Koji Tamaki -- Suna no Machi （砂の街）

After listening to Koji Tamaki's（玉置浩二）"Roman"（ロマン）on his 1993 album, "Akogare"（あこがれ）, it was just about enough to grab a few tissues from the box and dab the eyes. So I was rather glad that the following track from the album was a good bit lighter and more wistful. This was "Suna no Machi" (The Streets of Sand) which was written by Akira Sudo（:須藤晃）and composed by Tamaki himself.

If Tamaki had been born a few decades earlier, he probably would have become a fine balladeer of standards in some nighttime joint in the metropolis. He was able to craft "Suna no Machi" to sound like some Parisian tune that Charles Aznavour could have tackled with the whistling, all those wonderful shimmery strings and that lonesome trombone near the end. Akira Sudo took care of the lyrics about searching for that lost significant other in the big, big city. I kinda wonder if Tamaki took a walk down the Champs-Elysees at night to get that inspiration.

The above video is a cover version done by rejector1000 who does a pretty good job at Tamaki's distinctive vocals. Plus I like the imagery.