Circus -- Moving/Petit Dejeuner ~ Nichiyoubi no Choushoku（日曜日の朝食）

To start off the City Pop Friday portion of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I've decided to go for a twofer since both songs by vocal group Circus（サーカス）are lighthearted affairs of that genre. Plus, I haven't mentioned these folks for quite a while now.

Also, both I believe have come from separate "Light Mellow" compilation CDs. I'm not sure which of the series "Moving" is included in, but it definitely has that breezy feeling of love and travel in the lyrics. Written by Hiromi Fukunaga（福永ひろみ）and composed by Yoshiaki Ogawa（小川よしあき）, it starts with a string flourish that reminds me of the intro for Barry White's legendary "Love's Theme" from the early 1970s. I could only imagine what Circus fans were swooning about when they first listened to this track from the group's 2nd album "New Horizons" released in February 1979. With the mention of 5th Avenue in the lyrics and that disco guitar during the instrumental bridge, they probably had that wanderlust of overseas trips...especially to the Big Apple itself.

I managed to find "Petit Dejeuner ~ Nichiyoubi no Choushoku" (Sunday Breakfast), and it's one song that I've wanted to place upon the blog since this was included on the very first "Light Mellow" CD that I ever purchased, "Breeze". "Moving" may be about the journey, but "Petit Dejeuner" is about the titular meal at the destination, probably on a sunny balcony at the hotel. Perfectly done bacon and eggs with pancakes plus coffee...lots of coffee? Sure!

Veteran songwriters Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）and Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）were responsible for this mellower, let's-just-laze-around-and-soak-up-the-sunshine song which was originally part of Circus' 4th album "Four Seasons to Love" from April 1981. It's the perfect accompaniment to some good brekkie and conversation, and I find that there's something in "Petit Dejeuner" that takes me back to some of the singing from the 1960s and 1970s such as the early Manhattan Transfer.