Masamichi Sugi -- Vacance wa Itsumo Rain（バカンスはいつも雨）

 

Well, I guess this is a bit of a reversal of the usual Yutaka Kimura Speaks session. It was usually the case that I'd already written about a particular song before good ol' Kimura gives his two cents on the song via the YKS article. But as regular readers know from last night, the last edition of YKS provided the music specialist's take on Masamichi Sugi's（杉真理）"Vacance wa Itsumo Rain" (It's Always Raining on My Vacation） although I had yet to write an article on it. That changes here and now.

To be frank, I'm still not an expert on Sugi's discography which is why I had never realized that his 8th single from October 1982 became such a turning point and revelation for the singer-songwriter according to Kimura. Still, I have heard some of his earlier material such as his third single "Catch Your Way" from October 1980 and it's perfectly fine. But perhaps Sugi himself had been gradually approaching a certain crisis of faith up to that point just before "Vacance wa Itsumo Rain" which led to that important piece of advice that Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）had given him.

So I gather that Sugi was probably a faithful Beatles fan deep inside so he brought some of that into the song right from the get-go with that harmonica and the familiar melody. It's a happy-go-lucky song about a guy who just seems to be rather unlucky in the love department but remains ever hopeful. Certainly, Sugi felt as if a rather huge existential knot was massaged out of his shoulders via this hit judging from how cheerful it sounds. Incidentally, "Vacance wa Itsumo Rain" was also used for a Glico commercial.