Machiko Watanabe -- Mayonaka no Highway（真夜中のハイウェイ）

As much as I will always know and cherish singer-songwriter Machiko Watanabe（渡辺真知子）for the very first song that I ever heard from her "Kuchibiru yo, Atsuku Kimi wo Katare" (唇よ、熱く君を語れ）and one of her classics from the 1970s, "Mayoi Michi"（迷い道）, I think there are some other hidden gems by her, especially within the City Pop genre.

One such song that I've found is "Mayonaka no Highway" (Midnight Highway) which was her 15th single from May 1984. Starting off with a near-fantasy sort of melody, the song then starts bombing down the expressway at high speed. Not quite sure if that sports car is having the ride of its life at the bewitching hour since the beat is perhaps more suitable for prime time, but it's something really nice to hear on the car radio on Van Paugam's highway in Tokyo.

Watanabe herself provided words and music to "Mayonaka no Highway". She certainly has the City Pop chops with those dramatic keyboards and guitar solo. From the arrangement, I would have thought that it was the combination of Chinfa Kan（康珍化）and Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）behind this one. The single also made it onto her 10th studio album, "B Flat Minor ~ Ai Suru koto dake Sureba Yokatta"（B♭m 愛することだけすればよかった...Just Loving Would've Been Enough）from October 1984.