Miwa Kawagoe -- Jane Birkin no you ni Nakeba Ii（ジェーン・バーキンのように泣けばいい）

I was listening to singer-songwriter Mioko Yamaguchi's（山口未央子）latest album "Floma", and the last three tracks happened to be her own covers of songs that she had provided to other singers. One such cover was for "Owari no Kehai"（終わりの気配）originally sung by 80s aidoru Yuki Saito（斉藤由貴）.

The other was "Jane Birkin no you ni Nakeba Ii" (Cry Like Jane Birkin) which was first recorded by late 80s and 90s aidoru Miwa Kawagoe（川越美和）. Marcos V. recently provided an article for her 1989 4th single, "Yume Dake Miteru"（夢だけ見てる）so have a look at that one when you can.

"Jane Birkin" was the title track for her 3rd and final original album released in March 1992, and in addition to Yamaguchi's input, the lyrics were provided by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）. That arrangement of the original song had me thinking the City Pop of the early part of that decade and it's all very posh as I envisage the late Kawagoe heading out for a classy night out on the town. Her vocals even take on a slightly more whispery quality as if she were trying to emulate a kittenish French pop singer of the 1960s (the refrain also goes a bit French as well). As Marcos had pointed out in his article, it is sad to know that her career couldn't extend that much further since I think her singing ability was pretty solid, and indeed it was even sadder to discover that her life had been tragically cut short.