Yoko Minamino -- Hanashi Kaketakatta（話しかけたかった）

 

Last night's "Uta Con"（うたコン）has been showing a regular segment for the past few episodes in which the hosts take a look at some of the Showa Era music. Of course, that's right up my alley.😆 This time around, the show took a look at some of the Showa Era aidoru from the 1970s and 1980s, and guess what? Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）, Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）, Yu Hayami（早見優）and Yoko Minamino（南野陽子）appeared to sing some of their hits from yesteryear.

Wow! I forgot about this one by Nanno...bad, J-Canuck, bad! "Hanashi Kaketakatta" (I Wanted to Talk to You) was a song that I now remember hearing from some of those VHS tapes of "The Best 10" which I used to rent out at Nippon Video decades ago. Her 7th single from April 1987, it's about as adorable as a late 80s aidoru tune can be...and this is by one of the vaunted Sukeban Deka（スケバン刑事）!

Written by Masami Tozawa（戸沢暢美）, composed by Masayuki Kishi（岸正之）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, "Hanashi Kaketakatta" sounds as innocent as traipsing through Snow White's neighbourhood in Disneyland. Plus, there is a certain familiarity winding its way through the song. I'd wondered what it was and then I figured out that it sounds just like The Monkees' "Daydream Believer", so I guess that it also has some of that old-fashioned Sunshine Pop as well.

"Hanashi Kaketakatta" was the second No. 1 hit for Minamino following her January single "Rakuen no Door"（楽園のDoor）, and the string of top-ranked singles would continue for another half-dozen more times until early in 1989. It would finish the year as the 18th-ranked single. The song is also a track on her third album "Bloom" which was released in May 1987 and peaked at No. 2 on the album charts.