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.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Junichi Inagaki -- Dramatic Rain (ドラマティック・レイン)


While the aidorus such as Matchy(近藤真彦), Toshi-chan(田原俊彦)and Seiko Matsuda(松田聖子) were bouncing all over the TV with their daytime happy music, the shibui folk like Akira Terao(寺尾聰)and Yoshitaka Minami(南佳孝)were providing the nights with their brand of whiskey-friendly City Pop. Then, there is of course Junichi Inagaki(稲垣潤一).

With the looks of a particularly sober-sided section chief in a corporation, Inagaki has been part of the backbone for the moonlit side of City Pop. He has sung his share of sunny tunes throughout his nearly 32 years in the music business, but I usually think the word "night" when it comes to him. And it seems like he had a need for precipitation in his early singles as well. Case in point, his 3rd single was "Dramatic Rain" from October 1982, just a couple of singles away from his debut earlier in that year, "Ame no Regret"(雨のリグレット). Mind you, for the genre, there's nothing like the wet stuff spattering away on those expensive bar windows overlooking those city streets to provide a certain amount of atmosphere to the proceedings.



I first heard "Dramatic Rain" on that 2-CD BEST album from 1990 of his, "Transit" and came across it again via one of my latest Inagaki purchases, "Rainy Voice" from 2007. The lyrics were provided by Yasushi Akimoto(秋元康)and the music was by Kyohei Tsutsumi(筒美京平). It proved to be his very first hit as a singer, reaching No. 8 on Oricon. The song also came as a track on his 3rd album from 1983, "Shylights".

2 comments:

  1. I love this singer, I only have ON TV which I foung in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, CA I watched a lot of japanese soap operas then I found the cd. I play it on my mp3 it makes me so happy. i wish I knew the lyrics in english

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Ioni.

      Good to hear from you and thanks for your comments. I wasn't aware that "Dramatic Rain" was actually used in a J-Drama but considering the lyrics, I guess I can't be that surprised. THEY sound like a drama in themselves:

      Tonight, your long hair suddenly came undone
      The two of us just stop on the shining asphalt
      Ahhh...the city night is dramatic

      The car lights
      Just invite a dangerous love
      If we were to lapse into it
      Ahh...men and women..dramatic

      Rain
      Pour down on us even harder
      Drench the two of us, hum
      Rain
      Search for us even harder
      Through our chilled bodies, hum
      The sins that cannot be hidden especially with the sound of rain

      If we can walk with our collars turned up
      Ahh...the two of us silent...dramatic

      Rain
      Don't say a word now
      Someday, the two of us, hum
      Rain
      Don't ask us anything now
      And then the two of us, hum
      Until we reach a dead end, our fingers entwining

      Not totally sure about my translation, but I hope it gives you some insight about what's going on there.

      Delete

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