Well, I figure if one songbird with current urban contemporary music leanings can tackle an old City Pop classic, why can't a similar singer do the same?
And indeed, you have read the title right. That is "Mayonaka no Door ~ Stay With Me", which was originally performed by the late Miki Matsubara（松原みき）as her debut single all the way back in 1979. Almost forty years later, Yuko Imai（今井優子）gave her own homage to one of the first City Pop songs that folks outside of Japan had gotten to know as the opening track to her July 2016 BEST compilation "Sweetest Voice".
Of course, lyricist Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）were responsible for concocting the song in the first place, and although there is a bit more funk n' groove included in this version, the arrangement is still pretty much intact for the most part. But then again, I would never have expected a punk rock cover of "Mayonaka no Door" (STAY WITH ME...OR I'LL KILL THE BLOODY QUEEN!!!). Imai's vocals are a tad creamier here, too.
Come to think of it, there's another singer that also pulled off another recent cover of a City Pop stalwart.
Yeah, I think it's safe to say that the original has always been the one. A lot of folks have covered it which is great but Miki's version hasn't been supplanted.
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