Sakiko Ito -- Kogarashi no Futari（木枯しの二人）

 

Hopefully, we will not be anywhere near this scene for at least a couple of months but I thought it was an appropriate thumbnail to put up, considering the theme of this song.

"Kogarashi no Futari" (Two in the Cold Wintry Wind) was Sakiko Ito's（伊藤咲子）3rd single released in December 1974. Considering its theme of a romantic couple feeling that they have to escape into the cruel elements from all they have known, I was expecting something more downbeat and folksy, but actually "Kogarashi no Futari" is surprisingly peppy and poppy. Maybe they had a souped-up Toyota to flee the town.

Written by the prolific Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed by Takashi Miki（三木たかし）, the song may have been released late in the year, but not only did it hit No. 5 on the Oricon weeklies, but it also lasted long enough on the charts so that it became the No. 36 single of 1975. It was Ito's most successful single, and when television tributes were given to each of Aku's and Miki's passing in the 2010s, the singer appeared to perform "Kogarashi no Futari".

Sakiko Ito/Akina Nakamori -- Otome no Waltz（乙女のワルツ）

Well, I've already covered a couple of songs by aidoru Sakiko Ito（伊藤咲子）so far and here's another to add to the KKP mix.

In fact, this July 1975 5th single by Ito, "Otome no Waltz" (A Young Lady's Waltz) comes between her cute 1974 debut of "Himawari Musume"（ひまわり娘）and her bouncy hit of 1976 "Kimi Kawaii ne"（きみ可愛いね）. And "Otome no Waltz" stands out from the other two in that it rushes in as a mix of an epic Connie Francis ballad and a courtly country song. Ito's voice quavers ever so slightly as she describes the tale of a sad lass who may have had the opportunity to find the boy of her dreams only for her to let it pass due to stage fright.

The same duo behind "Kimi Kawaii ne", lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composer/arranger Takashi Miki（三木たかし）, was also responsible for "Otome no Waltz" which really amps up the country flavour as it approaches its big finish. I was also expecting Gary Cooper to show up, and my images as I was listening to it a second time were ones of gentlemanly suitors leading their ladies by the arm through the main plaza of a southern town in the United States. It's a grand ballad that peaked at No. 24 on Oricon and was the title track for her 3rd album released in October 1975.

Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）covered "Otome no Waltz" in her March 2002 album "-ZEROalbum- Utahime 2"（歌姫2）, her second release of kayo covers. Her version of the Ito ballad is fairly similar to the original, although maybe it doesn't have as much of the southern flavour. That album reached No. 10.

Sakiko Ito -- Himawari Musume （ひまわり娘）

On Saturday, I had just come home from watching "Spiderman: Homecoming" (good but not perfect) and having ramen at the suburban Sansotei (very good), so I mostly missed out on the annual "Omoide no Melody"（思い出のメロディー...Melodies of Memories） on NHK. However, I did catch the last several minutes of it which was better than nothing.

In fact, I had just set my bag down in my room when I returned to the living room and saw former 70s aidoru Sakiko Ito（伊藤咲子）performing a song whose melody fired off some memory engrams. It was her debut single "Himawari Musume" (Sunflower Girl) from April 1974. I knew I must have heard those familiar notes somewhere and sometime.

Yu Aku（阿久悠）really put on the gushy honey-dripping lyrics for "Himawari Girl" as Ito sings out a girl's confession of her being the titular flower while the boy of her dreams is the sun. Awww. Plus, Shuki Levy's（シュキ・レヴィ）down-home melody gets the old nostalgia going in listeners. The song peaked at No. 20 on Oricon. Ito's debut album from July 1974 also had the same title.

I found quite an interesting story about the composer Levy. During the 1970s, he and his partner Aviva Paz became a popular singing duo, Shuki & Aviva, in Europe but what wasn't written on the Wikipedia entry but written on the J-Wiki article was that they also had a measure of success in Japan with a few songs.

But then in the 1980s and 1990s, Levy also became a famous soundtrack composer for a lot of American cartoons including "Spiderman" and "Inspector Gadget". And that included the famous theme song for the latter series. Go, go, gadget pop culture connections!

Sakiko Ito -- Kimi Kawaii ne （きみ可愛いね）

The name Sakiko Ito（伊藤咲子）barely rings a bell but somehow I think I may have seen her through some variety shows in Japan. However, she did start her professional life as a 70s aidoru. Ito had a successful run on the audition show "Star Tanjo"（スター誕生!...A Star Is Born）when she was 15 back in 1973 and then made her debut the following year with "Himawari Musume"（ひまわり娘...Sunflower Girl）.

Nearly a couple of years later, she had her 7th single, "Kimi Kawaii ne" (You're Cute) from March 1976 which became one of her bigger hits since it punched her ticket for her lone appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen that year.

Written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed by Takashi Miki（三木たかし）, the springtime release was an appropriate one since the song was all about falling in love and having things being all wonderful in the world. Watching her perform in the video of her Kohaku appearance, she almost sounds like the second coming of earlier 70s aidoru Mari Amachi（天地真理）although Ito's vocals have a little less fragility.

That Kohaku performance was notable in that her backup singers were Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）, Hiromi Ota（太田裕美）, Masako Mori（森昌子）and the Candies（キャンディーズ）. Also, the other thing I noticed which was quite quaint was the fact that Iwasaki and the bunch were all wearing red jackets to signify their team in the NHK special. Yup, it was a different time back then.

"Kimi Kawaii ne" broke into the Top 10 with it peaking at No. 9. It also became the 56th-ranked song of 1976. Ito continued her career until her 22nd single in 1985 before calling it a day on the recording front, at least. However, she released a couple of additional singles in 2010 and 2014.