Shun Sakai -- A Song For You

 

When I first heard this song by the soulful Shun Sakai（酒井俊）, I was going "Where have I heard this one before?". The video above (which got taken down to be replaced) actually has the translation into Japanese for the title "Anata no Tame no Uta"（あなたのための歌）which threw me for a brief loop until I figured out it was "A Song For You". And this was a tune originally created by the late singer and pianist Leon Russell back in 1970. 

Sakai is a singer that I had introduced earlier this year in May when I wrote about "Dancing Waves" recorded by Sakai in her collaboration with the fusion band Special Jam Company back in 1979. In that same year, she also released her 3rd album "My Imagination" and her cover of "A Song For You" is the ballad that ends the album. It's an especially soulful and bluesy version of the Russell classic with the singer putting plenty of heart on her sleeve with a voice that sounds as if it has gone through some interesting times. I also found out that there are also some big names backing her up including the amazing Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）on electric piano, Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）on drums and Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）on electric guitar. The band gives a very laid-back performance that fairly glides over the surface of the water here.

The first time, though, that I got to hear "A Song For You" was via The Carpenters' take in 1972 on the album of the same title. Indeed, it is very Carpenters in sound.

Interestingly enough, I never got to hear the original by Russell until tonight. What's remarkable about "A Song For You" here is that although the melody has always kept its mellowness, Russell seems to be straddling that line between keeping things cool and really releasing his emotions. Unsurprisingly, he's the one who comes across as being the most elegiac for a life that's been truly lived...warts and all. Russell passed away in late 2016. 

As for Sakai, she's been living in Vietnam since 2013, according to her J-Wiki article.