Tatsuro Yamashita/Nona Reeves -- Doyoubi no Koibito （土曜日の恋人）

I didn't know about this one by singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita （山下達郎）but immediately enjoyed it as soon as gave it a try on YouTube last night. "Doyoubi no Koibito" (Saturday is for Lovers) is another one of his 80s City Pop tunes that usually brings images of summer, beaches and driving with the top down. Released in November 1985 (I'm sure a lot of the working class were pining for the hot season again by that release date), his 15th single was used as the ending theme song for the comedy-variety show "Oretachi Hyokinzoku"（オレたちひょうきん族...We Are The Wild and Crazy Guys） starring Beat Takeshi. Earlier in the show's run, the Princess of City Pop, EPO, contributed a couple of her songs to the show, the classic "Downtown" and "Doyou no Yoru wa Paradise"（土曜の夜はパラダイス）. Saturday was the night for Takeshi's show, and from what I've heard of its popularity, a lot of people actually were willing to stay in front of the tube instead of following Tats' and EPO's advice and having a fun time on the town.

The song underwent a few title changes before settling on the final, and arguably more mundane, one of "Doyoubi no Koibito". Initially, Yamashita had something of the Mardi Gras in mind when he got down to work on the song, so "Eien no Mardi Gras" （永遠のマルディグラ...Mardi Gras Forever） was the original title. It then became "Kayoubi no Mardi Gras" （火曜日のマルディグラ...Tuesday Mardi Gras）and "Doyoubi no Ame no Uta" （土曜日の雨の歌...Saturday Rainy Day） before the singer finally chose on the side of the weekend and made one final name change (Thanks, J-Wiki).

"Doyoubi no Koibito" got as high as No. 22 on the Oricon weeklies. It was also a track on Yamashita's 8th album, "Pocket Music" which hit the top spot soon after its release in April 1986.

Saturday in Shibuya

http://nicoviewer.net/sm3032221

Miku also takes the mike to give her version of "Doyoubi no Koibito".

And here is another version by Nona Reeves.