C-C-B -- Kuusou Kiss（空想Kiss）

 

On that same episode of "The Best 10" （ザ・ベストテン）where I discovered Kazuyuki Ozaki & Coastal City（尾崎和行＆コースタルシティー）the other night, I was reminded of not only the 1980s hit boy band C-C-B but also another hit tune of theirs, "Kuusou Kiss" (Daydream Kiss).

Just like another one of their successful songs, "Romantic ga Tomaranai"（Romanticが止まらない）, "Kuusou Kiss" was created by the big tandem of lyricist Takashi Matsumoto and composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（松本隆・筒美京平）as their 6th single in November 1985. A bit more whimsical and flirtatious than "Romantic ga Tomaranai", "Kuusou Kiss" involves a guy in the middle of an existential crisis as the two sides within him battle over whether he should try for that young lady who may just be unattainable for him. The one line that is the most memorable of the song is "Batsu-batsu, ano ko wa batsu-batsu, ki ga nai no sa"（Batsu-Batsu あの娘は Batsu-Batsu 気が無いのさ...Uh-uh, that girl is uh-uh. She's got no interest in you.）. So perhaps the pessimistic side wins out and he can only daydream up a kiss.

Well, whaddaya know? I could find a "The Best 10" clip with C-C-B performing "Kuusou Kiss" , although it's not from the episode that I'd caught on Sunday. In terms of vocals, it was bassist/leader Hideki Watanabe（渡辺英樹）and drummer Koji Ryu（笠浩二）, and that bass from Watanabe really comes out in both the recorded and live versions. "Kuusou Kiss" hit No. 3 on Oricon and ended up as the 28th-ranked single of 1986. Sorry to end this on a sad note, but Watanabe passed away in July 2015 from multiple-organ failure at the age of 55.