Moonriders -- Ku-gatsu no Umi wa Kurage no Umi（9月の海はクラゲの海）

Man, that sample jellyfish photo from the computer has sure come in handy today.

I had lunch with my good friend, Shard, and we ended up at the newest branch of the Santouka ramen franchise in The Annex. As usual, we had some good talk on music, the life of Anthony Bourdain and sci-fi from decades past. He was kind enough to pass me some books of the genre such as William Gibson's works including "Neuromancer". We even talked about "Logan's Run", the novel and its movie adaptation. For those who may not know about the story behind this particular book, it's about a so-called utopian society on Earth centuries from now...the only catch being that people are no longer allowed to exist beyond the age of 21 (in the movie with Michael York and Jenny Agutter, the age is 30). Shard posited that the 1967 story was inspired by the perception back in those days that adults were no longer to be trusted.

Well, coincidentally, I was thinking about doing this song since it is September 1st today. I also mention the word "coincidentally" since the source album for this Moonriders'（ムーンライダーズ）song is titled "Don't Trust Over Thirty" (November 1986). Not sure if any of the songwriters had seen or read "Logan's Run".

Anyways "Ku-gatsu no Umi wa Kurage no Umi" is translated as "The September Sea is the Jellyfish Sea". It kinda sounds like a rather Beatles-ish tune or perhaps it could be ELO. Maybe the melody by Moonriders' keyboardist Toru Okada（岡田徹）has that rather twangy and loopy feel since it was meant to emulate the movements of jellyfish?

The lyrics by Kenzo Saeki（サエキけんぞう）also have a certain loopy quality about it...perhaps rather late 60s in inspiration; I'm thinking of "MacArthur's Park" or "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". I think they refer to a fellow's perception of someone he likes as a person he knows nothing about but can feel everything about and as someone he has always been searching for but cannot see. However, as the lyrics go on, the song may simply be about a visitor's love for jellyfish at the nearest aquarium. A bit of a joke, but perhaps this could be Moonriders' equivalent of The Beatles' "Octopus's Garden"?

As for other September tunes, you can check out Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）and Tohoku Shinkansen（東北新幹線）.