With that title and the uplifting arrangement, I wonder whether this song by the late great Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）, a non-City Pop "Fantastic Woman", had ever been used for some commercial featuring cosmetics or the like.
In any case, "Fantastic Woman" was Ohashi's 17th single from August 1981. Written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composed by Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）, it's got that wailing electric guitar that was a Suzuki trope although the shimmering strings are absent. However, it's got an interesting arrangement with a 1970s-like harmonica intro followed up with a 1960s jangly pop rhythm. Miura's lyrics describe a woman reminiscing about the man who got away earlier in life because, gosh darn it, she wasn't quite ready. But the intimation is that, boy, she's ready now...only...where the heck is he?
This is a very curious song, and I also wonder what this might have been used for back in the early 80s. I guess it could have been used as BGM in a cosmetic section of a mall. I also wonder if the song is trying to be ironic, in that it is speaking of a fantastic woman who let a guy away, or for whom a guy was not willing to patiently wait for. It sounds to me as if this woman was never really that fantastic in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good take on the situation, Brian. But perhaps on the more optimistic side of things, she was someone who's gotten better from her bitter experience. Maybe "fantastic" is a bit over-the-top but in her mind, she's better.
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