I had seen Kudo before as a soloist on a tape of "The Top 10" that a former student was kind enough to obtain for me. I'd forgotten which song she sang but I remember her decked out in a flashy outfit with a bare shoulder and pretty garish makeup....a mega-tsuppari (punk girl). Her face also stood out for its longer shape and her high, angular cheekbones. She also had a slightly lopsided expression which distinguished her from other aidoru.
Some weeks into my 2-year tour of duty on the JET Programme, my host family's son was driving me somewhere in Gunma Prefecture when he turned on the tape player, and out came this tune coming at warp speed. I asked him who sang this song, and he replied "Shizuka Kudo". I couldn't quite catch the title so I asked one of the teachers at my school about it, and he replied "Mugon Iroppoi"(Silence...Sexy).
A song about struggling to confess one's love to another, Kudo's 5th single,"Mugon" was written by Miyuki Nakajima（中島みゆき） and composed by Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利） and released in August 1988. The melody might be frenetic but the lyrics are typical introspective Nakajima. It hit No. 1 and became the 6th-ranked song on Oricon.
After listening to the song on my host brother's tape player, "Mugon" became one of my first CD single purchases.
Iitai koto nara, dore gurai
Aruka wakaranaku afureteru
Watashi, kokoro wa oshaberi da wa
Iitai koto nara, anata ni wa
Ato kara ato kara afureteru
Watashi, igai to oshaberi da wa
Nanoni, iza to naru to uchiki ni naru
Toi basho kara nando mo hanashi kaketeru no ni
Me to me de tsujiau kasuka, n, iroppoi
Me to me de tsujiau so iu naka ni naritai wa
Mugon ikujinashi ne
Mugon sabishigari ne
Iitai koto nara, ano hi kara
Dare ni mo makezu ni afureteru
Watashi, kimochi wa wagamama da wa
Nanoni, iza to naru to uchiki ni naru
Kaita tegami mo shimaikonde dare mo shiranai
Me to me de tsujiau kasuka, n, iroppoi
Me to me de tsujiau so iu naka ni naritai wa
Me to me de tsujiau kasuka, n, iroppoi
Me to me de tsujiau so iu naka ni naritai wa
Ashita sukoshi yuuki wo dashite
Shisen nagete mi yo kashira
Me to me de tsujiau kasuka, n, iroppoi
Me to me de tsujiau so iu naka ni naritai wa
Mugon ikujinashi ne
Mugon sabishigari ne
Mugon ikujinashi ne
Mugon sabishigari ne
Ienai no yo, ienai no yo
i woulde like to ask you who is more famous kudo shizuka or Chisato Moritaka ?
ReplyDeleteHello there. Back in the late 80s, I would have probably said it was a toss-up. Right now, in Japan, Chisato Moritaka has the higher exposure because of her appearances in commercials. I haven't see Shizuka Kudo at all in anything all that much anymore. Overseas, I think it would depend on who you ask and who they prefer.
ReplyDeletethank you
Deletebut in all the ranking on the tv shizuka kudo get the higher spot and her songs 11 of them hit the number one but everybody tells me that Chisato Moritaka is more famous but i dont see her in the ranking of best selling
who do you prefer ?
I think it comes down to the topics of "musical legacy" and "media exposure". I can see Kudo winning the first topic because of her songs and the pedigree behind them, but on the second topic, I haven't seen Kudo on screen in some years although she may be giving individual concerts from time to time (she may be focusing full time on raising her kids).
ReplyDeleteThat's not to say Chisato has been hitting the concert tour or releasing albums regularly, either, but she had been appearing on a number of commercials in the last couple of years of my time in Japan. To answer your final question, I'm more of a casual Chisato fan myself, although I do like "Mugon" very much, along with a couple of her other tunes.
How about yourself? Who do you prefer? And who do you like in general in Japanese music?
