The Yellow Monkey -- Taiyo ga Moeteiru（太陽がもえている）

 

A good Monday to you! And it's looking very nice out there with the sun and not-so-frigid temperatures. Not a bad beginning to the first full day of spring 2022.

I don't think that it was with this particular song, but one time when I was out with fellow teachers and students at a karaoke box in Tokyo, one of our teachers, who was even a bit more quieter than I was at these things, took the microphone and belted out a Yellow Monkey number that brought the house down. It was a grand performance by this fellow representing teachers who usually went for the 80s and 90s English-language stuff ranging from Elvis Presley to Nirvana.

But in any case, I wanted to show "Taiyo ga Moeteiru" (The Sun is Burning), The Yellow Monkey's 8th single from September 1995. I didn't recognize the song until vocalist Kazuya "Lovin" Yoshii（吉井和哉） (who also wrote and composed the song) went into the refrain; then I realized that it was a song that I had heard over and over again, thanks to its long run on the charts via shows like "Countdown TV". Once again, the nostalgia kicked in because of the guitar arrangement.

"Taiyo ga Moeteiru" is a grand love song that brings in all of nature since that sun of the guy is burning with passion and glee deep within him. Dang nice song for this day. Their 8th single was also The Yellow Monkey's first Top 10 hit with it getting as high as No. 9 and earning Gold. The band would get even higher with the next several singles including that coveted No. 1 a few years later.

The other members of the band are guitarist Hideaki "Emma" Kikuchi（菊地英昭）, bassist Yoichi "Heesey" Hirose（廣瀬洋一）and drummer Eiji "Annie" Kikuchi（菊地英二）. Their original run was between 1988 and 2004 but they got back together again in 2016.