Ann Lewis -- Aah, Mujou（あゝ無情）

 

It's hard for me to remember when I first heard singer Ann Lewis（アン・ルイス）. It may have been when I heard her sweet 70s aidoru self on an episode of "Sounds of Japan" in the first half of the 1980s but the possibility may exist that the first time was through karaoke at Kuri in downtown Toronto since her hard rock persona's music was quite popular with some of us participants when we went there in the late 80s. In any case, it was quite the drastic change for Lewis between the 1970s and the 1980s...almost on the level of The Doctor on "Doctor Who" regenerating from one form to another. Happy 60th anniversary, by the way!

Anyways, lest I get too geeky, let me get back to Lewis. One of the songs that got performed at Kuri over and over again was her April 1986 27th single "Aah, Mujou" (Ahh, Heartlessness). I think one reason that I haven't posted this one until now is that I kept confusing it for another rocker by the singer, "Roppongi Shinju"（六本木心中）which had come out a few years earlier. But OK, now I can distinguish between the two.

Created by the same duo behind "Roppongi Shinju", lyricist Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and composer NOBODY, "Aah Mujou" seems to be a rocker relating a tragic tale of betrayals and counter-betrayals between one woman and perhaps a number of other characters in cruel Tokyo, although she has been trying in vain to get out of the vicious circle (maybe she's the Michael Corleone of Roppongi) For those bass addicts, feel happy to listen to a few rounds of the song. Jun Sato（佐藤準）, by the way, was behind the arrangement. "Aah Mujou" reached No. 21 on Oricon.