It has been a good long while since I put up a Checkers（チェッカーズ）article. Getting a bit nostalgic for that ol' rock-n'-roll that Fumiya Fujii（藤井フミヤ）and the guys sang back in the 1980s such as "Namida no Request" （涙のリクエスト）and "Gizagiza Heart no Komori Uta" （ギザギザハートの子守唄）.
Fortunately, I could find another Checkers tune that had been rattling around in my memories although I'm not sure whether this got the prolific karaoke treatment at our old university karaoke bar hangout, Kuri, like the first two. "Kamisama Help!" (Help Me, God!) was Checkers' 9th single from November 1985 and it's definitely got that 1950s Sha-Na-Na rock-n'-roll taste that got the guys on the map. In fact, Chinfa Kan's（康珍化）lyrics give a shoutout to that group. Going on with those lyrics, the whole story revolves around a good fellow who has long had feelings for a female friend who just seems to end up getting dumped by all sorts of cool guys. Every time this happens, she runs to her good buddy to cry on his shoulder although she's completely oblivious to his love for her. The poor lad does need help.
Hiroaki Serizawa（芹澤廣明）was behind the melody and arrangement. On the J-Wiki article for "Kamisama Help!", Checkers leader Tohru Takeuchi（武内享）remarked on the music show "The Best 10" that the song was a shouty enka. Well, if you say so.😕 "Kamisama Help!" hit No. 1 on Oricon and quickly became the 44th-ranked single for 1985, and it even lasted long enough on the charts to score a No. 97 ranking for 1986. It first showed up on an album through "EARLY SINGLES", the band's BEST compilation released in August 1994 which peaked at No. 3. I'm surprised that the song didn't show up on any of their previous BEST albums.
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