Shoko Sawada -- Baku no Yume

At first, when I came across this song by Shoko Sawada（沢田聖子）, "Baku no Yume" (Baku's Dream), I had initially thought that this was about some dreams by a fellow named Buck, which was far-fetched, to say the least. Plus, I gotta say considering the really bouncy nature of the song, I was going to suggest to Buck to lay off the Red Bull...it was giving him more than wings.

However, I gradually came to realize that the baku（獏）here is referring to a supernatural being in Japanese mythology which just happens to devour dreams and nightmares. So I can only wonder about the possible implications on whether a dream-devourer actually dreams itself. Discuss.

Anyways, there is nothing of the sort implying any sort of horror in Sawada's creation. As I said, it's as giddily cheerful with that hint of West Coast as any aidoru tune that I've heard from this time period, and "Baku no Yume" was a track on her second album, "Seishun no Hikari to Kage"（青春の光と影...Light and Shadow of Youth）released in April 1981. In fact, I'd say that there are elements of the music which remind me of Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）"Nagisa no Balcony"（渚のバルコニー）. Usually when I think of a Sawada song, it's in the form of a mellow and wistful ballad, so "Baku no Yume" is a nice change of pace.