It's been a quiet Sunday today although there is a major golf tournament in Pebble Beach right now. However, we've got the Super Bowl next Sunday between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles which should have the American football fandom going wild as usual. I remember hearing a lot of American ex-pats in Tokyo trying to get Monday morning off to catch the game at a sports pub.
Perhaps 1970s aidoru Mako Ishino（石野真子）was thinking of stirring up her Sunday with her 4th single "Nichiyoubi wa Stranger" (Sunday is a Stranger) from January 1979. Written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, it's quite the jaunty tune about a couple having the time of their lives on what is supposedly the day of rest. Nice to see Mako again, by the way, since the last time she appeared on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" was back in the summer of 2021.
One interesting piece of trivia I picked up on the J-Wiki article for "Nichiyoubi wa Stranger" was the intro riff. And yep, there was something quite familiar about it. Well, it turns out that R&B-loving Tsutsumi opted to adapt a musical phrase that had been used in at least a couple of American songs: "It's The Same Old Song" by The Four Tops and "Time" by gospel group the Mighty Clouds of Joy. Ishino's single peaked at No. 19 on Oricon.
The first we seconds of the score does sound a lot like the tune of "It's the same old song", but the rest of the song is clear something new and fresh (at least to me). I like this peppy, bright song and Mako Ishino comes of as the girl next door even thought she is clearly not.
ReplyDeleteHello, Brian. Yes, the rest of the song is pure aidoru sweetness but that intro goes to show how much Tsutsumi loved those riffs from American pop music.
DeleteI highly approve of his use or reuse of riffs from American music and his innovation.
DeleteHello, Brian. No worries here. There's a lot of adoption of American and perhaps British music riffs to be heard.
DeleteThat actually sounds interesting! I will be keeping my ears open from now on to see if I can hear any other American/British riffs in Japanese music, assuming I know the originals.
DeleteI think especially listening to the Japanese pop of the 70s and 80s could be quite revealing. In fact, another commenter informed me yesterday of Namie Amuro's "New Look" paying tribute to The Supremes' "Baby Love".
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