Mariya Takeuchi -- Mayonaka no Nightingale（真夜中のナイチンゲール）

Being the ninth month of the year, I tend to get all schmaltzy and listen to Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや） "September" since it was the very first Mariya song that I had ever heard. Of course, though, I already came up with the article for that one years ago.

Instead of her 3rd single, I'm going with her 29th single today. "Mayonaka no Nightingale" (Midnight Nightingale) was released in February 2001 and it's been a ballad that I've heard a number of times. I've also seen the scene of a very svelte Takeuchi in that slinky silver dress singing in the video but I had yet to see the whole video until earlier today (which has sadly been taken down). Written and composed by the singer and arranged by her husband Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）, it seems to have that recent Takeuchi/Yamashita sound in that the rhythm is very steady and constant like waves lapping the shore, and around that core is the interweaving of Mariya's reassuring voice, Tatsuro's backing vocals and what seems like an old-fashioned love melody from quite a few decades in the past.

"Mayonaka no Nightingale" was the ending theme for a TBS drama "Shiroi Kage"（白い影...Love and Life in the White） starring SMAP leader Masahiro Nakai（中居正広）as a rather complicated surgeon. The show ran between January and March 2001 and is a remake of the original 1973 program on NTV according to J-Wiki; that original was based on the 1972 novel "Mueitou"（無影燈...Shadowless Lamp） by author Junichi Watanabe（渡辺淳一）.

As for the song, it cracked the Top 10 by entering at No. 7. It's also included in Takeuchi's 9th album "Bon Appetit!" from August 2001 which hit No. 1 and became the 18th-ranked album of the year, becoming a million-seller.