Yukiko Ehara -- Yoru no Toubousha（夜の逃亡者）

 

I still see comical actress/TV personality YOU show up on a number of shows including a recent NHK morning serial. Now in her late 50s, she strikes me at least as someone who might sound somewhat goofy and squeaky but is still not to be trifled with lightly.

(46:08)

But back in the 1980s, even before she became the vocalist for pop/rock band Fairchild, she had been one of the many aidoru on the scene under her real name of Yukiko Ehara（江原由希子）. It's safe to say that she's probably made more of a mark in show business as YOU, but I believe that she's also given out some interesting material as a singer. Such is the case with her "Yoru no Toubousha" (Runaway in the Night) which was a track on her lone album as an aidoru, "Otokotachi ni wa Wakaranai"（男達には判らない...Men Don't Understand） from January 1986. The album also has "Kokoro no Mama ni"（心のままに）which I've already written about.

I was able to find out from a fellow Blogspot blogger that "Yoru no Toubousha" had possibly not been an original Japanese creation. It was written by Jorma Toiviainen and composed by Mika Silfver but I haven't been able to find who originally sang it, if that was indeed the case. Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）was responsible for the Japanese lyrics for Ehara with Jun Sato（佐藤準）taking care of the arrangement.

And to be honest, it doesn't quite sound like the typical aidoru tune that I would have heard back in the mid-1980s. There seems to be somewhat more of a refined feeling (although I think late 80s aidoru material often sounded more sophisticated than the early 80s stuff) thanks to the strings (synth-strings?) and the peppier tempo. In fact, there might have been a borrowing of a couple of elements since that intro synth riff and the refrain come across as things that I have heard in two other separate songs, one from the 1960s although for the life of me, I can't remember the title. "Yoru no Toubousha" is pretty catchy to me because of those strings, the snappy drums and the descending melody just before the refrain comes out.

Ah, as for that blogger, for those who may want to check out Japanese albums, track listings and songwriting information, you may want to check out "Kaze to Corona"（風とコロナ...The Wind and Corona）. I've already bookmarked the blog.

Yukiko Ehara -- Kokoro no Mama ni（心のままに）

It's been interesting getting to know the earliest times for the former vocalist of the pop band Fairchild and current TV personality known as YOU. I first only got to know about her from those Suntory commercials while one of Fairchild's songs was playing in the background, and it would be many years down the line before I realized that she had been an aidoru in the mid-1980s.

From the material that I've heard performed by Yukiko Ehara（江原由希子）, the future YOU seemed to have been groomed to take on somewhat more classier or ethereal material. Her second single from August 1985, "Kokoro no Mama ni" (As It Is) is along those lines as it skirts with the mellower side of sophisticated pop. I could even hear an AOR riff and even hints of Omega Tribe in there.

And yet, neither Chinfa Kan（康珍化）nor Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）had anything to do with the creation of "Kokoro no Mama ni". It was actually 70s folk singer Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）who concocted this dreamier form of 80s aidoru. I have to say that I really like the keyboards in there.

Fairchild -- Sagashiteirunoni （探してるのにぃ）

Back in May 2013, I featured a song by former aidoru Yukiko Ehara（江原由希子）, "Chotto Dake"（ちょっとだけ）. Now, one might think that this 80s J-teenybopper was another one of those female singers who had her 5 minutes in the spotlight before fading into obscurity and ending up as a permanent employee in a company. However, Ms. Ehara merely slid herself from aidoru-dom into the world of TV tarento where she became known as YOU and has since become one of the most recognizable faces (and voices) on terebi for almost 30 years.

But during the transition, YOU also became the lead vocalist of quirky band Fairchild. In fact, as I mentioned in the "Chotto Dake" article, the above commercial was how I was first introduced to the diminutive but feisty lady with the Betty Boop voice. YOU was in this ad for tea-flavoured booze (and I say now as I said then.... ick) while costumed as a polar bear rolling down the snow-covered hill (after taking a sip of the liquid?), all the while her song was playing in the background. I'm not sure how popular Kocha no O-sake became, but YOU certainly became the talk of the town, and it's one of the more memorable commercials from my time in Japan.

The song was "Sagashiteirunoni" (Looking For You), Fairchild's 7th single from October 1990. The band was launched in 1988 and was made up of YOU, bassist/programmer Seiji Toda（戸田誠司）and guitarist Hirokazu Kawaguchi（川口浩和）. Initially starting out as a technopop act, it made the change into a more regular pop act in the latter half of its existence, although this particular single still has that synthesizer sound. It was written by YOU and composed by Toda with the lead vocal chirping about not giving up that search for the right woman.

"Sagashiteirunoni" was also a track on Fairchild's 4th of 8 albums, "Sekai no Uta"（せかいのうた...World Songs） which was released in November 1990 and peaked at No. 13 on the album charts. 

According to J-Wiki, the band broke up in 1993, and YOU has been on several programs stating that Fairchild ended definitively when bassist Kawaguchi punched out guitarist Toda. However, she later amended this by saying that the decision to break up had already been made and on that last day, Kawaguchi stormed in to vent his feelings via a well-placed fist before quickly making a getaway with his girlfriend at the wheel. Supposedly the seeds of discord were sown with an argument about the guitar-playing. I kinda wonder if Lennon and McCartney experienced the same sturm und drang...

The first time I got to see YOU in a regular TV program was "Gottsu Ee Kanji"（ごっつええ感じ...Downtown's Feelin' Good）, the often-hilarious skit show starring Osaka comic duo Downtown. Yup, Sunday nights were definitely amusing.

I realize I'm going out of bounds here, but I just had to include this excerpt from the program since I remember seeing it in its first run. The point of the skit was to have one-half of Downtown, the volatile Masatoshi Hamada（浜田雅功）beat the tar out of one of the featured players in the show, Hong Kong, while both were costumed. However, in a classic Candid Camera switcheroo, it was decided that Hong Kong would swap places with someone far more famous and venerated without Hamada knowing. Be patient and see if you recognize the poor fellow.... he, and his band, have been featured on the blog a number of times. All I can say is that it was the only time that I have ever seen Hama-chan humbled.

Yukiko Ehara -- Chotto Dake （ちょっとだけ）

I first heard this song, "Chotto Dake" (Just A Little) on one of the "Good Times Diva" series of female vocalist compilation CDs, and it was a pleasant enough cute little aidoru tune, but the voice sounded eerily familiar. So I took a look at the liner notes and realized the singer was none other than YOU! No, not "you" as in "2nd-person pronoun", but the veteran comic actress and tarento YOU....she of the Betty Boop voice and occasional sharp tongue on the variety shows. The song was written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康） and composed by Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロ） for release as the then-Yukiko Ehara's（江原由希子） debut single in February 1985. Her change of name to YOU took place in 1988.

For my long stint in Japan, I used to see YOU as a panelist in those variety shows, but I remember seeing her as one of the regular zanies on Fuji-TV's Sunday night comedy program "Gottsu Ee Kanji" （ごっつええ感じ...Downtown's Feelin' Good) with the comedic duo Downtown.

However, the very first time I saw her at all was back in my 2 years in Gunma Prefecture in a commercial for a Suntory Tea Liquor commercial (tea and liquor...man, I don't know about that) when she was the lead vocal for the pop group Fairchild. I just see this cute face in a polar bear outfit stumbling across the snow-covered hills to get some of that caffeinated booze....I guess afternoons in some houses in the early 90s must've been pretty wild. Gottsu ee kanji, indeed.