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I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Kaoru Sudo -- Hadashi no Mama de(裸足のままで)

 

I couldn't help but get some of that atmosphere from the Righteous Brothers' classic "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" when I listened to the first few measures of this Kaoru Sudo(須藤薫)song. Released in November 1983 as her final single for CBS/Sony with whom she recorded since the beginning of her career in 1979, "Hadashi no Mama de" (Just Barefoot) sounds like a Hiroshi Nagai(永井博)painting given aural capabilities as Sudo croons softly of a woman at the side of a pool during one summer, thinking about a former flame.

Written by Shun Taguchi(田口俊), composed by Masamichi Sugi(杉真理)and arranged by Masataka Matsutoya(松任谷正隆), I wonder whether those last two songwriters were thinking of the Righteous Brothers and Phil Spector when they designed this rather lush ballad that has the vibes of a breezy 60s love song. Considering that we're not too far from the hot season right now, this could be quite the tonic.

From Amazon.ca

2 comments:

  1. Seeing as 「裸足のままで」 was released in 1983, I wonder if it might have been influenced by Daryl Hall & John Oates’ 1980 cover of 「You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling」?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello, Brian. I love my Hall & Oates (I hope they've buried the hatchet) but I would think that the original would have been more influential.

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