Shonen Knife -- Rocket ni Notte（ロケットにのって）

 

Not sure if the nickname Red Rocket was inherited by the latest generations of streetcars in the Toronto Transit Commission, but the ancient ones that I had ridden as a kid on my way to Japanese Language School in the 1970s were called that name. All of them have operated in downtown Toronto and the inner-city neighbourhoods. When I was in university in the late 1980s and during my brief time back in my hometown in the early 1990s, I actually enjoyed taking the 506 Carlton at night from around the University of Toronto all the way back to Main Street station in the east end although I could have taken the faster Bloor-Danforth subway simply because it wasn't very full at all and it took me through a number of interesting neighbourhoods such as Cabbagetown and Little India.

Now, before viewers assume that they arrived at the wrong blog of Memories of Toronto rather than "Kayo Kyoku Plus", let me explain that all I wanted to do was provide my usual preamble ramble to this time whip out the legendary Shonen Knife（少年ナイフ）and their "Rocket ni Notte" (Riding the Rocket). I had devoted that first article for the band back in 2017 and that was a cover of the Carpenters' famous "Top of the World". So I figured that I should actually write about one of the band's original tunes and I discovered "Rocket ni Notte" on YouTube.

This is a nice day-glo 60s-style video with Naoko Yamano（山野直子）, Michie Nakatani（中谷美智枝）and Atsuko Yamano（山野敦子）, but it's all about the growling rock guitars and the happy-go-lucky vocals in harmony. Naoko was responsible for words and music, and if I'm not mistaken, the above video is for the lead track version from the band's August 1992 album "Let's Knife". According to Wikipedia, a number of the tracks are re-recorded versions of earlier Shonen Knife songs with English lyrics. "Let's Knife" itself got as high as No. 64 on Oricon and "Rolling Stone Japan" even placed it as the 37th-ranked album of the "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time". Listening and watching the performance, I wouldn't be surprised if the duo of Puffy Amiyumi admitted that Shonen Knife was an inspiration.

The "Let's Knife" version of "Rocket ni Notte" was indeed one of the tracks that had an original version, and this one came from Shonen Knife's 1986 album "Pretty Baka Little Guy". This shorter original just had Naoko singing through a simpler arrangement, and for some reason, I am more reminded of the B-52s when I hear it. I've often mentioned that local music video show featuring the weirder and wackier fare on late Friday nights called "City Limits". The video for the 1992 version would be cordially invited onto the show, but I believe that the video for the original song is a perfect fit due to the blurry resolution and the minimalist setting outside of the rocket footage. Cute cat costumes, to boot. On the band's own website, the song has been considered to be their theme song.

If I ever ride the 506 Carlton rocket again, I may end up having "Rocket ni Notte" playing in my head. However, I don't really linger around downtown at night anymore and currently the 506 has been disrupted due to some major water main construction.