It seems like for the last few Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）entries that I've been doing a travelogue of sorts with her and going back in time as well. "Marrakech"（マラケッシュ） was in 1988, "Miami Gozen Goji"（マイアミ午前5時）was in 1983 and now "Bruges no Kane" (The Bells of Bruges) for 1982. Like "Miami", "Bruges" wasn't an official single but a track on an album; in this case, it was her 6th studio album from November 1982, "Candy" which hit No. 1.
However, as with the previous two songs, Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）provided the lyrics for "Bruges" as Seiko does her tourist thing lamenting her English skills and having that famous waffle. Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）provided the gentle music. According to J-Wiki, this was apparently Hosono's first assigned piece to compose, although considering his role in New Music a decade before and then in the Yellow Magic Orchestra, perhaps "assigned" may have been too strong a word; maybe "asked politely" was more accurate. But then again, the Japanese corporate structure spreads throughout all industries including the music industry. You do as you are told....or asked.
In any case, I thought that there was something quite Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）about the song, perhaps due to the rolling guitar. It was about as different from anything that Hosono had done for YMO or for himself back in the 70s. And the melody does go quite nicely with the above traveling video.
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