Chisato Moritaka/Sanae Jounouchi -- Yowasete yo Kon'ya dake（酔わせてよ今夜だけ）

 

Ah, yes...those amazing enka singers: Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）, Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）, Harumi Miyako（都はるみ）, Chisato Moritaka（森高千里）...

Uh, say what now? I get the first three but did you say the fourth was Chisato Moritaka?! The techno aidoru of the late 80s and early 90s? The one who came up with "Benkyo no Uta"（勉強の歌）?

Indeed, I said so. Now, I don't mean that Moritaka made that full transition into kimono-wearing enka chanteuse; she's still first and foremost a pop singer, but for her 6th album in March 1992, "Rock Alive", she did have one enka/Mood Kayo tune for which she provided words and music, "Yowasete yo Kon'ya dake" (Get Me Drunk for Just This One Night). And yep, not only is her melody perfect for the genre, but her lyrics are the classic love-done-me-wrong kayo of a woman drinking herself into a stupor to forget the love that she's just lost (and not really being successful). The above is her own self-cover from many years later but the atmosphere is apropos with that street of nomiya behind her.

One other singer who eventually made the full shift from teenage pop to enka is Sanae Jounouchi（城之内早苗）, a member of Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）. In 2016, Marcos V. first introduced her to us at KKP through her "Ajisaibashi"（あじさい橋）, her debut single of June 1986. Her 8th single from August 1993 is a cover of Moritaka's "Yowasete yo Kon'ya dake" which became a much-requested song on the cable radio circuit in Japan for the next several months. Hideo Saito（斉藤英夫）provided the arrangement for this tune which peaked at No. 87 on Oricon.