Fujimal Yoshino -- Not What I'm Looking For

 

Y'know...I was thinking that it's been a while since I've had one of the mainstays of City Pop up here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so I figure that it's time to have good ol' Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）back for an article.

Luckily, there is some more goodness from his 1982 self-titled album "Yoshino Fujimal" to explore after writing about it back in 2017. Here is "Not What I'm Looking For" which is exactly what I'm looking for during this City Pop Friday.

With the music by Yoshino and lyrics by a fellow named Jeffrey Paul Keeling according to the JASRAC database, "Not What I'm Looking For" is the story of someone driving on the highways and byways when he decides to take a break at some bar along the way. He sees a most dangerous lady hanging around in there and being the jaded veteran of roads and romance, he immediately turns off the love alarm.

Again with the rest of the tracks on "Yoshino Fujimal", "Not What I'm Looking For" is so cool that it needs shades and it's so bright that I need shades. Can't help but hear the Steely Dan/Doobie Bros. influence in the chorus, and the entire song through the melody alone helps embellish the lyrics with the sultry and mysterious beginning, the potential promise of a good night and then Fujimal's declaration of a rather snarky "No Go" with this lady via the SD/DB chords. It may be one of the few truly kakkoii public safety warnings on LP. The other thing is that whenever I hear the lyric "...sun's getting low in the sky...", I think of Black Widow's calming phrase for the Hulk in "Avengers: Age of Ultron".