Mio Takagi -- MIO - SUN

Maybe another trend that I've been able to pick up on Showa Era Japanese popular music is that around the late 1970s and early 1980s, some musicians may have been inspired by The Eagles' "Desperado" or even Michael Johnson's "Bluer Than Blue" and concocted these epic ballads with shimmering strings and a hint of Country-Western.

I think the thought hit me when I discovered this 1981 song by actress-singer Mio Takagi（高樹澪）, "MIO - SUN" via her debut single, "Koi no Onna no Story"（恋の女のストーリー...The Story of a Woman in Love）. With instruments sounding somewhat like howling coyotes (and yes, the strings are in there), Takagi enters into this down-home ballad that reminds me of that lonesome cowboy coming home after a long day in the field, ready to kick off his boots and kick back with a beer. "MIO - SUN" was written and composed by Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）from Southern All Stars. I like the chorus here and there is a lovely ending with those strings and the guitar.

As for some of those other epic ballads, I refer you to Saburo Tokito's（時任三郎）"Kawa no Nagare wo Daite Nemuritai" (川の流れを抱いて眠りたい）and Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子）"Never Fall In Love".