Masa Takagi -- Cola ga Sukoshi（コーラが少し）

 

Back on Friday, I downed my lunch with my first Coke in what has to have been several months, at the very least. Nope, it wasn't because I'm on some sort of infuriated boycott of Coca-Cola or there's been a supply issue of the stuff in Canada. It's just that my family is more of a Canada Dry or Sprite group. But I was fine with Coke although I really don't need it in my life. Mind you, if I were still in Japan in those torrid summers, I would be glugging down that, oolong tea, Max Coffee and Calpis Water by the boatload.

With all of those dynamic Coke commercials in Japan, I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that there was a song with that certain brand of soft drink in the title. I'm talking about Masa Takagi's（高木麻早）"Cola ga Sukoshi" (A Little Cola), the singer-songwriter's third single from March 1974. However in contrast with all that caffeine-and-sugar energy in a glass of cola, "Cola ga Sukoshi" is a far more calmer animal written and composed by Toshiharu Yamana（山名敏晴）. 

The cola in the title refers to the little that is remaining in the glass on the much lonelier table with the few cigarette ashes, the remnants of a relationship that has been finished for some minutes following the guy's departure from the apartment. Meanwhile, the lady is probably sitting there and wondering what had happened for all this to occur. Yamana's melody is melancholy and wistful with the lilt of country folk and it was a genre that Takagi did revel in during her years singing.