Momoe Yamaguchi/Masashi Sada -- Cosmos (秋桜)

Hiya, I'm nikala. Huge thanks to J-Canuck for making me part of the team, and I hope to make some worthwhile contributions to this blog.

For my first entry here, I chose to cover Momoe Yamaguchi's (山口百恵) "Cosmos", which was released as a single in October 1977 and written and composed by folk singer-songwriter Masashi Sada (さだまさし). It became one of the singer's signature hits, selling around 500,000 copies total and became the 35th-ranked single of 1977 and then the 92-nd ranked single of 1978. Sada would later record his own version of the song for his album Shikashu (Anthology).

I debated with myself for a while about whether to attribute this piece to the original performer or the mind behind it, and at the end decided that both of them deserve equal credit. I think that Yamaguchi's singing on the original is absolutely stunning. There's something powerful about the pairing of this simple folk-ballad melody with her bold tone that makes chills run down my spine every time I listen to it. I also got a little teary eyed watching her performance of it during her farewell concert, a sentiment I share with the singer herself.

On the other hand, I think the song really befits its writer. I was first introduced to Masashi Sada through his soundtrack for the early-80's drama Kita no Kuni Kara and since then would associate his work with warm and homely family imagery. He specializes primarily in folk ballads that express traditional Japanese fondness for communal and family unity. Even the 23-year old me who's never been to Japan feels inspired to see my old relatives who live far away. Just listen to his version of "Cosmos" below and you'll see how much care he put into it.

The lyrics for "Cosmos" deal with a young woman's feelings towards her mother who has a hard time letting go of her daughter's hand in marriage. They almost read like a poem without the music due to rich descriptions of the two women's gestures during this very short scene. And the daughter, despite looking optimistically on the new life ahead, wants to suspend the current moment and remain a child for a little longer. During my experience working part-time for wedding ceremonies, I've observed a number of sweet exchanges between the newlyweds and their parents, but nothing beats the serene beauty of this song. I think I'm turning sentimental here.

According to J-Wiki, the song surprised both Yamaguchi's and Sada's fans when it was released. Yamaguchi's songs, for much of 1977, gave off an image of an aggressive young woman, and then "Cosmos" showed up expressing feelings associated with gentle Japanese femininity. It's as if the singer and the songwriter didn't suit each other. Yamaguchi's fans wondered why she decided to perform Sada's song, while Sada's fans wondered why he wrote it for Yamaguchi. Interestingly enough, at the time the 18-year old idol seemed oblivious to the fact that the song was about marriage. Sada even phoned her asking if she "still didn't get it", and she confirmed his suspicions. Then in 1980, when she retired from show business and became a married woman, she sent a note to Sada telling him that she has finally understood the meaning of the song. Aww...

Image source: yae340 from Yahoo Blogs