In the course of making my previous article "The Top Batters for the 1981 (32nd), 1982 (33rd) and 1983 (34th) Editions of the Kohaku Utagassen", I was looking up the song lists for each edition, and for the 32nd edition, I noticed an old friend, so to speak.
Hiroshi Uchiyamada & The Cool Five（内山田洋とクール・ファイブ）with stoic main vocalist Kiyoshi Maekawa（前川清）were once Kohaku stalwarts, so it's quite nostalgic to remember a time when Mood Kayo was once a genre that was recognized on the NHK special (well, to be fair, Junretsu is there). However, I'd noticed that for the 32nd edition, The Cool Five sang a tune that I had never encountered before.
August 1981 saw The Cool Five release their 42nd single, "Onna - Konuka Ame" (A Light Rain to Make Her Cry) and it's right from their Mood Kayo playbook. I can see Mae-Kiyo standing ramrod straight as he exhorts Eiji Takino's（たきのえいじ）lyrics of a lady breaking down over a lost romance while the Five give a lighter touch to their backup vocals. Takino was also behind the music which, under Kei Wakakusa's（若草恵）arrangement, includes a bit of blues piano, a sharp horn and a wailing electric guitar.
Just to be sure, "Onna - Konuka Ame" isn't to be mistaken for Ginji Ito's（伊藤銀次）New Music "Konuka Ame". By the way, my translation of the title comes from what I could interpret from Takino's lyrics.
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