Various -- I Only Want to Be with You

 

There are times when music critics and regular listeners totally agree on how good one particular song is. Of course, there are many more times when views and opinions clash between them and even among the two groups. And then there are songs that seem to have critics coming out with their knives unsheathed almost immediately as if they were Starfleet reacting to a sudden Borg incursion. 

Regular listeners end up looking rather bemused and stunned wondering what is up with all the hate. But apparently that was the case with "We Built This City" by Starship (and I'll have to take care of that as a ROY pretty soon...I actually like the song) and I have found out that it was also true with this week's subject of Reminiscings of Youth.

I am talking about "I Only Want to Be with You" which I had first thought was a one-and-only by Nicolette Larson released in July 1982. I used to hear this enjoyable rock-and-pop tune by the late Larson on radio all the time and though I didn't ravenously pursue the single, I always enjoyed hearing it on AM. Considering her other songs that have been highlighted on KKP, her take on "I Only Want to Be with You" was her having fun in a Linda Ronstadt way. And yet, reading the critique on Wikipedia, she was pretty much kicked into the end zone by a frustrated football player. And Larson wasn't the only one.

Several weeks ago, when I decided that I would feature "I Only Want to Be with You" under ROY, I discovered that the original version had been recorded by none other than Dusty Springfield back in 1963. Created by Mike Hawker and Ivor Raymonde, I actually like the old arrangement here with all of the hip-swinging it must have induced. Even for the original, a critic years later gave one of the all-time great backhanded compliments by referring to "I Only Want to Be with You" as a piece of lint but an entertaining enough piece of lint. Well, the lint reached No. 4 in the UK.

More than a decade later, the Bay City Rollers gave their own take on "I Only Want to Be with You" which was recorded right here in Toronto. Released in August 1976, this cover featured some powered-up strings. I couldn't find any punches hitting this one so maybe the band escaped. It did hit No. 3 in Canada and No. 12 in the United States.

Another big surprise landed on me on finding out that a 1979 take on the song had been recorded by the New Wave and rock band The Tourists. The Tourists included a couple of members, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart who would later front the far more successful Eurythmics. Again, I've liked the basics about "I Only Want to Be with You" so I'm also a fan of this one especially with Lennox's vocals but once again, the knives were out (along with paint and tomatoes)...making the cover for the single look rather appropriate. Poor Annie looks shellshocked.

From Wikipedia

The second version that I'd ever heard of the song after Larson's cover was Samantha Fox's single from January 1989. I'd known about Fox through earlier songs and I'd heard that she was showing up in a lot of topless shots in UK newspapers. This form of the song was unsurprisingly 80s dance-pop. It reached No. 31 in the States while in Canada, it peaked at No. 29.

Wikipedia also mentions that many other covers in various languages including Japanese have been created...which goes to show that no matter the bricks and arrows aimed at a song, if it's catchy enough, it will remain deathless. Personally, I will always prefer Larson's version. And let us go with Larson's version when it comes to what was being released as singles in Japan in July 1982.

Yoshie Kashiwabara -- Shiawase Ondo（しあわせ音頭）

Hidemi Ishikawa -- Yu-re-te Shonan（ゆ・れ・て湘南）

Shibugakitai -- 100%...So Kamo ne!（100%…SOかもね!）

Chie Saijo -- Omoide Tazunebito（思い出たずね人）

 

It happened now and then that an ingenue entered the revolving doors to the 80s aidoru industry and proceeded to pull off a one-and-done before disappearing back into normal Japanese society. And the way that the description by YouTuber nothingmuch') puts it, Chie Saijo（西城千恵）was one of those young ladies.

The channel also mentions the following: "...she would be one of the last idols (and well, artists in general) that debuted under Yupiteru - as their record department would eventually go bankrupt by the end of the year with this ending up as her only release...however, there is a report under the name Chie Takahashi (as the remark about her is about her debut in July under the same label - it's most likely her real name, but I'm unsure) that she was born on April 21, 1962."

You can read nothingmuch's whole report from this link, but basically the above is most of the information gleaned about the lass. The one single, "Omoide Tazunebito" (In Search of Memories), was released in July 1984, and as written and composed by singer-songwriter Kyoko Kosaka（小坂恭子）, who has her own entries on KKP such as her 1975 "Omoide Makura"（想い出まくら）, this is quite the refined creation for an aidoru with a stately string-led melody that makes me imagine a nightclub in Akasaka rather than a cute cafe near the high school. I could even consider it a form of New Adult Music. 

Hirosuke/Hideki Saijo -- Ikutsu Mono Hoshi ga Nagare（いくつもの星が流れ）

 

Getting over Hump Day, we're now on the descending side of the hill toward the welcoming arms of the weekend. Perhaps it's time for something encouraging. And so, we have Osaka rock n' roller singer-songwriter Hirosuke Fumita（文田博資）, aka Hirosuke（ヒロスケ）, to provide us with his March 1980 debut single "Ikutsu Mono Hoshi ga Nagare" (Many Stars Shoot Across the Sky).

Thus far, I've only had a couple of Hirosuke's songs up on KKP and both of them were also introduced in 1980 but with a City Pop slant. His debut though was more of a bluesy rock number that was written and composed by him. A song about he and his buddies getting through the ups and downs of life, Hirosuke is glad that they've all come this far but there's more to get although the feeling is that they can do it. It sounds like the type of song that would be great as a final singalong entry at one of his concerts.

The arranger for the original was Osamu Ishida（石田長生）. Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）was the arranger for Hideki Saijo's（西城秀樹）cover of "Ikutsu Mono Hoshi ga Nagare" which was released as Saijo's 69th single in November 1993. Although the bluesy touch is still intact, the song has been given more of a contemporary power pop ballad treatment.

