Chieko Matsumoto -- Juu-ichi Gatsu no Asa（11月の朝）

 

Yes, indeed it is November 1st as I type this, so I figure that if I can find a November-themed kayo, I will be quite a happy person.

Luckily, it hasn't taken too long at all to track one down. 1970s aidoru Chieko Matsumoto（松本ちえこ）recorded "Juu-ichi Gatsu no Asa" (A November Morning) for her 6th and final album in October 1978, "Wonder Caravan". Written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composed/arranged by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）, it's a short, sweet and pretty slickly-made tune with those guitar riffs and the classy background chorus. I'd posit that if Matsumoto had decided to continue with her singing career, songs like these could have presaged her transition into a pop singer from teenybopper.

Miura's lyrics are pretty interesting too as they describe a young lady, maybe somewhere in the vicinity between high school senior and college freshman enjoying things like jogging and having that American (read: watered-down) coffee. She also notices all of those Xmas decorations going up on the streets, so yeah, I guess those things going up right after Halloween may have been a tradition going back that far. The overall indication is that the lass is beginning to savor the grown-up lifestyle...before all the burdens fall onto her.

About a couple of years ago, I first wrote about Matsumoto through her 1974 debut single "Boyfriend"（ボーイフレンド）.