the name at all being dropped in the song but maybe one of you can catch it if it does exist.