Pink Lady -- Pink no Ringo（ピンクの林檎）

 

"Uta Con"（うたコン）this week started off with a big tribute to the iconic aidoru duo Pink Lady（ピンクレディー） from the 1970s with one-half of the duo, Mitsuyo Nemoto（根本美鶴代）aka Mii（未唯mie）, appearing on stage to perform some of the old hits such as UFO. In place of her partner Keiko "Kei" Masuda（増田啓子）, some of the other guests stepped in to help out with the singing and dancing. The reason for all of the hubbub is that August 25th signified the 50th anniversary of the release of Pink Lady's debut single "Pepper Keibu" (ペッパー・警部) back in 1976.

Now I'd thought that I could do the B-side of "Pepper Keibu" in tribute but alas, I already did "Kanpai! Ojou-san"（乾杯!お嬢さん） last year. So I'm now going with the B-side of Pink Lady's 2nd single "S.O.S." which was released in November 1976. Written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed/arranged by Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）, the duo's go-to songwriters for quite a while, the short-but-sweetly sung "Pink no Ringo" (Pink Apple) sounds like quite the B-side since there is no hint of the disco or the feeling of dynamic limb moves that are part and parcel of a Pink Lady performance. Instead, it's a happy-go-lucky conventional aidoru song about a pink apple being the magical love charm. In real life, I would stay far away from a pink apple.

Hiroko Mita -- Glass Mado（ガラス窓）

 

For some interesting reason, I came across a number of songs whose titles amount to "glass windows" in Japanese music including one by the mixture rock band King Gnu. Unless the music industry has a major Windex fetish, I gather that the window has been thematically used as a source of reflection or introspection after a certain unhappy situation.

But for this one, I have Hiroko Mita's（三田寛子）B-side to her January 1984 7th single "Haru no Bouken"（春の冒険...Spring Adventure） to start off this Hump Day. Indeed, this is titled "Glass Mado" (Glass Window), and it's quite the stylish aidoru tune by Mita with a splash of tango. And as noted above, the young lady in question here is looking at the titular window with a sense of sadness after an implied romantic breakup; she can see the reflection of herself as a happy lass yesterday but things cloud over considerably when it comes to tomorrow. Yes, definitely get the Windex!

"Glass Mado" was written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）, composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and arranged by Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）. I don't hear too much Latin from Hayashi usually so also for that reason, this song stands out for me. 

Eiko Segawa -- Waraijiwa（笑いじわ）

 

I've been seeing vivacious enka singer Eiko Segawa（瀬川瑛子）from time to time on the kayo shows such as "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）. It's been hard to believe that she's actually 79 now and that next year will be her 60th anniversary in show business.

The last time I saw the Tokyo native on stage, it was to sing one of her hits "Waraijiwa" (Laugh Lines) which was originally released as her 61st single in September 1995. It's been classified as a straight enka tune but its arrangement incorporates some of that Latin to such an extent that personally I can also treat it as a New Adult Music number....kinda along the same lines of a Matt Bianco song but without the synthesizers.

The songwriters for "Waraijiwa" were husband-and-wife composer Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）and lyricist Yoko Aki（阿木燿子）as they came up with a song for Segawa regarding a woman's lifetime filled with its share of roses and thorns. As quite a few KKP viewers would know by now, Uzaki and Aki were the main duo behind many of Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）hit songs in the late 1970s including "Yokosuka Story"（横須賀ストーリー）. I couldn't find out how "Waraijiwa" did on Oricon but Segawa was invited onto the 1996 edition of the Kohaku Utagassen to sing it.

Naomi Chiaki -- Yoru e Isogu Hito（夜へ急ぐ人）

 

For those people like myself who's known singer Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）for her biggest hit "Kassai"（喝采）from 1972, this song by her might be a tad different. I heard it performed on a recent episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）.

"Yoru e Isogu Hito" (A Woman Running into the Night) was Chiaki's 26th single released in September 1977, and it was one of a number of songs for her around that time which had the singer requesting works by New Music singer-songwriters such as Miyuki Nakajima（中島みゆき）and Eigo Kawashima（河島英五）to record. For "Yoru e Isogu Hito", folk singer-songwriter Kazuki Tomokawa（友川カズキ）was the one behind words and music here.

The whole thing about this song from my vantage point is that it's about all of the potentially sordid goings-on within an inner city neighbourhood somewhere in the metropolis whether that would be an area like Kabukicho in Tokyo. The titular woman escaping somewhere among the laneways and alleys is the central figure surrounded by a person who stops her by grabbing her by the shoulder, people who are ignoring the scene and passing by and other folks who are staring and laughing at the plight of the lady. Not exactly Mr. Rogers' neighbourhood we are talking about.

"Yoru e Isogu Hito" is also interesting in its arrangement by Hiroshi Miyagawa（宮川泰）. It may have been created by a New Music fellow but it still sounds like a kayo kyoku with elements of rock and funk. For that matter, it also sounds custom-fit for Chiaki, albeit a Chiaki who's gotten a little wilder and devilish. In fact, when the singer performed the song on the 1977 edition of NHK's Kohaku Utagassen, she put in quite a lot of theatricality in her performance including some throaty screams at the end, all to emphasize the lyrical theme of a woman in a frenzy. I'd probably say that there was even something of the horror movie in this one. Apparently, the captain of the White (Male) team right after Chiaki's performance admitted that he was somewhat freaked out by what he had just witnessed...saying that was quite the gross-out song.