I am Akina Nakamori huge fan , but i really like both of them kudo shizuka and Chisato, but i think that people don't give shizuka any Estimate of her work
DeleteI'm a big Akina fan, too, and yeah, I also like some of the work that both Shizuka and Chisato did back in the late 80s and early 90s. However, I'm not ready to say that either of them have been abandoned; certainly not by me....again, Chisato has had the bigger exposure recently probably only because of her commercials for Sony and some detergent brand (oh my word, she sells DETERGENT now?).
ReplyDeletePerhaps, the teens and the folks in their 20s may be more attuned to acts like AKB 48 or Perfume, but I'm pretty sure that there are still a lot of people like us who appreciate them through listening to their music and singing their songs at karaoke. And even some of those younger people (students) have surprised me at karaoke by singing songs like "Mugon" once in a while.
I think the one thing I've learned when it comes to the Japanese and Japanese pop music is that the sense of nostalgia is still quite large when compared to that of other countries. Television retrospectives of the 60s-80s still come out regularly there, DVDs of some of the old music shows are being released, and certainly big CD collections of some of those singers have been coming out. I know there was a huge Akina collection out not too long ago. A Shizuka one should be due if it hasn't come out already.
But I'm starting to blather on here so I'll stop by asking what your favourite Shizuka songs are. I know that Miyuki Nakajima wrote a number of them but I'm not sure what the titles are.
well , I am quite familiar with a lot of her songs , i thought you knew her songs however i will list it for you in ORDER .
Delete1-Daitekuretara Ii no ni . i think you know this song its was released in 1988 , i realy like this song very much the melody is beautiful and the lyrics are deep and strong
2- Kindan no Telepathy. this song was her debut song it was great hit ,number one on Oricon chart
3-Arashi no Sugao. this song was a hit and a number one also i like the melody its very catchy
4- Mugo n Iroppoi . of course you know this song
5- Again .
6-Doukoku.this song was released in 1993 it was a big hit and best selling single the lyrics was written by Nakajima Miyuki and she cover it her self later
7-Ice Rain.this song is so sad its a ballad one
8-Koi Hitoyo
9-FU-JI-TSU
10-Blue Velvet this song is rock it the ending song of dragen ball the anime
this is only the top 10 but there is a lot of her song that i like
Hello again there, Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteWent down memory lane with a couple of the songs by Shizuka. I'm not too good with titles but once I heard "Kindan no Telepathy" and "Arashi no Sugao", I remembered right away.
Especially with "Arashi no Sugao"....part of the charm with that song was her performance on TV. That little perpendicular thing she did with her hand got her talked about all over the place. I used to do it as a joke in front of my junior high school students in Japan; unfortunately, I couldn't quite imitate her voice, though.
Hi! J-Canuck! Do you have the Romanized lyrics of Mugon? I couldn't find It anywhere. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was a bit surprised that there was nothing of the romanized lyrics on the Net. But take a look above at my revised article.
DeleteHi again J-Canuck!
ReplyDeleteI just saw It.
Thank you so much!!! :-)
May I ask are you American? :-)
Hello again. No problems here. Actually, I'm a few hundred kilometres north of the border up in Toronto, Canada. By the way, where are you from? :)
DeleteHi again J-Canuck! :-) I'm from the Philippines. Do you know Kudo's song Naked Love? I also couldn't find any lyrics of that song.
ReplyDeleteHello again to the Philippines. I'm afraid, though, that I don't know "Naked Love" too well.
DeleteHi again! :-) Okay, thank you so much J-Canuck!!! :-) :-) :-)
ReplyDeleteHello there! Happy New Year! Since you're a Kudo fan, please, please, do you know where to find the lyrics of her song Naked Love? I can't find It anywhere.
ReplyDeleteHello, Anonymous.
DeleteI managed to find the original lyrics at J-Lyric.net. (http://j-lyric.net/artist/a000afc/l00060a.html). Did you need the romanized version?
Hello! Thank you for the link. No It's okay. Many thanks! :-) Happy New Year!
ReplyDelete