Yoko Aso -- Gozen Reiji no Kane（午前零時の鐘）

 

It's been 5 1/2 years since I wrote about singer Yoko Aso's（麻生よう子）February 1974 debut single "Touhikou"（逃避行）, a wistful tune about a woman eloping with the man he loves, away from all she knew and had loved to spend life together in a different town. 

Man, I'm kinda wondering if her sophomore effort, "Gozen Reiji no Kane" (The Bells at Midnight), released six months later, is a direct sequel to the story of that young couple running away for love. If so, then the ending is very bittersweet. Created by the same duo of lyricist Kazuya Senke（千家和也）and composer Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）that did "Touhikou", the plot here is about possibly the same lass leaving a Dear John letter on the door to their home and deserting the relationship due to implications that perhaps the guy hasn't held his end of the bargain. Interestingly enough, the melodic tone sounds more hopeful in a way that intimates that the lady may have learned a hard lesson but can now move onto the right path which may mean going back to her hometown or another place.

Reading the rest of Aso's biography on J-Wiki, I've read that the singer some years later actually did a cover of Gloria Gaynor's disco classic "I Will Survive". I will have to write about that one sometime soon.