TINNA -- Money Tree

 

The above is a photo of a fan made up of fake 10,000-yen bills. I received it as a souvenir from a hostess club in Ginza that my friend took me to back in 2017. Although I was grateful for the experience of seeing with my own eyes what such a club looks like, I was also a little embarrassed for looking distinctly underdressed for the occasion (had no idea that he was planning to take me there); I was just in my T-shirt and jeans and from what I've seen on television, T-shirts and jeans aren't exactly usual fashion in hostess clubs. However, the staff were very professional and gracious to me and I got some of the best-tasting pear slices that I've ever had.

So, the above is a money fan. But the topic of this KKP article is "Money Tree" which is the first track on duo TINNA's August 1979 album "Doumu ~ DOME IS A CHILD'S DREAM"（童夢...Child's Dream）. It served as the soundtrack for the TBS movie "Eikou no LeMans 24-ji ~ Doumu Chousen no Kiroku"（栄光のルマン24時 - 童夢挑戦の記録 -...The Glorious 24 Hours of Le Mans ~ The Record of Going for a Child's Dream）. As a first track, "Money Tree" starts off pensively enough before Tomoko Soryo（惣領智子）and Mariko Takahashi（高橋真理子）get into some real downtown funk accompanied by a saxophone to further add onto the flavour. Bill Crutchfield took care of the lyrics while Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）took care of the driving music. For anyone who isn't too familiar with the famous race, you can take a look at the trailer for the 1971 Steve McQueen movie "LeMans" below.