Woke up early yesterday morning at 5:55 for whatever reason. My brain then suddenly thrust out the idea of "go, go, go" (go being the Japanese word for "five"・五), but I didn't start thinking about the famous sound meme from "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure". Strangely enough, it was the following.
Yup, I immediately thought of Inspector Gadget and his way of summoning his vast array of gadgets by saying "Go, go, gadget something or other". I was never a dedicated fan of the cartoon but I did see the odd scene here and there as the character was voiced by the late Don Adams whom I knew better as the bumbling original Maxwell Smart Agent 86 on "Get Smart" as a kid.
One of their songs was "Love Is Like" for which I couldn't find the original version by Jane Schwartz and Levy with Zack Laurence as arranger. However, I did find the Japanese-language version sung by Shuki & Aviva which was given the longer title of "Aijou no Hanasaku Ki" (The Tree with the Blossoms of Affection). This was released as the duo's debut single and their first of four singles recorded in 1973. The Japanese lyrics were provided by veteran Yu Aku(阿久悠).
How about that? Thanks to the commenter below, I was able to find the French-language version under the title of "L' amour c' est la musique de la vie".
A very short but pretty intense song, the slightly fuzzy guitar and the vocals caught my attention. Levy's voice really reminded me of at least one of the Bee Gees, and the beat felt like the drama was taking place in France.
I still have yet to find the English version of this (B-side to their 1973 single "Listen," apparently), but the French version, "L'amour c'est la musique de la vie," is out there. I believe the writer is Jane Schwartz, lead singer of the British group Capricorn, who had big hits in Japan with "Liverpool Hello" and "Feeling."
ReplyDeleteHello there.
DeleteThanks very much on the correction for Jane's family name. I'd been wondering what the correct version was since I saw both "Swertz" and "Schwartz" for the katakana. If you are able to confirm on "Zach Lawrence" as well, that would be great.
I will check out the French version and put that in. Thanks again.
According the Yamaha site and Discogs, Zack Laurence had no hand in writing the song, he was just the arranger. It was actually composed by Shuki Levy himself, with (English) lyrics by Jane Schwartz. The French version also credits an "M. Mann," who presumably wrote the French lyrics (presumably also not Manfred Mann!).
DeleteHi, Mike. Thanks for the update. I will see about making the revisions.
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