Kei Ishiguro -- Camel no Nioi（キャメルの匂い）

Museum Rotterdam via Wikimedia Commons

 

OK, I have to admit that I was glad that I hadn't been imbibing anything when I first came across this song since I probably would have done a major spit take all over my computer screen. Please imagine: "Camel no Nioi" (The Smell of Camels); from what I heard about camels, they don't really smell too good. And I was a bit worried that singer Kei Ishiguro（石黒ケイ）may have been confessing to some sort of weird fetish.

So, I was somewhat relieved to find out that the title was actually referring to the distinct aroma of Camel Cigarettes...not that I can remember what those smelled like. Back in my childhood when cigarettes were still socially acceptable on a wide basis, there was that general smell of burning tobacco but I guess that Camels must have had something special since they included something Turkish. Still, there is the danger of secondhand smoke and all that.

Anyways, "Camel no Nioi" is a track from Ishiguro's 1984 album "You Remember Me", and it's one of those songs that are delectably difficult to categorize one way or another. There is the City Pop and the AOR, but I could also pick up a bit of New Wave in the first few measures. Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）was behind the introspective melody with Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）weaving the story of a woman's memory of a one-night stand and the lingering smoke of a Camel. After all, people have got to deal with the afterglow.🚬