Fortunately, one source that has been able to bring out more of the latter moments is the ability to talk with friends via social media or phone. I got to do that today with Rocket Brown from Come Along Radio for a couple of hours, and so we were able to chat on the wonders of City Pop from our respective homes in Canada and the United States.
According to the liner notes for Ohtaki's self-titled debut album "Ohtaki Eiichi", which was released the following year in November, the single version for "Koi no Kisha Poppo", launched with a snare drum riff in tribute to the intro for Little Eva's classic "The Loco-Motion" (good job, Harry!), and apparently the comparison was enough for Ohtaki to get the cover photo for the song with him sitting on an old steam engine. I thought that the fellow was noshing on something when Rocket gently corrected me that he was most likely smoking a cigarette (he was a rock n' roll singer, you know).
Perhaps there was some DNA from "The Loco-Motion" intertwined in Ohtaki's debut tune, but I also thought that there was a certain roots rock feeling to "Koi no Kisha Poppo". And sure enough, the J-Wiki article bore my feelings out when it mentioned that the rock n' roll in there was reminiscent of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Maybe there is even some late-era Beatles in there, too. In addition, I noticed in that same article that the song has been dedicated to the aforementioned Little Eva but also to Neil Sedaka.
In any case, during this long COVID-19 winter, don't hesitate to communicate with your friends and family whether by e-mail, Skype or phone.
Great article! I'm a bit fan of Eiichi Ohtaki and Matsumoto's lyrics. Unfortunately I can't find a lot of decent translations of either or of Happy End.
ReplyDeleteHello there! Thanks for your comments. Hope you're doing OK in Texas. Yup, it's difficult to find those translations for Happy End. It's amazing how many singers and bands Matsumoto has written for over the decades.
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