Yumi Arai -- Hikoki Gumo （ひこうき雲）

With all of the incredible concerts-turned-cultural experiences and the slick production methods that Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実） has demonstrated over the past few decades, it's sometimes nice to go back to the days of Yumi Arai（荒井由実）. Until recently, "Hikoki Gumo" (Vapour Trails) was the earliest Yuming song that I'd ever heard, and I was surprised to hear that it never got its own single, instead being a B-side on her 2nd single, "Kitto Ieru"(きっと言える...I Can Tell You Straight）, released in November 1973. It sold 3,000 copies, almost four times as much as her very first single the previous year, "Henji wa Iranai"(返事はいらない....I Don't Need An Answer).

It's one of the more tenderhearted ballads that I have ever heard with Yuming initially sounding whispery-soft, almost child-like, before her voice grows up and punches through the air in the refrain. Lyrically, she modeled "Hikoki Gumo" after the premature death of her friend. It may be a time of mourning, but the singer also mentions that her friend is now happy and the feeling in the melody hints that not all is sadness and that he/she is now reaching for that blue sky.

The white hill road kept on going as far as the sky
The shimmering heat haze envelops that child
No one notices, he is just by himself
That child rises up
There is no fear, and then he soars

Longing for the sky,
He runs for it
That child's life is a vapour trail

At that tall window, that child, before he died
Also gazed at the sky, I don't know about now
I don't know about other people
I just think he was too young
But he's happy

Longing for the sky,
He runs for it
That child's life is a vapour trail

Listening to this song has often made me stop and get pretty introspective. With all of the daily spiritual detritus that builds up over time, it's always good when a particular song can help in getting rid at least some of that pile-up. Sometimes, I've thought that Yumi Matsutoya went overboard with a few of her albums and her concerts, and so I've often wondered if she needs to hear some of her earlier, simpler work again.

That 2nd single of hers may not have made much of a dent in the Oricon rankings, but it was included on her 1st album, also titled "Hikoki Gumo". It was released a few weeks after that second single, and although it took a few years, the word of Yumi Arai as the newly-crowned matriarch of this genre called New Music did get around to the masses so that the album eventually got ranked No. 10 for 1976.

"Hikoki Gumo" has also recently been selected to be the theme song for what is Hayao Miyazaki's final feature-length film in 2013, "Kaze Tachinu"(風立ちぬ....The Wind Rises).

(cover version)