Yumi Matsutoya -- Yosoyuki Gao de （よそゆき顔で）

(karaoke version)

I think this was the 2nd Yuming song that I had ever heard, back on "Sounds of Japan". "Yosoyuki Gao de"(With a Game Face) is a track on her 9th album, "Toki no Nai Hotel"(時のないホテル....The Timeless Hotel) which was released in June 1980. It had also been released as the B-side for the single "ESPER" a few months earlier which only went as high as No. 77 on the Oricon rankings.

Since Yumi Arai（荒井由実）became Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実） a few years earlier, I found that she started to mix in poppier, more uptempo melodies into her compositions although I still considered her to be in the New Music vein even going into the 80s. I think the notable thing about "Yosoyuki Gao de" was that there was this electric rock guitar illustrating the protagonist's blues throughout the song. As for the song itself, it talks about a bride, presumably getting hitched the next day, driving along the seashore of Japan while she muses uncertainly about the big change in her life literally less than 24 hours away. Because Yuming has usually written songs based on what women often go through, I can only imagine that she's spoken to quite a few fiancées with cold feet.