Jun & Nene -- O-Atsui Hou ga Suteki!（お熱いほうがステキ!）

 

Actually, I had this song on the backlog for months so I didn't particularly select it for Valentine's Day, but considering the subject matter, I thought it would fit February 14th.

"O-Atsui Hou ga Suteki!" was pop duo Jun & Nene's（じゅん&ネネ）4th single from September 1969, and it's a surprisingly saucy tune wrapped in innocence as the lasses sing about a young lady who's quite the affectionate type, and although it isn't explicitly expressed, perhaps her beau is becoming beet-red. In fact, the final verse has her inviting her boyfriend to enjoy and savor her like a very delectable piece of candy. Thank you for those lyrics, Akari Yamaguchi（山口あかり）!

And yet, the music by Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）does have that traditionally innocent sound, and early on, I thought that things were approaching an enka level. To add onto that, something about the arrangement of "O-Atsui Hou ga Suteki!" is also reminiscent of The Ventures' approach to composing some of their songs for Japanese singers.

Never thought that I would find a performance by Jun & Nene back in the day, but here they are singing "O-Atsui Hou ga Suteki!", and it's actually within a second-season episode of "Heishiro Kiki Ippatsu"（平四郎危機一発...Heishiro in the Nick of Time） in 1969. The show revolved around Heishiro Kujo（九条平四郎）, a businessman who has a love for being an amateur sleuth. In any case, the song peaked at No. 48 on Oricon.