Miki Asakura -- Back Mirror de Sayonara （Back Mirrorでさよなら）

 

Well, seeing that I have just put up a Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）City Pop composition for the OK's, why not throw another one in?

But for this one, we have to go back several years to June 1982. Specifically, this goes to Miki Asakura's（麻倉未稀）"Lady" album and the track "Back Mirror de Sayonara" (Goodbye in the Rearview Mirror). Tsutsumi handled both melody and arrangement while Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）was the lyricist here. 

Compared to the OK's "Sei Go-gatsu ~ Hikari ni Koi Shite"（聖五月～光に恋して～）, beer isn't the libation that comes to mind here with the lusciously-sung "Back Mirror de Sayonara". Actually with the soft samba or bossa nova rhythm that rolls in and out throughout the song, this feels more like wine cooler or elegant cocktail time. Whether it's from a Shinjuku hotel-top bar or some swanky drinking establishment along the Mediterranean, "Back Mirror de Sayonara" even has that feeling of the swinging 60s a la Audrey Hepburn's movies. From the title though, I gather that the story is perhaps about an amicable parting of the ways between a couple with one of the paramours driving off saying goodbye.