When I think about a perfect example of the guy described in the title for this particular song, my thoughts turn to the one and only Felix Unger from "The Odd Couple". A neat freak and hypochondriac with a mess of neuroses, he would probably enrage the Pope if His Eminence ended up as his roommate.
Perhaps singer-songwriter extraordinaire Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）based her song "Keppeki Niisan" (Mr. Fastidious) on a similar acquaintance. It's not even two minutes long on her March 1976 3rd studio album, "Flapper", but she describes a fellow who takes the utmost care in his physical appearance and dutifully appears at work as if he were aiming for Employee of the Month every month. Written and composed by Yoshida herself, the lyrics are repeatedly pattered out like a mantra or a teasing indictment of the guy while her music is a funky boogie that is as much New York as the setting for "The Odd Couple".
A few days ago, I expressed some disappointment that I couldn't track down Circus' debut single but at least, I could find something intriguing from their July 1978 debut album "Circus 1", and it's the cover of "Keppeki Niisan". Packing a bit more in the arrangement and length of time, the vocal quartet makes like the Manhattan Transfer in their scatting and overall singing of Yoshida's creation. Perhaps there is less indictment in this version and maybe more of a straight-ahead description of Mr. Fastidious.
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