Ruiko Kurahashi -- Last Scene ni Ai wo Komete （ラストシーンに愛をこめて）

Although I didn't know who it was at the time, I'd heard this song being played on the speakers at Kuri, my old Yorkville karaoke haunt, between requests. I just thought that it was one of the most gloriously dramatic examples of background music I'd ever heard. It took a while but I was finally able to identify the song and tracked down an album of hers some months later.

"Last Scene ni Ai wo Komete" translates as Fill The Last Scene With Love, and the arrangements make Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子） 2nd single sound very cinematic as if the singer were beckoning the listener to join her in a re-enactment of the final parting scene in "Casablanca". It has become one of the singer's trademark tunes, and I'm glad that I could hear Kurahashi sing it live at a concert a few years back in Minami-Aoyama.

The song was released as a single in December 1981 and appeared as the final track on her 3rd album, "Heartbreak Theater". It was written by Fumiko Okada（岡田冨美子）who had also provided the words for Kurahashi's debut single, "Glass no Yesterday" and composed by Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）, who has a thing for epic string arrangements.

December 11 2009
Ruiko Kurahashi at the Mandala