Rum and vodka? Hmmm...sounds like putting together TNT and nitroglycerin. Then again, I was never much of a drinker so I think those two forms of alcohol are fairly lethal for a guy like me. For the purposes of this article, I was trying to look for any cocktail that includes rum and vodka and I didn't have to look far. There is the (in)famous Long Island Iced Tea as you can see above.
Back in my university days in the 1980s, one of my newfound friends after the Japanese-Canadian Students' Association had been formed and I ended up going to either Kuri the karaoke bar or some other drinking establishment in downtown Toronto with the rest of the gang. Of course, I stuck with my dependable Coke but my friend was intrigued by this tall cool cocktail known as the Long Island Iced Tea. Of course, neither of us knew it really wasn't iced tea but something far more potent with a whole plethora of stuff in there including rum and vodka. He ordered it, drank it and enjoyed it to the last drop. By the last subway, he was ready to drop. But before that, he was flying around like an overcaffeinated gibbon on the subway handholds. He was out of his mind, maybe out of his body and the next morning, out of much of his digested food perhaps. Maybe it was that experience that I witnessed but I've yet to have my first Long Island Iced Tea.
Anyways, all that preamble ramble about rum and vodka is up there so that I can introduce "Rum & Vodka", a track by City Pop chanteuse Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）from her June 1985 album "Don't You Know". It's great to have Kuwana back on the blog after so long and although the song has a pretty potent title, this tune composed by her brother Masahiro Kuwana（桑名正博）and written by Itsuro Shimoda（下田逸郎）is quite the laidback and groovy product that straddles the line between City Pop and urbane pop although I think the saxophone has it brought over to the former side. I can happily take in this "Rum & Vodka" without fearing any violently deleterious effects.
Depending on when you were in university, someone might have been playing this song during that memorable outing. From the looks of that album cover, it does seem like Haruko Kuwana might have also had a sip of that "Long Island Iced Tea" or something just as potent. This is a great song, and maybe it qualifies as dance-city pop!
ReplyDeleteYeah, that cover has Kuwana look like she's saying "Where the heck am I? For that matter, where the heck is my skirt?!".
DeleteMaybe, even "hey, where's the restroom"
DeleteYeah, those discos probably had washrooms which were hard to find in the dark.
DeleteFun fact: This song was originally recorded in 1979 by Ann Lewis (who was, as I'm sure you know, married to Masahiro Kuwana at the time) under the title "Vodka or Rum". I wonder why the drinks and conjunction were swapped for the title of Haruko's version? Either way, her version of the track is quite nice
ReplyDeleteHello, ourplesound and thank you for the information. It is quite valuable...including the fact that Lewis and Haruko had been in-laws. Not sure why the title words were swapped; hopefully, there wasn't anything spiteful in the decision.
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