When I first saw the title for Naoko Ken's（研ナオコ）22nd single from August 1979, "Hitoribocchi Odorasete" (Let Me Dance By My Lonesome), I had assumed that it was going to be one of her City Pop numbers with Ken singing in those lower tones in a "seen it, done it" attitude.
But actually, the melody by Miyuki Nakajima（中島みゆき）has more of a fresh country lilt to the proceedings as if the setting were more out in the rice fields rather than some dingy bar in shitamachi Tokyo. Still, Nakajima's lyrics are pretty dour with a lady simply wanting to be left alone for the next little while after realizing that her paramour has probably tired of her and is now chasing after the next romantic conquest. And the thing is that Kawai's voice is able to wring all of the tears and hurt from those words. Most of all, the singer is channeling Nakajima herself when she sings.
"Hitoribocchi Odorasete" reached No. 39 on the Oricon rankings and it earned Kawai her 3rd invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 1979. On that night, jazz pianist Yuzuru Sera（世良譲）accompanied the singer when it came time to sing "Hitoribocchi Odorasete", but there was a bit of a misunderstanding in terms of the tempo which apparently knocked Kawai off her timing. However, things got corrected smoothly enough for her to complete her number. The song was also a track on the singer's 8th original album "Akireta Otoko-tachi"（あきれた男たち...Crazy Men） which came out in July 1980.
Nakajima and Kawai had another collaboration earlier in 1976, "Abayo"（あばよ）, which would become the latter's most successful hit.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feel free to provide any comments (pro or con). Just be civil about it.