The 5th Dimension -- Up, Up and Away

 

Yesterday I gave my thoughts on Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）1988 album "Boku no Naka no Shonen"（僕の中の少年）in which one of the tracks was inspired by the works of singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb. Well, for this week's Reminiscings of Youth, I bring you a song that was actually composed by the man and it's one of the first songs that I had ever heard regularly as a toddler.

Listening to The 5th Dimension's "Up, Up and Away" once again after so many years, I did get a thrill up my back, I have to admit. It's such an upbeat song about the simple wonder of flying in a hot-air balloon (not that I would ever get in once since I'm terrified of heights) but I think that the lyrics can be extrapolated to mean any sort of wondrous trip, physical or figurative or romantic. 

Just how the members sing "We can FLY!" and the accompanying horns and strings seem to bring in a flood of dopamine, and the crazy thing is that "Up, Up and Away" is surprisingly short at around 2 minutes and 44 seconds. I'm prehistoric enough to remember seeing The 5th Dimension performing this very song on one of the prime-time variety shows on American network TV; it may not have been this particular program above but I definitely remember the performance.

"Up, Up and Away" was The 5th Dimension's third single from May 1967 and from what I know about music, I think that it's probably one of the best examples of Sunshine Pop or even Champagne Soul, the genre name that's been applied to the group's blend of "...pop, R&B, soul, jazz, light opera and Broadway" according to the Wikipedia article on them. Lamonte McLemore, Marilyn McCoo, Florence LaRue, Ronald Townson, and Billy Davis Jr. were the original members, and I remember McCoo and Davis becoming the later hosts of the 70s and 80s syndicated music ranking show "Solid Gold" after the first host, Dionne Warwick.

The song hit No. 1 on both the American and Canadian singles charts. It was even released in Japan under the odd title of "Beat de Jump"（ビートでジャンプ...Beat and Jump）. In any case, what was also released at around the time of "Up, Up and Away"?

Yoko Kagawa -- Ginza no Maria（銀座のマリア）

Naomi Sagara -- Sekai wa Futari no Tame ni （世界は二人のために）

Yukio Hashi -- Koi no Mexican Rock （恋のメキシカン・ロック）(June 1967)