Kei Marimura -- Shiseikatsu（私生活）

 

I was in contact with a Kei Marimura（真梨邑ケイ）fan, Bree, in the last few days and that person mentioned the song "Shiseikatsu" (Private Life) which was a 1986 single for the jazz-and-City Pop singer who made quite the career turn when she also opted to become a hardcore porn actress. And yes, that also did pop up very briefly in the conversation.😎

"Shiseikatsu" was one of the first songs that I'd heard by Marimura and way back when, I couldn't find it at all on YouTube so it was a case of reluctant relinquishment and forgetfulness that the song left my memory. But Bree's contact got me back to this interestingly arranged song so I'm quite grateful and it's great that "Shiseikatsu" has finally made it onto YouTube. As for Bree, it was a case of falling for the song when first encountering it on J1Gold back in the pandemic days.

There are a couple of City Pop hands behind the creation of "Shiseikatsu". Lyricist Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子） weaves the story of a woman psyching herself up for a possibly sinful night with a fellow in a hotel room while Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）comes up with the melody that starts off with a keyboard sounding akin to a warning alarm (accompanied by some sexy sax) as if the lady is entering some mightily dangerous territory before the song jumps into a more relaxing warm bath of slow groove and sophistication (rose petals and candles optional). Even Marimura has this rather off-kilter bent to her vocals which may be reflecting the lady's trepidation; once she enters that suite, she's not coming back to her normal world.

Kei Marimura -- Etranger Break（エトランゼ・ブレイク）

 

Never give up on a song. That's what I say to myself whenever I go searching for some of those tunes that I heard decades ago but forgot the titles and singers behind them. I also repeat that mantra for songs which I know well enough on my CD player but for whatever reason had never gotten onto YouTube. And indeed some of them do finally get their debut on the platform and so I can happily write about them.

That is indeed what has happened here tonight. The file for jazz singer/actress Kei Marimura（真梨邑ケイ）already has a few articles on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but the sole reason that I started it had never appeared on YouTube for years. But earlier in March, uploader Heart Music City put up this particular song from Marimura's November 1985 album "Tiempo De Amor", "Etranger Break", and I am one happy person. I give my thanks to Heart Music City.

Actually, I never purchased the album but my first exposure to Marimura was through "Etranger Break" when it showed up on Volume 2 of the "Good Times Diva" series of female Japanese pop singers (it's the bottom album of the three shown in the thumbnail at the top). It's a lovely and breezy bossa nova tune about forgetting the here and now before taking off for more tropical climes and a relaxing vacation together. The people behind the creation of this lounge chair-worthy tune are three City Pop veterans: lyricist Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）, composer Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）and arranger Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）with that last person having taken care of all of the tracks on "Tiempo De Amor". The wonderful vibes that my first Marimura song evoke is fully deserving of a caipirinha.🍸🍹🍸

Yujiro Ishihara & Kei Marimura -- Sayonara wa Hirusagari（さよならは昼下がり）

 

Getting warmer out there but still sunny and pleasant. We may be looking at a summery weekend with a Humidex, though. 

I'm gonna have to give my thanks to commenter James Noah for this scintillating duet. Actually, he'd asked me if I knew the footage from the above video and after quickly scrolling down the comments, I found out it was from the 1969 Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）movie "Eikou e no 5000 Kilo"（栄光への5000キロ...5000 Kilometres to Glory） which looks like a flick about racing. I dutifully told him the results but then I had to also listen to the lovely song that adorns the video (sorry but that video has been taken down although I've replaced it with the trailer for the movie).

The song has nothing to do with "Eikou e no 5000 Kilo" but it is a duet with The Tough Guy and jazz chanteuse Kei Marimura（真梨邑ケイ）titled "Sayonara wa Hirusagari" (Goodbye in the Early Afternoon) which was released as an Ishihara single in December 1985, one of his final singles before his untimely death in 1987. Written by the late Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）and composed by Koumei Sone（曽根幸明）, the song still does hearken back to the 1960s in terms of how Mancini-and-martini it all sounds with the elegant and languid bossa jazz arrangement. It just makes me feel that the setting for this song has to be somewhere in the Mediterranean on a cruise ship or in some stylish restaurant on the coast. Must give a tip to the saxophonist.

One other notable thing is that the sweet-sorrow parting in the lyrics is hinted through the title that it takes place just past the noon hour. Usually when it comes to romantic breakups in kayo, I've gotten used to the idea that such things happen late at night or in the early morning after one more night of lust. I would usually feel sorry for the wait staff in the restaurant if they had a couple breaking up right after the lunch rush, but in the case of Ishihara and Marimura, I'm sure everything was done with a lot of class. No remonstrations or regrets...just appreciations of the good times now stored into memory.

Kei Marimura -- Stardust Night

 

Some of the nightlife establishments in Roppongi above. I didn't really play there...never had the money or the bravery to attempt that. The only regular places I went in that area were the Hard Rock Café and Tony Roma's, and then a coffee shop nearby.

The types of imagery one gets when listening to City Pop are varied. Some of them have to do with night drives in the vast megalopolis of Tokyo. Perhaps one song could be ideal for that fast bomb down the freeway to some happening place within the 23 wards or it could be a much more languid midnight drive in a taxi while the neon still flashes all around you.

I envision the latter when I listen to Kei Marimura's（真梨邑ケイ）"Stardust Night" which was her 3rd of 4 singles. This came out sometime in 1984 and though the melody by Yoshitaka Minami（南佳孝）is urban contemporary of that time, Marimura's vocals sound as if she were tackling a song within her usual genre of jazz. It's all pleasingly woozy and relaxing (kinda like enjoying that drive after having a few Brown Cows), and perhaps I can consider it to be a form of sophisti-pop, especially with those shimmering strings. By the way, Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）was behind the lyrics.

Kei Marimura -- Watashi dake no Le Mans（私だけのル・マン）

I first heard about Kei Marimura（真梨邑ケイ）since she had a splendid song on one of the "Good Times Diva" series CDs that I'd been collecting for a few years in Japan. Unfortunately, I have yet to find that song but she's still got plenty of tunes represented on YouTube.

Marimura is a jazz singer, TV/movie actress, novelist and porn actress. Yep, you read that last one correctly. I figured that I might as well get that particular occupation out of the way.

From what I've seen of her discography on her J-Wiki profile, the Tokyo-born actress has released many albums but only 4 singles up to 2016. From her 1985 album "Tiempo de Amor", here is "Watashi dake no Le Mans" (Le Mans Just For Me). Outside of the famous motor race, I know next to nothing about this French city, but from how Marimura's song sounds (shimmery light Latin Resort Pop with some jazzy highlights), it seems like there is a very pleasant high life there, although she is mentioning aspects of that race. Maybe it's like Monte Carlo?

Well, we'll just have to take a look, won't we? In any case, "Watashi dake no Le Mans" was written by Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）and composed by Akira Okamoto（岡本朗）. Okamoto had a stage name earlier in his singing career, Issei Okamoto（岡本一生）, and he's got an entry on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", "Moonlight Singing".