Midori Hagio/Yoshiko Miyazaki/Keiko Masuda/Yumi Matsutoya -- Tamerai（ためらい）

 

OK, just to confirm...that is indeed a thumbnail photo of Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）above and the song involved here is a Yuming-penned tune but not a Yuming-performed one in its entirety since an original Yuming tune has become rather scarce of late on YouTube. However, the legendary singer-songwriter looms large over the ladies that have also performed "Tamerai" (Hesitation).

First up is Midori Hagio（萩尾みどり）who's had a long career as an actress and TV personality but there has been no mention about her being a singer on her file in J-Wiki. In fact at this point, I only know of one 1977 single that she's recorded called "Dairen Bojou"（大連慕情...Yearning for Dalian）. The B-side is "Tamerai" and both songs were created by Yuming and arranged by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）. The first several notes had quickly pegged this one as a tune by the Queen of New Music herself and it comes off sounding like a breezy 1960s love ballad of pining away. The lyrics describe a walk between a man and a woman who may be on the cusp of elevating their relationship to bona fide boyfriend-girlfriend but the lass is sulkily grinding her teeth because the lad has yet to commit.

Pretty much all of the songs that I've covered on Yoshiko Miyazaki（宮崎美子）have revolved around her 1981 album "Mellow" and just from my memories, my impression of that album has had me thinking technopop. However, Miyazaki's cover of "Tamerai" has the arrangement of how Yuming and her husband would have taken care of their own discography at that time: with a bit of rock anchoring the breezy pop.

Last but not least is Keiko Masuda（増田恵子）, aka Kei formerly of Pink Lady（ピンクレディー）. She gives a breathier performance of "Tamerai" which was her 2nd single from June 1982. Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）arranged things here but the arrangement is similar to that for Miyazaki's take. As for Yuming's own cover, you can listen to an excerpt at Apple. The song was a track on her 9th album from June 1980, "Toki no Nai Hotel"（時のないホテル）.