Checkers -- I Love You, SAYONARA

In recent days, I've had a new commenter, yung, talking about 80s pop band Checkers（チェッカーズ）which of course brought back all sorts of memories about the band especially when one of our number in the Japanese club at University of Toronto was a gushing fan. So, I was left wondering if I had left out any of the guys' big hits out of the loop after so many years.

Well, as it turns out, I did. "I Love You, SAYONARA" was Checkers' 13th single from March 1987, and perhaps I deserve a Gibbs slap upside the head since it was a song that I remember seeing on those rental videos of "The Best 10". Written by Checkers' vocalist Fumiya Fujii（藤井フミヤ）and composed by bassist Yuuji Ohdoi（大土井裕二）, that familiar boss 50s (or perhaps E Street Band) sound that helped launch the group is still in there, especially with Naoyuki Fujii's（藤井尚之）brassy sax. However, just judging from the overall sound and the fashion on display on the cover of the single, I gather that there was a transition under way from those teen beat 50s into something more downtown pop.

(3:35)

After seeing it performed so many times on the music ranking shows, I was surprised to learn that "I Love You, SAYONARA", about a man and a woman splitting up while on the road of adventure, was a commercial song for a brand of Seiko watch. The song was another feather in Checkers' very fashionable cap as it hit No. 2 on Oricon and finished the year as the 15th-ranked single. It would also garner the band another invitation to the Kohaku Utagaseen that year, their 4th of 9 consecutive appearances in total. In fact, in that final appearance on the NHK New Year's Eve special in 1992, the song was used as part of their farewell medley.

Nostalgia also comes with this one. Back in those 80s, I had made a number of friends in the club back then so that I sometimes had them (including the gushing fan who was also the president one year) over on Saturday nights for snacks and multiple viewings of "The Best 10" on VHS. "I Love You, SAYONARA" just happened to be one of the songs that often got featured.