Kozo Murashita -- Odoriko （踊り子）

Some 6 months after he'd had the biggest hit of his career with "Hatsukoi"(初恋....First Love), Kozo Murashita (村下孝蔵）released his next single, "Odoriko" (Dancing Girl). While "Hatsukoi", a synth-based pop song, was a bit more atypical of his usual tunes, "Odoriko" was going back to his folk roots although a synthesizer riff begins this song as well. As with his previous hit, this song also talks of unrequited love for the title character. Melodically, it has that feeling of gypsy music, a bit along the lines of Stephane Grappelli.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find out how "Odoriko" did in the rankings, but it was part of the album "Hatsukoi - Asaki Yume Mishi"(初恋ー浅き夢みし....First Love - Seeing a Light Dream), also released in the same month as the song. The album went as high as No. 2 and became the 16th-ranked album of the year.

Incidentally, a number of the album covers for Murashita were designed by Tamotsu Murakami (村上保）, a sculptor and an artist specializing in kiri-e（切り絵）, a form of origami involving cutting of the paper as well as folding.