This article was originally going to be another All-Points Bulletin request for identification on a mystery song. However, the Force was really with me today so I was able to find out the song title and the singer for the person who had reached out to me via the Contact Form earlier today.
Allow me to explain. I was sent the above Streamable link to find out who was singing on the video. Well, there were two versions of one song there. The first several seconds had someone who I immediately pegged as a female 80s aidoru singer happily singing away at a tune with a certain 50s pop lilt. But I couldn't recognize the singer and punching in patches of the lyrics into search engines only got bupkis. The second singer was male and I found out that it was David Lui doing a cover version of the mystery song under the title of "Sweet Sixteen", and I did find a YouTube video for it as you can see above.
The David Lui and "Sweet Sixteen" clue was key here. I put those two into the search engine and was led to Discogs where I found out the composer in romaji: Kayoko Nagasaki. But I also found out her name in kanji: 「長崎加代子」. Punching that into J-Wiki, Nagasaki didn't have her own entry there, but I noticed that her name was placed a lot under 70s/80s aidoru and later TV personality/actress Ikue Sakakibara's（榊原郁恵）songs.
Just on a whim, I chose one of those songs and put that into YouTube. Well, I should've bought myself a lottery ticket since I hit Bingo! "Mama Louisa" was the mystery song, and it was a track on Sakakibara's final studio album "Wandering Paradise" from June 1984. Nagasaki had actually done both words and music with Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）handling the arrangement. With that 1950s-sounding pop melody, I'd assumed that it was Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）behind it, but I was wrong there.
So, there was no need for the APB and everyone is happy. It usually doesn't happen that quickly so I'm happy that it did resolve itself the way it did. However, Sakakibara just recently lost the love of her life so I'm hoping that she's getting better and going on.
I haven't heard this in years and years.
ReplyDeleteIn the Mood for Love was a big thing at the time, as it marked the first time two of the most gifted actors Hong Kong has produced, Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Maggie Cheung Man Yuk, shared screentime, since their very early career (they were on Ashes of Time by the same director, but were never in the same scene). Here's the song associated with them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I68MGGD9frU
Performed by David Lui, who was probably the most talented of the male Hong Kong singers of the Cantopop era, yet who never had the popularity of others, possibly because he wasn't a hunk. At 2:50 in the above video, you can see Tony Leung on the left and David Lui on the right.
Hello, Jim. Nice to meet up with an old "friend", isn't it?:)
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