David Sanborn -- Chicago Song

 

I had been meaning to cover this song in a ROY article sometime this year and now I get to do so this week, but unfortunately, it's under sadder circumstances since I only found out last night from a commenter that jazz saxophonist David Sanborn had passed away on May 12th at the age of 78. Although this is Sanborn's first article on KKP, he has already been represented on the blog right from the beginning because I noted his singularly splendid sax solo on Minako Yoshida's（吉田美奈子）1982 "Hoho ni Yoru no Akari"（頬に夜の灯）, one of City Pop's greatest ballads. It's also the article where I got last night's comment telling me about Sanborn's passing.

The Florida-born Sanborn became known to me first through his frequent appearances on "The Late Show with David Letterman" back in the 1980s, and he had this distinctive style that one critic has dubbed a crying sort of sound. His name was such that since then, whenever I encountered his name in liner notes for any song or heard it on television or radio, it was very tempting for me to take notice. In terms of looks, with his leather jacket and mullet, he reminded me a lot of another famous David in the pop music industry: David Foster.

One day though, my ears and eyes went on alert when I heard that Sanborn had released a number titled "Chicago Song" in 1987 as the opening track of his album "A Change of Heart". Composed by keyboardist and producer Marcus Miller (who was also performing in the song), the saxophonist was able to weave what sounded like a typical day living and working in the Windy City. There was very much of a "Let's get at it" vibe and the general message was work hard but also play just as hard. It's quite the funky strut that hit radios on heavy rotation, at least here in Toronto.

All my condolences to Sanborn's family, friends and fans. 

So to give out the usual songs that had come out in 1987, let's go to some of the Gold Prize winners of the Japan Record Awards for that year.

BOOWY -- Marionette

Hiroshi Itsuki -- Tsuioku（追憶）

Yoko Oginome -- Roppongi Junjouha （六本木純情派）

Taylor Dayne -- Tell It to My Heart

 

Welcome to another Thursday Reminiscings of Youth where I go over some of the Western pop songs that I used to hear and cherish back in my childhood and youth. I was thinking about posting something by a female singer that I had yet to cover here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" and by wonderful providence, one lady from my memories showed up yesterday on the local news channel for an interview: singer-songwriter and actress Taylor Dayne. I hadn't heard from her in a few decades and I'm glad that she's still out and about especially since she did have to tackle cancer several years ago.

Of course, when it comes to Taylor Dayne, the one song that we'll always remember is her debut single "Tell It to My Heart"  (by songwriters Seth Swirsky and Ernie Gold) which hit the music store shelves in July 1987. Another part of my Dayne memories is the music video for the song: big hair, big cosmetics, big leather and the dancing backup. Couldn't get more 80s than that! We ended up getting the 12" remix record along with a CD of her album "Tell It to My Heart".

When I look back at the song, I was also drawn to how she sang it. There was that certain way she sang out "heart" which always stood out to me. Her Wikipedia biography states that she was born and raised in the New York City area so perhaps it was something to do with a Bronx or Brooklyn accent. "Tell It to My Heart" has been described in its own article as dance-pop, freestyle and Hi-NRG, and if it had been created in Europe, I would have said perhaps Eurobeat as well. The song peaked at No. 7 on US Billboard in January 1988; it did even better in the UK where it hit No. 3.

So, what was being released in Japan in July 1987?

Miki Imai -- Yasei no Kaze（野性の風）

Hideaki Tokunaga -- Kagayaki Nagara（輝きながら...）

BOOWY -- Marionette

BOOWY -- Kisetsu ga Kimi dake wo Kaeru（季節が君だけを変える）

Earlier in the week, commenter Luis Henrique asked me about a BOOWY song whose official music video he had been trying hard to search for. Since I only knew the 80s rock band for "Marionette", I decided to see if I could find it. In the end, I couldn't but luckily Luis could track it down to NicoNico.

Unfortunately, the music video (uh...check again) isn't on YouTube but I found BOOWY's 6th single, "Kisetsu ga Kimi dake wo Kaeru" (Only You Can Be Changed by the Seasons) to be pretty catchy because of that guitar beat. Not surprisingly, it was guitarist Tomoyasu Hotei（布袋寅泰）who came up with the melody with vocalist Kyosuke Himuro（氷室京介）behind the lyrics. The single was released back in October 1987 following the release of the aforementioned "Marionette" in July.

The above has Himuro performing the song during his solo career. "Kisetsu ga Kimi dake wo Kaeru" peaked at No. 4 on Oricon, and like "Marionette", was also included on BOOWY's 6th and final album "PSYCHOPATH" which came out in September 1987.

The official music video is quite striking. The powers-that-be sent an invitation through the band's fan club, "BOOWY HUNT" for regular young folk from various walks of life to appear in the video. Each person or set of persons would just stare at the camera while it backed up; some of those folks looked quite intimidating. Since I am talking about a time some 30 years ago, I'd be interested in knowing how some of these now-middle-aged guys feel about seeing their young selves in the video. Himuro, Hotei and the rest of the band also show up on screen but just by themselves. I gather that the fans were informed that they wouldn't be able to sidle up with their heroes.

Anyways, many thanks, Luis, for introducing me to the song!

BOOWY -- Marionette

One of the best 80s rock bands in Japan, BOOWY started up in 1981 with Kyosuke Himuro(氷室京介）on lead vocals and the towering Tomoyasu Hotei（布袋寅泰）on guitar/vocals, both of them coming from southern Gunma Prefecture. With a few lineup changes, the final band also included Tsunematsu Matsui(松井常松）on bass and Makoto Takahashi（高橋まこと）on drums. The name was originally Boi（暴威） or "tyranny" until they settled on the current name the following year. Plus, Hotei was an admirer of David Bowie, so they went for the more Anglicized version.

Their first live gig in May 1981 at the Shinjuku Loft had a grand total of 13 people: 9 men, 4 women (darn good researchers, those folks at J-Wiki). From such humble beginnings all the way to the time they broke up in 1988, when the 95,000 tickets for their final gig at the newly-built Tokyo Dome sold out in 10 minutes!

"Marionette"is the song that I know BOOWY by the best. Hotei's guitar just thrills along as Himuro's punchy vocals fly just as quickly. It was released in July 1987 and quickly hit the top spot on Oricon. Penned by Hotei and Himuro, the song became the 20th-ranked tune of the year. Going through the song lyrics, Himuro taunts and goads the marionette in the mirror to rip off his strings and make something of himself.  He and the band knew of what they spoke since they'd had some lean times earlier in the 80s when they broke ranks with their production company which was (and probably still is) professional suicide. But they proved with heads (and middle fingers) raised high that they could still come back triumphant

And even when the band broke up in 1988, Himuro went onto a successful solo career, and Hotei did the same himself as a rock singer. He also became famous internationally as the composer for the "Kill Bill" theme song. And more domestically, he ended up getting domestic with one Miki Imai（今井美樹） in 1999.

Rock rags to riches!

BTW, the single also came out on BOOWY's final album, "PSYCHOPATH", which was the 6th-ranked album of 1987.