Mami Kikuchi -- Penny no Himitsu（PENNYの秘密）

 

First off, I have mentioned in the past that among the years portion of Labels on the right side of the blog, 1981, 1982 and 1983 have had the largest number of entries throughout the history of "Kayo Kyoku Plus". I'd probably say that the three have been friendly rivals for Top Year. Well, today, I can declare that 1982 is the first to break the 600-entry barrier, so let's have a hand for 1982!👏😁 But of course, the battle continues.

And for 1982's 600th article, I once again bring you singer-songwriter and broadcaster Mami Kikuchi（菊地真美）. In my previous article, I mentioned that Masayo Kawaguchi's（川口雅代）"Tomorrow ~ Only You" made for quite the nice musical version of orange juice to wake me up from a sad and tired stupor. Well, in Kikuchi's previous article regarding her 1982 debut single "Morning Dew"（モーニング・デュー）, her record company's promotion department breathlessly flogged it as an example of high-energy Wake Pop!

Well, OK on that and I hope that the promotion department got their bonuses that year. But I will bring you to Kikuchi's debut album once more, the 1982 "Shimauma ni Notta Secretary"（縞馬に乗ったセクレタリー ...The Secretary who Rode a Zebra） which starts off with the helplessly catchy and quirky title tune. Singer-songwriter Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）came up with that one and she also comes up with another track "Penny no Himitsu" (Penny's Secret). With Kikuchi as the lyricist and Makoto Yano（矢野誠）arranging everything, there are elements of 1950s or 1960s pop but a lot of the song is quite gracefully melodic in that Akiko Yano way, and apparently, Alvin the Chipmunk joined the chorus. I think for those reasons, "Penny no Himitsu" is quite the quirky tune, too, and perhaps another example of Wake Pop described above.