Pedro & Capricious/Junko Miyama -- Yokohama Rainy Blue（ヨコハマ・レイニー・ブルー）

 

I realize that I could have written about this one last night during Urban Contemporary Fridays but heck, it's better late than never.

"Yokohama Rainy Blue" could be one of the hidden great City Pop ballads. Sung by Naoko Matsudaira（松平直子）as the lead vocalist of the band Pedro & Capricious（ペドロ＆カプリシャス）during a good chuck of the 1980s, you couldn't get more romantically bittersweet than this. Not only is it set against the backdrop of the great port city of Yokohama, the melody by Kunihiko Suzuki（鈴木邦彦）contains the sumptuousness of the good life of being driven in a sports car, dining at fine restaurants, drinking at an expensive bar and living in a penthouse bar overlooking the bay. Of course, the bluesy sax solo and the dramatic strings make their appearance known as well. Meanwhile, the lyrics by Mayumi Shinozuka（篠塚満由美）relate the story of all good things having to come to an end but at least, they did happen.

The single came out in April 1984 and it was also the title track of the album that was released later in November. Another track mate there is "Silky Silver Rain".

I have next to nothing in terms of information for the singer Junko Miyama（美山絢子）aside from the observation that she had released three singles in the early 1990s including a cover version of "Yokohama Rainy Blue" in 1991.