Southern All Stars -- Atatte Kudakero（当って砕けろ）

 

Seeing that I mentioned Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）in my last article, I realized that I have yet to put up an SAS article this summer, and we are already in August.

When Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）and company ended up creating a song for their June 1978 debut single, "Katte ni Sinbad"（勝手にシンドバッド）, that has since become one of their most beloved classics in their 43-year-old career  it's easy to forget that there was a B-side. Yes, Virginia, there was indeed another song on the other side of that vinyl 45".

And you know what? It's quite a nice corker on its own. "Attate Kudakero" (Hit and Crush) by Kuwata isn't nearly as legendarily chaotic summer fun as its A-side compatriot but it is still an enjoyable strut. The J-Wiki article for "Katte ni Sinbad" has oodles and oodles of text dedicated to the song but "Attate Kudakero" has just the one line stating that there is a Motown rhythm underlying it. Well, it's not just the Motown (although I can hear the tribute to "You Can't Hurry Love" in the intro). I can also pick up on some Stevie Wonder soul, ragtime piano and maybe even some Beatles devil-may-care playfulness. Someone even toodles away on a jazzy guitar two-thirds of the way through. 

That one-line summary for "Attate Kudakero" also states that Kuwata incorporated at least the idea of the Kumamoto Prefecture-based folk song, "Otemoyan"（おてもやん）, into his lyrics. "Otemoyan" involves a Meiji Era maiden falling for and eventually marrying a man who doesn't exactly have the smoothest or nicest face on Earth. Kuwata's lyrics almost stand for a response to any doubts that the maiden has had about the relationship, exhorting her to ignore the rumours and hit and crush any of those doubts and the doubters themselves.