Lili Iwabuchi -- Tonari no Otoko no Ko（隣の男の子）

About a week ago, I wrote about "Salvia no Hana"（サルビアの花）, a folk song that I first heard by Lili Iwabuchi（岩渕リリ）on "Good Times Diva Volume 2" but couldn't find any hint of her version on YouTube. Instead, I found a few others including the original songwriter behind the song who had done their covers.

However, curious as I was, I wanted to see if I could track down a Lili Iwabuchi tune on YouTube, and it didn't take too long at all. As I mentioned in the article for "Salvia no Hana", she didn't have a long career...just 4 singles and 1 album up to 1973.

Single No. 3 was "Tonari no Otoko no Ko" (The Boy Next Door) from October 1972. As was the case with her "Salvia no Hana", Iwabuchi has a nice bell-like voice against the sweet arrangement which makes me wonder why she didn't go past 1973 in terms of her time in showbiz. Mieko Arima（有馬三恵子）took care of the lyrics while Masahiko Aoi（葵まさひこ）of the chorus group Honey Knights（ハニー・ナイツ）composed the song.