Thursday, August 15, 2024

Hideki Saijo -- Little Girl(リトルガール)

 


This is quite the revelation to hear that between Hideki Saijo's(西城秀樹)early aidoru tunes in the 1970s and the City Pop from the mid-1980s, he also had a dalliance with the trendy 50s/60s doo-wop sound at the turn of the decade. Indeed, that is what we have with his 37th single, "Little Girl", which was released in March 1981.

All about Hideki driving up to his girlfriend's house for a day of just enjoying each other's company, the song practically screams Richie and Lori Beth from "Happy Days" right down to the jangling guitar, although among the Japanese doo-wop songs I've heard, this one is probably the mildest one. You can thank Machiko Ryu's(竜真知子)lyrics and the melody by Kimio Mizutani(水谷公生). "Little Girl" also broke the Oricon Top 10 by placing in at No. 9, eventually becoming the 71st-ranked single for 1981 with about 195,000 records sold. The song was also a track on Saijo's 13th original album "Pop'n Girl Hideki"(ポップンガール・ヒデキ)from July of that year. 

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