The Works of Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）

Well, we're finally here once again...

Yes, it's September and this is "September", the very first Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）song that I ever heard all those years ago. I will always cherish this song (and the Earth Wind and Fire classic), but as I mentioned in the original article for the song, this wasn't actually created by the singer. Instead, it was written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）all the way back in 1979.

Speaking of that year, it's indeed the 40th anniversary since that record and Mariya herself is celebrating 40 years by releasing her latest BEST compilation in the next couple of days. "Turntable" is a 3-CD extravaganza that consists of songs that she would have placed into her 2008 BEST collection "Expressions", her own covers of tunes that she provided other Japanese singers, and covers of songs by famous Western artists, many of which are Beatles creations. The above video features a quick taste of the songs on Disc 2 called "Mariya's Rarities".

Hearing about the arrival of "Turntable", I thought it was perhaps time to post either a BEST or a Creator article for Ms. Takeuchi. After some thought about it, since I've already got a lot of her hits up on the blog (although that won't stop me from eventually putting up a BEST), I ultimately decided to proceed with the Creator which will be the third such article for this year, to follow the lead of Disc 2 on "Turntable" and put up songs that she provided for other singers. Just to let you know in advance, though, I will be focusing mostly on singers that don't already have a lot of the Takeuchi connection...except for her hubby.

One of the tunes that is included on Disc 2 is "Hey! Baby" which was originally performed by singer-songwriter Eri Morishita（森下恵理）. To be honest, I had never heard of Morishita's material until some days ago when I was trying to figure out which songs to include here, but hey, I really do like "Hey! Baby" which was both written and composed by Takeuchi. This was Morishita's 3rd single from February 1986, and it's got oodles of that 50s/60s bubbly pop sensation that Mariya herself swam in especially in the early part of her career. The single itself peaked at No. 55.

The one big surprise is finding out that Takeuchi even provided a song for Masahiko Kondo（近藤真彦）. I'd always seen Matchy as a singer who was into raising hell and being misunderstood in his music, but his Mariya-penned "Eve no Kokuhaku"（イブの告白...Eve Confession） from his December 1986 album "Dream" takes things into a 180-degree turn. That intro especially had me thinking of a tuxedo-sporting Matchy congenially welcoming everyone into Tokyo Disneyland on Christmas Eve. However, the lyrics are a lot more intimate in the invitation. Mark Davis, who is really Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）, was responsible for the epic Yuletide melody.

For this article, I tried to find out the earliest song that Mariya had written and/or composed for anyone but wasn't successful. However, I did find this tune back in October 1982 that she had done both for former Pink Lady Keiko Masuda（増田恵子）as her 3rd single. "Rasen Kaidan"（らせん階段...Spiral Staircase）. Masuda's vocals aren't quite as strong but listening to the melody, I could easily peg this as a Takeuchi creation simply because it is so pop-bouncy. Whenever I think of many of the songs that Mariya has performed and created, I can easily envisage some sort of stage performance with male and female dancers happily skipping about with straw hats and wooden canes just like on the old TV music-variety shows. "Rasen Kaidan" is one of those songs. It was also included in Masuda's 2nd album "Koi suru O-Tomodachi"（恋するお友達...Friends In Love） which came out a month after the single.

As nikala wrote down for the first Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）entry, "Ippon no Ongaku" (一本の音楽) in "Kayo Kyoku Plus" back in 2015, Takeuchi's husband, Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）helped launch the mellow Murata's career, and I've always thought that the late singer-songwriter was a protégé of sorts to Tats because of the similarity in singing styles. So, perhaps it's no wonder that Takeuchi helped Murata out in a few songs such as the second track from his debut album "Mata Ashita"（また明日...See You Tomorrow） in 1982, "Whisky Boy". Takeuchi provided only the lyrics here with Satoshi/Satoru Ono（小野敏）, a fellow member of Murata's amateur band, creating the original music with some additions by Murata. Still, Ono's melody sounds like the type of song that Takeuchi would create on her own.

Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）76th single from November 2011, "Tokubetsu na Koibito"（特別な恋人...A Special Lover） is supposedly the first time that Seiko and Mariya, who wrote and composed the song, have ever collaborated together. It was released to commemorate Matsuda's 30th anniversary in the music business. If I'm not mistaken, that might be both Mariya and Tats' voices as backup. Of course, it's definitely Seiko's vocals but the song is gentle Mariya style. The lyrics are also very upbeat as a woman relates getting another chance with an old flame. "Tokubetsu na Koibito" reached as high as No. 14 on Oricon.

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1ct4y1Q7p4/

My final entry for these works by Takeuchi is one of the numbers she's done with Tatsuro Yamashita. In this case, it's "Samui Natsu"（寒い夏...Cold Summer） with Takeuchi providing the melancholy lyrics of someone who's missing an old love dearly while Yamashita composed the music that has some hits-me-right-there string arrangement by Katsuhisa Hattori（服部克久）. The whole song has that feeling of the summer coming to a close as those first hints of cool winds are coming in. Perhaps the person in the song is near the dock just staring sadly away at the horizon over the ocean.

Anyways, this article just reflects a mere fraction of the music that Takeuchi has provided for herself and other musicians, and of course, I've already written about a lot of other songs that she's created for them on the blog. If I were to describe the Mariya style of songwriting in a few words, I could say something like "wistful, lovelorn and bouncy", and it seems like that there is still a place in Japanese popular music for that type of music, I'm happy to say.

I hope that some of you do get your copy of "Turntable" in the coming months. For me, I will probably get it as Xmas starts approaching. She's pretty good with those Yuletide tunes, too.