Shojotai 少女隊 - How Are You My Friend? お元気ですか？マイフレンド

Before Napster and Internet, there're 4 ways you can dub a song onto a cassette tape without buying it.

1. Find a friend who owns the song and ask him to dub it for you.  Or borrow it and dub it yourself.

2. Go to a record shop that rents LPs or CDs.  Rent the one you want and dub it yourself.

3. If you happen to make friends with the record shop staff, ask them to dub it for you.  You may have to pay a small fee but the good thing is you can pick and choose.  This is the ORIGINAL playlist.

4. Dub the song as you're listening on the radio station.

I have done all four back when I was in secondary school in Hong Kong but no. 4 was by far my most used method when I found a song I like.

Back to the future.  In the past few days, a melody suddenly popped up in my mind and it wouldn't go away.  Not only the melody but I remember the lyrics as well.  "How are you my friend? da da da da da da da," it sang in my head.

At the beginning, I was somehow convinced that it was from Matsuda Seiko 松田聖子 but didn't follow up further.  As the melody played again and again in my head, the memories of my "dubbing days" came back and it felt so nostalgic that I wanted to listen to the whole song.  So, this morning, I asked Gemini AI which Japanese song in the 80s included the lyrics "how are you my friend".  Voila!  It's NOT Seiko but Shojotai 少女隊!  What a surprise.  I immediately listened and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'm pretty sure I dubbed this song when I was in Hong Kong but I forgot whether it's through method no. 3 or no. 4.  I threw away all my tapes (regret!) 10+ years ago so there's no way I can find out anymore.  There's a good chance that it's no. 4.  I still remember that in the 80s, Radio Hong Kong had a weekly program that published a top 10 chart for Japanese songs.  It could be from that.

For those of you who are interested in knowing more about Shojotai, J-Canuck already wrote an article here.  As expected, it's very hard to find a Japanese singer or group that has not been covered by Kayo Kyoku Plus.

Going back to the song itself, given the Aidoru background and the atmosphere, the story of the song likely happened in a high school.  A young girl was having a small fight with her boyfriend who's her senior i.e. her senpai.  She's still thinking of him and wanted to speak to him.  So, "how are you my friend?" was the message she had been keeping in her heart.

The song was written and arranged by Tokura Shunichi 都倉俊一.  Obara Jouji 小原丈二 penned the lyrics.  The single was released January 1985 and so this was one of those songs that included Chiko チーコ, an original member who left the group later the same year.

One more thing, I just saved the YouTube video on my playlist 😉