Singer-actress Akiko Wada（和田アキ子）has been in the entertainment limelight for over 50 years and considering her height (5'9" which was considered to be very tall and rare for a Japanese woman back in those days) and her very straightforward manner of speaking, she's most likely been one of the more intimidating celebrities all these decades. Therefore, I'm not all that surprised that her first starring role in a movie was that of a gang leader in "Onna Bancho: Noraneko Rock"（女番長 野良猫ロック...Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss） which hit theatres in May 1970. The above is a scene from the movie where she is singing in English.
"Otoko to Onna no Rock" (Rock for Men and Women) was used as an insert song for "Onna Bancho: Noraneko Rock", and it's a pretty laidback bluesy number backed up by an orchestra with Wada singing about the state of men and women and their relationships.
That song was actually the B-side to Wada's 5th single "Sasurai no Blues" (Those Wandering Blues) which was released in July 1970. With that lonesome trumpet and the jingle-jangle rhythm, I'd almost say that "Sasurai no Blues" hits me like a cowboy tune and at points, there is something approaching enka. Lyricist Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）and composer Kunihiko Suzuki（鈴木邦彦）were responsible for both songs.
"Sasurai no Blues" was the follow-up to one of Wada's most famous songs "Waratte Yurushite"（笑って許して）which was released earlier in March that year. And though it did only half the sales that "Waratte Yurushite" had done, I don't think 110,000 records sold is anything to laugh at, and according to J-Wiki, "Sasurai no Blues" hung around for a long time on the charts, peaking at No. 28.
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