Yosui Inoue -- Kaerenai Futari （帰れない二人）

I mentioned in yesterday's article on that collaboration between Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）and Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）"Stardust Rendezvous" that there were a number of songs sung that deserved their own entries on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Well, I'm making good my promise from today.

The one song from that 1986 album between Inoue and Anzen Chitai that stood out for me was the wonderful ballad "Kaerenai Futari" (The Couple That Doesn't Go Home). As I remarked in the article, it was the Side B to Inoue's 9th single from September 1973, "Kokoro Moyo"（心もよう...Pattern of a Heart）, but although Side A seems to have earned a ton of respect over the decades by its covers by many an artist, I have yet to hear it myself and will in the near future. However for the meantime, I am falling for the charms of "Kaerenai Futari".

Jointly created by Inoue and the late firebrand rocker Kiyoshiro Imawano（忌野清志郎）, the original recorded version has plenty of power in spots that I didn't pick up on during the performance by Inoue and Koji Tamaki in "Stardust Rendezvous". But I'm still going with the label that it is at its very heart, a romantic folk ballad. Looking at the title, I thought the song was rather sad but listening and reading the lyrics, I've come to the realization that it is actually quite hopeful. The words relate the story of a boy and girl or a man and woman who are apparently just on the cusp of a romantic relationship. Even though it's the dead of night as Inoue sings that even "...the stars are getting ready to go home...", the couple still doesn't want to call it a night quite yet...they simply want to spend every waking moment together until sleep finally does beckon.

"Kokoro Moyo" peaked at No. 7 on Oricon and ended up as the 39th-ranked single of 1974. Both sides of the single were also tracks on Inoue's acclaimed 3rd album "Kōri no Sekai"（氷の世界...World of Ice）which was released in December 1973. The album not only hit No. 1 on the Oricon weeklies but was the No. 1 album of the year for 2 years in a row for 1974 and 1975. And it still did very well in 1976 as it was the 23rd-ranked album for that year.