DEEN -- Kono Mama Kimi Dake wo Ubaisaritai（このまま君だけを奪い去りたい）

I was just writing last night about a singer who seemed to specialize in the summer beach side of things. Of course, there are plenty of other singers who have also brought their fair share of the hot season such as TUBE and Anri（杏里）.

While DEEN may have not gained the same level of lasting fame that TUBE and Anri, a couple of their songs at least have guaranteed themselves some fond memories for fans who were growing up and living in the 1990s. One is "Hitomi Sorasanai de"（瞳そらさないで）which will always be my favourite DEEN tune and the trigger for my Pavlovian response of Pocari Sweat.

The other song is something that I have heard on occasion by them and know it as one of their signature tunes. However, "Kono Mama Kimi Dake wo Ubaisaritai" (I Want to Steal You Away Just as You Are) is a DEEN hit that I had assumed all these years was a single that came after "Hitomi Sorasanai de", when in fact, it was the band's first single from March 1993. For one thing, I never really knew the title...only just the song itself as it was performed which would explain why I kinda threw out the song in the article for "Hitomi Sorasanai de" without even mentioning it by name.

Actually, DEEN showed up on NHK's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）the week before to sing this very song which got me to eventually write about it here. As much as "Hitomi Sorasanai de" is this high-tempo summery tune, "Kono Mama Kimi Dake wo Ubaisaritai" is a wistful summery ballad. Usually when I think of the careers of bands, I had assumed that it would be the uptempo tune that would get them on the map followed by the love ballad. Not so here. I also have to admit that DEEN's performance on "Uta Kon" was the first time that I got to hear the entire song and realized how good it was. Well, as I always say, better late than never. Ah, before I forget, the song was written by Sho Uesugi（上杉昇）from the band WANDS and Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）.

It was quite the auspicious splash for DEEN as the song hit No. 2 on the charts and just missed out on being part of the Top 10 singles for 1993 by coming in at No. 12. It did break the millions barrier as well. "Kono Mama Kimi Dake wo Ubaisaritai" also was a track on the band's debut album "DEEN" which was released in September 1994. That release did even better by scoring a No. 1 and becoming the 8th-ranked album for the year. Plus, the single became the campaign song for a DoCoMo commercial for beepers (the Neanderthal communications technology compared to Modern Man's cellphone).