Machiko Watanabe -- Midnight（ミッド・ナイト）

 

Midnight in Japan for me was illustrated by a tired old English teacher finally reaching his apartment past 12 am after a long commute from the other side of Tokyo back to Chiba Prefecture. My neighbourhood in Ichikawa City was relatively dark although there were street lights, but it was quiet and completely safe. Plus, my two wonderful vending machines just a few metres away from the steps to my home always greeted and plied me with cold drinks.

I would also think that a song and a final album track titled "Midnight" would offer the same sort of deal in the form of a ballad. However, on singer-songwriter Machiko Watanabe's（渡辺真知子）album "Fog Lamp"（フォグ・ランプ）from November 1978, that wasn't the case at all. It is actually quite the spirited finish to Watanabe's 2nd original album with its disco and City Pop showing off some type of action-thriller aural piece. There's probably a car chase squeezed somewhere among the notes woven together by Watanabe herself. 

Just a few minutes ago, I had finished off the latest Yuko Asano（浅野ゆう子）1970s disco tune "Potsuri Potsuri"（ぽつりぽつり）. Lyricist Akira Ito（伊藤アキラ）and arranger Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）had their hands in that one, and so they did with this one, too. "Midnight" also shares track space with Watanabe's "Blue" on the album.