Yoko Katori -- Chance Tonight

 

I can say that for a lot of folks in Japan this Friday morning that they were more than happy to be bleary-eyed and tired this time because they got to see their men's soccer team beat Spain in their final intra-group game in the World Cup. They and their opponents go onto the knockout round but for now, everyone is having a party.

The Samurai Blue, I gather, made most of their chance that night, and as such I'm bringing Yoko Katori's（鹿取洋子）"Chance Tonight" in some celebration of the team's win. I realize that I'm starting the City Pop stuff several hours early this week, but then again, I've been leaking City Pop here and there all this week anyways, so I can pretty much just go ahead and have fun with my favourite genre. Plus, disco is a fun party genre.

I mentioned singer and actress Katori back in 2018 for her one-and-only 1980 album "LIBRA" which was also a disco and City Pop release. "Chance Tonight" wasn't only a track from the album, but it was also her 3rd single in the same year. Just bopping about with all sorts of happy downtown dance club vibes, I can see that disco ball glittering from the ceiling while all the young folks and the young-at-heart are dancing themselves dizzy.

I used those last three words in my previous paragraph intentionally. That's because Katori's "Chance Tonight" is a cover (much like her "Goin' Back to China" is a cover of Diesel's 1979 song of the same name) of English disco group Liquid Gold's "Dance Yourself Dizzy" by Adrian Baker and Eddie Seago from February 1980. Kazuko Katagiri（片桐和子）provided the Japanese lyrics for Katori's version with Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）handling the arrangements. For the weekend anyways, let the good times roll in Japan.

While we're at it, here's Yomanda's 1999 remix of "Dance Yourself Dizzy".