Jiro Sugita -- Umi（海）

 

I think I'll have that chocolate fondue now, please...😋

Sorry, but whenever I hear this song "Umi" (Ocean) by Jiro Sugita（杉田二郎）, I simply feel as if I'm at a bayside resort restaurant in Japan enjoying the night view. This is one heck of a B-side for the Kyoto-born singer-songwriter; to explain, "Umi" was the flip side of the vinyl "Magdalena"（マグダレーナ）which was his 22nd single released in May 1985. 

Written by Osamu Kitayama（北山修）and composed by either Sugita himself or Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博） depending on whether you will go with J-Wiki or Kashi-Get, this is a cool evening breeze of a Resort Pop song made even richer (yep, I'm still thinking chocolate fondue here) with that trumpet behind the singer (still marveling from Guy Barker's solo on Masami Tsuchiya's（土屋昌巳）song last night). Bossa nova will always get me right here💓 and Sugita's crooning vocals here almost make me forget about his 70s folk roots.

Although I'm being the foodie here, Kitayama's lyrics have Sugita feeling a lot more lovelorn as the sea seems to beckon to him like a lost lover. I can just imagine the number of sighs that must have emanated from him.