Pedro & Capricious -- Kyokai e Iku（教会へ行く）

Over the last several months, my recent entries on the long-running band Pedro & Capricious（ペドロ&カプリシャス）have dealt with their City Pop/AOR side which was a revelation for me since I'd known the group once fronted by the great Mariko Takahashi（髙橋真梨子）primarily for their early 1970s folk hits such as "Go-ban Gai no Mari e" (五番街のマリーへ）which was released as the band's 5th single in October 1973.

Well, for this article, we're going back to those folk roots and Mariko Takahashi. In fact, this is the B-side for "Go-ban Gai no Mari e", "Kyokai e Iku" (I'm Going to Church). As was the case with the more popular A-side, lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composer Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）were also behind this ballad which has a similar structure. However, unlike "Go-ban Gai no Mari e", which dealt with a request of a friend to give his respects to someone who was possibly an old flame on good ol' 5th Avenue, Aku's lyrics are a whole lot sadder than Tokura's melody would suggest. In this case, a young woman is going to a hillside church to mourn the loss of a friend who was largely misunderstood by the surrounding town. It reflects what I've often observed about some of the old kayo in that a happy, chirpy melody is underlying a much more dour situation in the lyrics.

But no doubt, Takahashi and the arrangement for "Kyokai e Iku" make for a wonderful listening experience for those who love the 1970s kayo. As was mentioned for "Go-ban Gai no Mari e", the single went all the way up to No. 18 on the Oricon weeklies and became the 68th-ranked single for 1974. I'm just hoping that Ms. Takahashi, who looked pretty frail in a recent NHK music special, is doing OK.