Mariko Fuji -- So Long

 

I've had this one on the backlog for quite a while so it was good to have another fresh set of ears to listen to it once more. Always nice to hear something that doesn't easily categorize itself to one particular genre.

Perhaps it's just me, but I think that singer-songwriter and actress Mariko Fuji（藤真利子）has been one of those hidden jewels in Japanese popular music that would attract City Pop fans. In the past, fellow singer-songwriters Satoshi Kishida（岸田智史）and Yoshitaka Minami（南佳孝）have provided her with some cool urban contemporary melodies of the 1980s via "Chikashitsu no Party"（地下室のパーティー）and "Gemini Vs. Capricorn" respectively, so she's had some collaborative cachet. Well, encountering the fact that none other than Yellow Magic Orchestra member and future Oscar winner Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）composed this particular track from her May 1983 album "Abura-Cadabura"（アブラカダブラ...Abracadabra） did get my attention.

As stated a couple of paragraphs back, "So Long" isn't a track that can be pegged immediately into any particular genre so I have put it in as a general pop tune. Yet, I hear a bit of Chet Baker trumpet and a mournful saxophone right from the get-go for that bit of jazz, but then there is also that bossa nova rhythm along with a sense of 60s French pop which is enhanced by Fuji's kittenish vocals. It's quite the mysteriously intriguing song...all hail The Professor! The lyrics were provided by Anri Bibi（微美杏里）which is the pen name for Fuji herself.