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, June 1, 2013

Meiko Nakahara -- Kimi Tachi Kiwi Papaya Mango da ne (君たちキウイ・パパヤ・マンゴだね。)


There have been a few entries on Meiko Nakahara(中原めいこ)already covering her songs in City Pop and anime. But the one I know her best for is this fun and jazzy number whose title just sparks off memories of all those old novelty songs such as "How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?" and "Good Morning, Mr. Echo". I'm not sure how many rum-soaked maraschino cherries she had downed while she was writing (with Yukinojo Mori/森雪之丞) and composing "Kimi Tachi Kiwi Papaya Mango da ne"(You're All Kiwis, Papayas and Mangoes, Aren't You?), but she and it must have charmed the collective socks off of everybody. It's not too often that someone in the 1980s can pull off singing a song about finding love and tropical fruits with a jazz band (maybe Weird Al Yankovic).


But then again, at around the same time, a Big Band song called "A Night in New York" by Elbow Bones and Racketeers stormed up the charts, so hey, a good enough jazz tune could work miracles even in that decade. In any case, "Kimi Tachi" was released as her 6th single in April 1984, and rose as high as No. 7. It finished the year as the 50th-ranked song. Incidentally, Hiroshi Shinkawa(新川博)was behind the snazzy arrangement.

Nope, not any of the fruits mentioned in the title
but it was the closest tropical fruit I could find.

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