Before I figured out the lyrics, I was just drawn by Kazumasa Oda's (小田和正)voice, resigned and wistful at the beginning and the end but during the chorus, filled with pride and anthemic. Although the lyrics spoke of a man looking back wistfully at a past romance, the music seemed to fit any sort of coda for any sort of experience. It's been written on the J-Wiki writeup for "Sayonara" that after this song came out, the band went from a folk-rock sound to a New Music/AOR beat. On reading that, I'm now wondering if that electric guitar riff in the middle was a goodbye of sorts.
Also on the J-Wiki writeup, Oda said: "I wrote (Sayonara), strongly intending to sell more than we ever had before", and sure enough the song became Off Course's first million-seller. It also peaked at No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies and became the 9th-ranked song of 1980. The single was released in December 1979 but was later included on the band's 2nd Best album, "Off Course Selection 1978-1981"released in September 1981 which peaked at No. 1.
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