I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Miki Imai -- Piece of My Wish
If a magnum opus could be chosen for the first pre-Tomoyasu Hotei chapter of Miki Imai's （今井美樹）discography, it would probably be her 7th single,"Piece of My Wish". I just missed out on getting this CD single since it came out in November 1991, a few months after I had returned to Canada from the JET Programme, and it was still the infancy of the Internet (what was it we were calling it back then.....the Information Superhighway?) and many, many years before YouTube and iTunes. So, it would be quite a few years before I finally got my own copy. However, I still had a friend/JET colleague who was a glutton for punishment and continued for a third year in Gunma Prefecture, and he was kind enough to mail me an audio tape of J-Pop songs including "Piece of My Wish".
Created by Yuuho Iwasato and Chika Ueda（岩里祐穂・,上田千華） two familiar faces in Imai's career during the early years, "Piece of My Wish" is one of the sweetest and most uplifting ballads I've heard. The first few bars of music come off as somewhat comical and whimsical before a richer, heart-tugging melody flows in. Iwasato's lyrics tell of looking forward to a new day with encouragement and hope after a night of crying. Over 20 years after its release, it still has quite the kick in it. Not surprisingly, it was also made into the theme song for a TBS drama with the appropriate title of "Ashita ga Aru kara"(あしたがあるから....There Is Tomorrow). Nice to listen to it after a hard day at work.
This song was definitely special. "Piece of My Wish" was Imai's very first No. 1 single and reached that important sales mark of 1 million. And it was the 9th-ranked single of 1992. Moreover, in Imai's career, it is only second to her later megahit, "Pride", as her most successful song. In a way, it was good that it never went into an original album of hers; it rather stands out on its own. However, of course, it's on a number of her BEST compilations.
As I mentioned at the top, I can imagine "Piece of My Wish" being a magnum opus for Miki Imai. And maybe it was a bit of a goodbye song for that first stage of her career which started in the mid-80s; the song retained that 80s Imai sound but from her next single, "Blue Moon Blue", that sound would start to change.
I watched a recent episode of SONGS featuring Imai and the 40th anniversary of her debut. This single was very possibly the first J-Pop CD I ever purchased because I watched ASHITA GA ARU KARA on local TV in Hawaii. A J-Pop Canon is how I refer to such influential tunes.
Good to hear from you again, Saburo. I never got the single but I loved the song so much that I had to get any BEST compilation of hers which of course would include it.
I also saw "Piece Of My Wish" used recently in a TV CM (with Yuriko Yoshitaka) for laundry detergent. Add "fresh scent" to the song's long list of attributes.
I watched a recent episode of SONGS featuring Imai and the 40th anniversary of her debut. This single was very possibly the first J-Pop CD I ever purchased because I watched ASHITA GA ARU KARA on local TV in Hawaii. A J-Pop Canon is how I refer to such influential tunes.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you again, Saburo. I never got the single but I loved the song so much that I had to get any BEST compilation of hers which of course would include it.
DeleteI also saw "Piece Of My Wish" used recently in a TV CM (with Yuriko Yoshitaka) for laundry detergent. Add "fresh scent" to the song's long list of attributes.
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