Mari Natsuki -- Wing（ウィング）

 

I've already given my accolades about the singer/actress Mari Natsuki（夏木マリ）when I wrote up my first article on her in October 2018 for her song "Ichiban Suki na Mono"（いちばん好きなもの）. My word for the lady was "vivacious" and if I can continue with an analogy, I can see her as the coolest and most street-smart senior citizen owner of her own small and stylish bar or café dishing out the drinks and advice on just about anything. Whenever she's appeared in recent dramas, she seems to have cornered the market on that sort of role.

But of course, Natsuki has been acting and singing since she was a young woman in the 1970s. In fact, she even had a brief run for several months on the long-running detective drama "G-Men '75"（Gメン'75）in 1979 and 1980 as Detective Keiko Tsugawa who had transferred in from the International Division of the Metropolitan Police Department for Tokyo and would later join Interpol.

Natsuki would even contribute a couple of songs to the long line of ending themes for "G-Men '75". The second of her two was "Wing", her 16th single from October 1979 which was written by Ayumi Date（伊達歩）, composed by Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. I don't have an extensive knowledge of those ending themes but "Wing" has that melodic feel that I've often associated with ending themes for Japanese cop shows: fairly soaring, reassuring and inspiring as if to let viewers know that the cops got justice and that everyone can relax and go about their business securely. I really enjoy "Wing" since I'm a sucker for the electric guitar and its chord progression from those times.

Just have to let you know that at around the 50-second mark, the sound breaks up briefly. Also, you can give an ear to the very first ending theme for the show, Yuri Shimazaki's（しまざき由理）"Omokage"（面影）.