Kill me....love me...
Good heavens, I did forget about this one by Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）although it is included in at least a couple of my BEST compilations on her. I should have remembered due to that lyric sung by her at the very top and that piano intro with the ominous flute flutter.
And there is that title "Sayonara no Banka" (A Elegy of Goodbye) which seals the deal on a foreboding story. This was Iwasaki's 15th single from November 1978 with the singer relating about a romance which seems to have had its love evaporated like moisture from a now-crumpled autumn leaf, a symbol that pops up throughout the lyrics by Yoko Aki（阿木燿子）. The heroine is now at her wit's end, practically begging for release from the poisonous relationship.
The ever-prolific Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）created the bouncy melody which almost takes the song into City Pop territory. Although the song has been classified as an aidoru kayo on J-Wiki, it's a bit difficult to imagine it as the typical aidoru tune, due to Iwasaki's one-cut-above vocals and Tsutsumi's arrangement. I mean, it just has that smart and classy vibe to it.
(cover version)
"Sayonara no Banka" didn't crack the Top 10 but it did peak at No. 13. In terms of official single A-sides, the song is reputedly the first one that didn't have Yu Aku（阿久悠）providing the lyrics but Aki who was probably more famous for writing for Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）at the time. I'm not sure whether the single actually had been put on an original studio album but it did get placed as a bonus track onto the 2007 re-issue of Iwasaki's 7th original "Pandora no Kobako"（パンドラの小箱...Pandora's Box）which had been released in August 1978. The original LP went as high as No. 11.
This is so irrelevant but I like her song 「ロマンス」the best :)
ReplyDeleteIrrelevant? Not at all. :)
DeleteWhat comes in at 2nd and 3rd places for you in the Hiromi discography?
Well I've only heard three of her songs so far (I know, I'm not very well-versed ;-;) but second is Cinderella Honeymoon and third is the one you have written about. Thanks for always writing such detailed posts that have helped to enlighten me on these songs :))
ReplyDeleteAhh, Karen, good to hear from you.
Delete"Cinderella Honeymoon" is one of the classics by her. Quite the disco beat there, too. Always a pleasure to meet another Hiromi fan. Many thanks.
Nice matcha cake on your blog, by the way. Quite scrumptious.
Have a look at Watashi Tachi, Romance's b-side. It's even better than the a-side.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-T8yjSspCg
;-; thank you :)
ReplyDeleteAnd if you haven't already come across the article:
Deletehttp://kayokyokuplus.blogspot.ca/2013/06/hiromi-iwasakimako-ishino-watashi-tachi.html
She sounds particularly desperate in her performance on "The Star", when she probably had a cold and sounded husky, verging on hoarse. At one point her voice gives and she can't complete the line, only to belt, almost scream the next line. An unusually unpolished performance from her that really fitted the song.
ReplyDeleteFound the clip I was talking about.
Deletehttps://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3b4ete
I can sympathize with Hiromi during that time. I'm currently undergoing a summer cold myself. Not a great thing to have especially when the temperatures are climbing into the 30s Celsius today.
Delete