One of my earliest entries on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for 2013 was Ringo Shiina's（椎名林檎）masterpiece February 1999 debut album "Muzai Moratorium"（無罪モラトリアム）. This was basically where we all got to know about this mesmerizing singer-songwriter with her catchy creations sung in a voice that can dive from momentary angelic highs to a growly buzzsaw rasp. I failed to mention in the original article that "Muzai Moratorium" ended up selling more than 1.7 million copies that year.
In a bit of an OOPS! moment, I had neglected all these years since then to include one of the tracks, "Marunouchi Sadistic" that was also released as the coupling song to Shiina's 2nd single, "Kabukicho no Jou"（歌舞伎町の女王）, released in February 1999 just like the album. Well, allow me to rectify the situation.
Taking a look at the translation of her lyrics for the song, I've realized that "Marunouchi Sadistic" is a story of her life in Tokyo, specifically going through the stations on the red Marunouchi subway line and including her love of guitars and music. One station is Ochanomizu and it's notable since my anime buddy has been a huge guitar collector for the past few years and he did mention that he would stop by that very area during his current trip to the megalopolis and pick up yet another guitar.
I enjoy the concert version above since there is a bit more jazz and blues. At one point, I had thought that Shiina only got into her jazzy phase later in her career, but I've realized that with "Marunouchi Sadistic", there may have always been some part of that genre in the background of her music. Strangely enough, the original single didn't seem to chart on Oricon.
One revelation on the J-Wiki article for the song is that Shiina followed a similar chord progression to that of the one used for Grover Washington Jr.'s classic "Just The Two of Us" which definitely lit a light bulb above my head. Shiina returned to "Marunouchi Sadistic" to provide the English-language soulful EXPO version in her 2009 album "Sanmon Gossip"（三文ゴシップ...Superficial Gossip）. The crazy thing about this version is considering Washington's influence on the original, I can't help but feel that in the EXPO version, DeBarge's "I Like It" is rather echoing in there.
In any case, I have a crazy idea. Since the anime "Sound! Euphonium" is still sticking around in some form and it has used a band arrangement of a famous song each year of its time on the air, I wonder if "Marunouchi Sadistic" would be a new candidate.
It didn't chart because while it was a fan favourite MaruSa was never a single.
ReplyDeleteAlso, jazz has always informed Ringo's compositions from day one, no matter the clothing her songs were dressed in. She's basically a composer of jazz, even if still today she might be known by some as mostly a maker of guitar-driven music.
Hello, Fauxie and thanks for your comments and catching the error. Yup, my mistake up there since "Marunouchi Sadistic" was actually the coupling song to the single and not the "A" song itself. Do you have any favourites by her?
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