Keiko Maruyama -- Budou Roman（葡萄ロマン）

 

In the previous article, I described Yoshitaka Mihara's（三原善隆）"Urban Night Cruisin'" as being comparable to some of Henry Mancini's works. Well, when I think of the great composer and conductor vis-à-vis kayo kyoku, I invariably come up with the singer-songwriter Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）. Specifically, my memories go to her most well-known song, "Douzo Kono Mama" (どうぞこのまま）in 1976.

Well, welcome back to the blog, Keiko Maruyama! It's been a while. From her March 1983 album "Dareka ga Watashi wo Aishiteru ~ LADY GOOD"（誰かが私を愛してる〜LADY GOOD...Someone Loves Me）, I offer "Budou Roman" (Grape Story). I'm going to be a little existential here and connect the story with "Urban Night Cruisin'" to this one. After that late-night City Pop drive through Tokyo as part of the tour, we head back to the hotel and there's a nightcap held with "Budou Roman" being the musical accompaniment. 

As would be the case with Maruyama's melody, it's all relaxing and boozy, and if I have her lyrics correctly, the singer is comparing the path of grape to wine as similar to that of a blossoming relationship. Going back to that nightcap, I will leave it in the hands of you good viewers as to what will happen afterwards. "Budou Roman" can be a good song for that, too. 😏