Tatsuro Yamashita -- Paper Doll （ペイパー・ドール）

I had been hoping that I would be able to discover another cool Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）song from his vast discography despite some of the albums I've collected over the years. And happily, I could. "Paper Doll" is another groovy Tats creation in which his protagonist sounds half-frustrated and half-mesmerized at having to remain at the mercy of his girlfriend who has him very tightly wound around her pinkie.

And my introduction to "Paper Doll" could happen thanks to getting his latest BEST album, "OPUS ~ All Time Best 1975-2012" for Christmas. It was nice to get that big 3-disc set since I can finally get the breadth of the man's singing career from his time with Sugar Babe to his current releases in the 21st century. This particular song, though, was originally featured on his 1st live album from 1978, "It's A Poppin' Time". Apparently, Yamashita had recorded "Paper Doll" several months previously to be released as a single, but the record company flatly stated "Nah, won't sell" and killed that idea. But Yamashita featured it in concert, and then finally got the studio recording into his next album, "Go Ahead" (December 1978).

Well, I'm not quite sure if it would have made for A-side material, but the song still grooves enough so that it would have made a solid B-Side. Glad to finally hear it.