Iyo Matsumoto -- Love Me Tender（ラブ・ミー・テンダー）

It seems as if those first two singles by 80s aidoru Iyo Matsumoto（松本伊代）were quite happy with "used" song titles from the past. There is, of course, her debut single and arguably her most famous song, "Sentimental Journey"（センチメンタルジャーニー）whose namesake happens to belong to one of the jazz classics from yesteryear.

Then, there is her follow-up single released in February 1982, "Love Me Tender". Of course, there was a 1956 ballad with that very title by the King of Rock and Roll that has become a common selection at the karaoke bars and boxes for decades.

Iyo-chan's "Love Me Tender" is neither rock n' roll nor a ballad, to say the least. It is a cute little aidoru ditty that seems to have incorporated a bit of that Doobie Bounce and a background chorus that had me thinking of the Manhattan Transfer or the Norman Luboff Choir from the 1960s. Written by Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, it's a fun and smooth teenybopper song that can go with her "Sentimental Journey", which had also been created by the tandem of Yukawa and Tsutsumi. "Love Me Tender" just missed out on another Top 10 ranking by peaking at No. 11 and it finished 1982 as the No. 89 single of the year. According to J-Wiki, it stands as her 3rd-most successful single, selling a little over 160,000 records.