Shogo Hamada -- Indian Summer（インディアンサマー）

 

Yes, indeed, I realize that we're still eleven days away or so from entering November but I wanted to throw up the above thumbnail because usually for us here, that's when we get one last burst of warm weather here in our province of Ontario before the inevitable months-long run of cold weather. In other words, I'm talking about Indian Summer.

Mind you, though, our summer seemed to have extended a fair bit into the first week of October so perhaps we've already celebrated our Indian Summer. It's always hard to tell with our home where the weather is predictably unpredictable.

Regardless, I'd like to present singer-songwriter Shogo Hamada's （浜田省吾）"Indian Summer" from his 4th studio album "Mind Screen" which was released in May 1979. Composed by Hamada, written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and arranged by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）with strings arrangement by Jun Sato（佐藤準）, "Indian Summer" doesn't strike me as being the typical Shogo rocker. Instead, it's a contemplative pop ballad with a melancholy piano, synthesizer, shimmering strings and a horn accompaniment that has had me thinking of the movie "Love Story", Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）music, 1960s pop and French pianist Richard Clayderman. Quite the musical potpourri there which is always interesting.

Ryu's lyrics are also a little clever as she calls Indian Summer a mean little trick by the four seasons to have people remember of romantically happier times in the middle of a more desolate reality. As is often the case with the autumn as it pertains to kayo kyoku, the season is the time for love and romance to wither away and die like the brown leaves. In a way, "Indian Summer" reminds me of Hiromi Go's（郷ひろみ）"Aishuu no Casablanca"（哀愁のカサブランカ）.