Chieko Matsumoto -- Juu-ichi Gatsu no Asa（11月の朝）

 

Yes, indeed it is November 1st as I type this, so I figure that if I can find a November-themed kayo, I will be quite a happy person.

Luckily, it hasn't taken too long at all to track one down. 1970s aidoru Chieko Matsumoto（松本ちえこ）recorded "Juu-ichi Gatsu no Asa" (A November Morning) for her 6th and final album in October 1978, "Wonder Caravan". Written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composed/arranged by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）, it's a short, sweet and pretty slickly-made tune with those guitar riffs and the classy background chorus. I'd posit that if Matsumoto had decided to continue with her singing career, songs like these could have presaged her transition into a pop singer from teenybopper.

Miura's lyrics are pretty interesting too as they describe a young lady, maybe somewhere in the vicinity between high school senior and college freshman enjoying things like jogging and having that American (read: watered-down) coffee. She also notices all of those Xmas decorations going up on the streets, so yeah, I guess those things going up right after Halloween may have been a tradition going back that far. The overall indication is that the lass is beginning to savor the grown-up lifestyle...before all the burdens fall onto her.

About a couple of years ago, I first wrote about Matsumoto through her 1974 debut single "Boyfriend"（ボーイフレンド）.

Chieko Matsumoto -- Boyfriend（ボーイフレンド）

 

Approximately a week or so ago, commenter Owl Chick let me know about an actress and a tarento by the name of Chieko Matsumoto（松本ちえこ）who also had a stint as an aidoru in her early years.

Matsumoto, born in 1959, hailed from Tokyo and one day when she and a friend were attending a music TV show, she was scouted and was even invited to sing a Junko Sakurada（桜田淳子）song just for a lark. Well, that ended up beginning her career in show business.

In August 1974, Matsumoto released her first single, "Boyfriend", which Owl Chick is quite enamored by. Considering that her birthday was November 12th, she was all of 14 years of age as she sang about the envy of one of her schoolmates gaining that cherished of adolescent objectives: gaining a boyfriend. The song was written by Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）and composed by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, and it's a typically jaunty aidoru song of the 1970s, ready for easy performance and consumption in a TV studio, and Matsumoto's singing is bright and as cute as a button. There's also something about the melody and the arrangement which reminds me of some 60s Brill Building song but I can't recollect which one it was.

Between 1974 and 1978, Matsumoto released 11 singles and 6 albums with a number of BEST compilations. She also appeared on many music show, variety programs and dramas up to the early 2010s. Tragically though, her life was cut short at the age of 60 in 2019 due to an aneurysm.