 |
| Amazon.jp |
This Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）song was recommended to me by a commenter a few days ago and it turns out to be her fourth single that I hadn't known about. "Harukaze no Itazura" (Spring Wind Mischief) which was released in March 1974 arrived between a couple of arguably more well-known hits by the famed 70s aidoru and actress, "Kinjirareta Asobi"（禁じられた遊び）from November 1973 and "Hito Natsu no Keiken"（ひと夏経験）from November 1974.
As with those two songs, "Harukaze no Itazura" was written by Kazuya Senke（千家和也）and composed by Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）. The arrangement by Shunichi Makaino（馬飼野俊一）was reflective of what Momoe's early material sounded like: light and bouncy kayo paired with her younger and higher-pitched vocals. It's all about a young girl who's gotten so distraught after a fight with the boyfriend that she's gotten lost somewhere in the big cruel city while a cold spring wind is blowing. If Momoe's late-career persona of jaded mankiller ever saw this lass, she would have either taken her under her wing or perhaps given her a sneer and internally told her to dry up.
"Harukaze no Itazura" reached No. 11 on Oricon and ended up as the 85th-ranked single for 1974. The song was also included on her 3rd studio album "Juu-go Sai no Tehma ~ Momoe no Kisetsu"（15歳のテーマ 百恵の季節...Theme of 15 Years Old ~ Momoe's Season） which came out in April 1974 and reached No. 7 on the album charts.
Excellent song and performance... it's clear that she was already an excellent singer this early on.
ReplyDeleteAnd she would only get bigger, better and more in control of her destiny.
DeleteThe email/comment is from me, I have just recently changed my email.
ReplyDeleteHi, YMOfan04. Yeah, I figured it was you since when I did some backchecking on your new handle, your old email address kept popping up.
DeleteMomoe Yamaguchi really did a lot of adapting as the 1970s kept on changing style and genre. I am sure she would have invented her own style in the 1980s as well. It would have been very interesting to see her battling the charts with the (then) newcomers like Matsuda Seiko and Akina Nakamori. On the other hand, I think she was a very different kind of Aidoru and might have been in a different league or category in the 1980s altogether. But anyway, she has become a living legend and a great mother.
ReplyDeleteHello, Brian. Yeah, I would agree that Momoe did stand out as an aidoru. If Seiko Matsuda is the Eternal Aidoru, then Momoe was the Reluctant Aidoru. As the 70s went by, she found herself liking the business less and less until she finally got her chance to get out of music by getting married. That transition from innocent ingenue to jaded and worldly woman probably reflected her own attitudes.
DeleteEntertainment industry is pretty much sketchy, so I don't blame her.
DeleteYeah, so I've heard and read over the years. Basically, even now, anything to do with entertainment has ties with organized crime although those ties are kept as low-key and tenuous as possible.
DeleteIt’s funny, but whenever I hear those kinds of old japanese hits from the 70s, I can’t help but think of Hong Kong back then. That’s probably due to my family ties with China and my passion for Hong Kong cinema from the 60s through the 90s (another one of my vices, alongside japanese music). It was a crazy time in Hong Kong too, with the rise of cantopop, heavily influenced by musical imports from Japan. I'm not even counting the number of HK covers of japanese songs (including some by Momoe Yamaguchi, though apparently not Harukaze no Itazura). The atmosphere in HK karaoke was then almost as japanese as cantonese 😅
ReplyDeleteHey, if this hasn't already been done, this would make an interesting topic for Kayo Kyoku Plus 😉
Hello, Stephane. I only got to visit Hong Kong once but it was quite the thrilling experience. If there could be an article here regarding Hong Kong covers of Japanese songs, I think the man to write it would be Larry Chan since he has written and spoken about it in the past.
Delete