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.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Mariko Takahashi -- Gomen ne... （ごめんね…）


Considering how much I've heard "Gomen ne..." (I'm Sorry) all these years since its June 1996 release either on TV, at karaoke, and just through the many YouTube videos, I was surprised to find out that Mariko Takahashi's（高橋真梨子）26th single only went as high as No. 18 on Oricon. And to be honest, there are some other songs earlier from her career that I would put above this one...a few of which cannot be found anywhere online.

Still, "Gomen ne..." has those vibrant and inspirational vocals by Takahashi that really make the song, those same vocals that made her earlier ballads such as "For You", some of my favourite songs by her. And I've got a feeling that this would probably be her most famous song for non-fans. Its profile was expanded by the fact that it was used as the 15th theme song for that long-running TV series "Kayo Suspense Gekijo"（火曜サスペンス劇場...The Tuesday Night Suspense Drama）. According to J-Wiki, the ballad is the 2nd-most successful theme in terms of sales, next to "Madonna Tachi no Lullaby"（聖母たちのララバイ）sung by Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）back in 1982, and she's usually the one I think of when it comes to that TV show.


Although the song didn't break the Top 10, it did last a long time on the charts...about 47 weeks in the Top 100. Moreover, it did finish as the 95th-ranked song for 1996 and it finished slightly higher a year later in the 92nd position. Takahashi provided the lyrics while Yasuhiro Mizushima（水島康宏）composed the music. The singer hasn't appeared on the Kohaku Utagassen all that much, but it would be nice if she could appear again one New Year's Eve and do a rendition of "Gomen ne...".


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5 comments:

  1. May LilyMay 1, 2015 at 12:57 AM

    Thank you for introducing this song!

    I am not familiar with Takahashi (and I don't think I've heard Gomen ne before), but it's a nice song. after Gomen ne, youtube took me to her To someone far away, and I like that song too : )

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    1. J-CanuckMay 1, 2015 at 11:32 AM

      No problems, May. My pleasure entirely. :)
      Although the music industry might disagree with me, I think YouTube has been great in introducing some new stuff within the old kayo kyoku that I would have never discovered otherwise. Ended up getting some CDs because of it, too.

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  2. Larry ChanMay 2, 2015 at 7:27 PM

    I have Takahashi's Gomenne, For You, and Anata no Sora wo Tobitai. Of all 3, I like Gomenne the most. It feels weird every time I listen to For You because HK singer Alan Tam's cover version is overwhelming my memory.

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    1. J-CanuckMay 3, 2015 at 1:23 PM

      Hey, Larry. Good to hear from you again.

      Would like to hear Alan Tam's version. Does it sound somewhat different from Takahashi's original?

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    2. Larry ChanMay 3, 2015 at 2:56 PM

      J-Canuck, good to hear from you too. Alan Tam's version is quite similar to Takahashi's. Here's the very original MV in 1983/84. https://youtu.be/oIoXtcvUq0A

      The story is very different though. It's about a man who's about to separate with his woman. And the lyrics is using fog as an metaphor to describe their love relationship. And so the title - Love Resembling Fog.

      Enjoy! :)

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