Going into December, the talk around me has been on friends planning the year-end Xmas parties, so within my group, names of the local izakaya have been bandied about as potential venues. In fact, I've got one coming up this Thursday and the anime buddy should be calling me up tonight to talk about his annual to-do sometime in the following week.
Therefore, this is just the preamble to introduce a Mood Kayo by Akira Kurosawa & Los Primos（黒沢明とロス・プリモス）with their January 1979 37th single, "Chiisana O-mise wo Mochimashita" (I Had a Small Shop). It seems to be a song of longing (as would often be the case for a Mood Kayo) as a woman pines away in a Yokohama watering hole for an old flame.
Quintessential drinking blues, I say. The mournful chorus is there along with the glistening strings and the dainty Latin guitar. Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）was responsible for the lyrics while Hajime Kaburagi（鏑木創）composed "Chiisana O-mise wo Mochimashita".
I'll be hitting the izakaya as December continues to plow ahead, but hopefully it won't be to cry in my sake.
Hello Canuck,
ReplyDeleteThis song is actually a letter written by a woman, a former hostess in a "snack" bar, to her former customer, letting him know that she now has her own snack, asking him for his patronage. There is a mention of breaking up with a lover, so maybe she had left the snack she was working in because she got involved with one of the customers ( a big no-no in the industry ). I don't know if she has a romantic interest in this guy she's writing to as she says she even hired a young woman that he might like. She closes the letter saying he should call before he comes so she can reserve a seat for him as the snack is is very small with only five seats. I have a feeling that she is sending the same letter to every former customer of hers.
Hi, Kaz. Thanks very much for clarifying the meaning of the lyrics. Wasn't 100% sure about what the situation was.
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