Kazuo Zaitsu -- Fuyu no Main Street（冬のメイン・ストリート）

 

Taking into consideration that Off-Course's（オフコース）Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）and Tulip's（チューリップ）Kazuo Zaitsu（財津和夫）have been wonderful fellow musicians from around the same era and good buddies for years, I have wondered if the two lead singers have often gotten together to trade ideas about how sad to make their Christmas tunes for their solo careers. Perhaps it's an odd thing to say but a common lyrical theme for the J-Xmas song is the one for heartbreak and loneliness on December 24th or 25th.

Oda came up with the melancholy but beautiful ballad "Kimi ni Merry Xmas"（君にMerry Xmas) from 1989 which follows one fellow's romantic misery after a spat. It looks like the same happened within Zaitsu's "Fuyu no Main Street" (Winter Main Street) which was his 7th single as a solo artist, released even earlier in December 1988.

I actually found out about "Fuyu no Main Street" from one of Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcasts this year. Written and composed by Zaitsu, it begins with that familiar 80s gloppy synth beat prefacing a supposedly happy major-chord melody before there's a sudden shift in chords near the minute mark showing the reality of someone's romantic situation. I have to admit that those sudden chord shifts can have an ASMR effect on me; quite the coolness factor. "Fuyu no Main Street" is definitely more in the upbeat category when compared to "Kimi mi Merry Xmas".

"Fuyu no Main Street" can also be found on the J-Xmas compilation album "The Night Before Christmas" (also from 1988) which was the subject of Scott's podcast. Also, have a go at the cover below by The Emilys, a copy band for Tulip.