Well, Happy Halloween to everyone out there and for the folks in Los Angeles including my friend Rocket Brown, congratulations on the Dodgers winning the World Series. For some reason, the last few times I've used the Bing AI image generator, it wouldn't abide by the "...in anime style" instruction, so instead I've gotten a live-action Kayo Grace Kyoku and Mr. Calico. Still, didn't want that to stop the lady and the cat from having some fun with Halloween.
It was last year when I started the Sheena Easton file on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" via the Reminiscings of Youth series with her 1980 hit "9 to 5 (Morning Train)", the first song that I ever heard by the Scottish singer/actress on the radio. And of course, since then, she's had her series of hits. However, next to "9 to 5", the song that I've always associated with Easton has been "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)", her August 1983 single.
By itself, "Telefone" is a catchy enough single but after hearing it as well a few times on the radio, it was the Halloween-themed music video that cemented things for me. Easton is someone who's been easy on the eyes for me and so to see her as the lady-in-distress running from the triple threat of Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and King Kong was rather amusing. Strangely enough, the single wasn't a huge hit in the UK where it only reached up to No. 84, but in Canada and the United States, it broke into the Top 10 at No. 8 and No. 9 respectively. It did hit No. 1 in Columbia, though.
Although I had already determined that "Telefone" would be the special Halloween ROY article for several months, I realized that it would be the ideal article to let folks know about the passing of actress Teri Garr a couple of days ago at the age of 79. She had been in numerous TV shows and movies including "Young Frankenstein", a movie that the music video for "Telefone" most reminded me of. The first time I saw Garr was on the second season finale of the original "Star Trek", "Assignment: Earth", as the stout-hearted if somewhat ditzy Roberta Lincoln and then of course, came all of those movies such as "Young Frankenstein", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Tootsie". As well, she was one of the few talk show guests that had me making a mental note to ensure me to watch, especially when she showed up on "Late Night with David Letterman". My condolences to her family, friends and fans.
Now, what was being released as singles in August 1983 in Japan?
Anri -- Cat's Eye
Hiromi Iwasaki -- Ieji (家路）
Mizue Takada -- Sonna Hiroshi ni Damasarete （そんなヒロシに騙されて）
When I think of Sheena Easton, I think of For Your Eyes Only. And Planescape: Torment, back before celebrity voice acting in video games was really a thing. Watching an interview of hers from the early 90s, and she really played up that Scottish accent in Torment.
ReplyDeleteHi, Jim. Yeah, I remember her doing the theme for the 007 movie; not one of my favourite Bond themes, though. The other Easton songs that I remember quite well are "Modern Girl" and "So Far, So Good".
DeleteEaston is one of the examples when it comes to me wondering how UK singers with strong speaking accents can manage to sing as if they were born and raised in the United States.
If you want really-80s vibes, have a look at Gazebo's I Like Chopin.
ReplyDeleteI first heard about Gazebo's "I Like Chopin" through the Japanese cover version by Asami Kobayashi. For some reason, her version no longer exists on YouTube (maybe she or her representatives have gone on a search-and-destroy mission) although covers of her cover are still up.
Deletehttps://kayokyokuplus.blogspot.com/2014/02/asami-kobayashi-ame-oto-wa-chopin-no.html