Yes, there was that cringey scene in "Spiderman 3" in which evil Peter Parker was shuffling on that New York street into meme legendry, wasn't there? When I caught this in the theatre, I had to turn my face away in embarrassment.
Not that the song "Last Step" is cringey whatsoever but when I hear it and the lyrics by Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）, I get that image of poor Peter shuffling off to Hell. The reason is that Yoshida's words express some fellow getting over a failed romance on the same street where the once happy couple walked with that titular last step being the final one in a dance on the pavement to commemorate the affair. Not sure how that would be possible on a Shinjuku or Ginza main street on a regular day but imagination is good. Incidentally, I first heard about "Last Step" through Aru Takamura's（高村亜留）cover of the song in her debut album "Aru First" in 1985.
As I mentioned, Takamura performed the cover based on the original recording by Yoshida in her March 1976 album "Flapper" with Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）providing the music. The magical partnership between Yoshida and Yamashita ended up in a lightly funky strut-fest that was reminiscent of Rickie Lee Jones.
Tats himself did a cover of "Last Step" through his "Circus Town" LP which was released some 9 months after "Flapper" on Xmas Day, and his version is more of a Motown doo-wop shuffle. Takamura's take on the song is OK but even though her vocals are top-notch, I personally found the arrangement a little too sparse and tinny although I did like the instrumental break which reminded me of some of the techno-jazz of Kazuhiro Nishimatsu（西松一博）.
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