Haruko Kuwana -- Key wa, Futari de（Keyは、ふたりで）

 

I've got a bit of lyrically split-personality song by City Pop chanteuse Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）and it's really nice to hear from her again. "Key wa, Futari de" (The Key is the Two of Us) was her 5th single from August 1979, and it's a little different from the soulful City Pop that I've usually associated her with, though I confess that this might be more my own impression than anyone else's.

"Key wa, Futari de" has lyrics by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）, and going through them, I get the feeling that a young lady is being alternately sour and sweet on a romantic relationship that seems to be in danger of fizzing out. The lass is being fairly tsundere about things but then she speeds off to where her potentially former beau is in the insistence that the two of them are meant to be with each other. Meanwhile, the music by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arrangement by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）give off a certain comical edge to the downtown tune as if "Key wa, Futari de" had been meant to be used for some television rom-com. I could even see it being used in a "Lupin III" flick.