Off-Course -- Kimi ga, Uso wo, Tsuita（君が、嘘を、ついた）

Man, is this one sinister song! Determined and angry beat with the ever-reassuringly sounding tones of Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）aiming accusations like cocked arrows with curare on the tips.

Welcome to Monday, and the first song tonight is "Kimi ga, Uso wo, Tsuita", the 25th single by the band Off-Course（オフコース）released in April 1984, and indeed it is an Off-Course song, but everything about it gives off an Alfred Hitchcock mystery-suspense vibe...even down to the arrangement of the title. It isn't simply "Kimi ga Uso wo Tsuita". There are two very scary commas among the words in there as if the title were meant to be said "YOU....LIED....TO ME!"

My impressions of Off-Course songs up to now have been mellow ballads describing the aftermath of a dead romance with a certain amount of bittersweet resignation, often with Oda crooning in a soothing manner that at least the relationship was fun while it lasted. Of course, there is that good wish following the parting for the former partners to be well in the future.

(1:10)

Uh-uh....not this time. Oda, who wrote and composed "Kimi ga, Uso wo, Tsuita", isn't playing nice this time. His potentially paranoid antihero here is a ball of fury who is far from happy when he discovers that his significant other may be going out with another fellow. That beat is relentless as if it represents the steps following his possibly unfaithful girlfriend. Right in the middle of the song, the actual title/accusation echoes hauntingly through the air and has me visualizing that dream scene out of Hitchcock's "Vertigo" before an electric guitar goes into a buzzy roar that sounds slightly like a chainsaw ready to rip (and that's as far as I will get to a horror analogy here). The thing is that it's still Oda's recognizably angelic vocals which makes the song even creepier as if the lady were being stalked by HAL 9000.

This most unusual and cool Off-Course tune topped off at No. 2 on Oricon before finishing the year as the 29th-ranked song of 1984. It was also a track on the band's 11th album "The Best Year of My Life" which was released in June of that year. Hitting No. 1 on the weekly album charts, it finished the year at No. 17.

The English version sung by Off-Course as well was provided in the August 1985 "Back Streets of Tokyo" which was the 12th album, totally done in English. With lyrics by Oda and Randy Goodrum, it has the clever title of "Eyes in the Back of My Heart". This album hit No. 1 and was ranked No. 35 for the yearly listings.

I think that I am willing to get both albums just on the strength of this song alone. Also, have a go at the B-side, the raunchy "Ai Yori mo"（愛よりも）.