[Warm & cute]
No.101 "Straw-hat no Natsu-omoi" by Yuki Saitoh
Hi. Today's song is "Straw-hat no natsu omoi" (Memories of summer, and a straw hat) by "Yuki Saitō".
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Index
1. Song data
| Title | Straw-hat no natsu omoi (Memories of summer, and a straw hat) |
|---|---|
| Artist | Yuki Saitō |
| Album Title | Chime |
| Catalog Number | PCCA-50134 |
| Track No. | 4 |
| Duration | 4:15 |
| Released | 1986 |
| Publisher | Canyon records |
| Lyricist | Seira Asakura |
| Composer | MAYUMI |
| Arranger | Satoshi Takebe |
- About the creators
Seira AsakuraLyricist
Seira Asakura is a lyricist active since '80s.
She had been particularly operative in pop entertainment field, since the main players of this category are young idol stars, especially girls. And she is good at writing lyrics which illustrate the sentiments of young woman.
Support for "ribbon"
Above all, her support for an 3 member-ed female idol group "ribbon"(1990 - 1994) was hospitable.
"ribbon" had been noted with their good singing performance. They released exceptional 7 albums in 3 years active period.
For the girls pop group like "ribbon", Seira Asakura might have been a very suitable lyricist. That was possibly why she wrote many for them.
* ribbon
MAYUMIComposer
"MAYUMI" or "Mayumi Horikawa" is a composer, and singer-songwriter, used to be a model(Clarion Girl. It's special, and a bit of honor.), and an actress until around 1985.
A popular singer-song writer, "Reimy" is her elder younger sister.
Mystery
Since 1985, she has concentrated in working as a composer.
While creating and offering dozens of songs for other artists. she has made only 3 albums on sale until now, and the current last one was released in 1993, 25 years ago.
We hope if a good melody maker and good singer like her can produce more albums for fans even now.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Mayumi Horikawa)
Satoshi TakebeArranger
"Satoshi Takebe" is a keyboardist, composer, arranger, producer and music director active since the mid '70s.'
He started his music career as a back band member of few popular singers, or arranger of various pop songs.
Since then, he has been staying in the back ground roles like arrangers, or producers, rather than standing in the spotlight by himself.
In 1985, he participated in the debut song for "Yuki Saitō", titled "Sotsugyō"(Graduation).
Since then, he has been taking part in the most of songs of "Yuki Saitō" until now.
By the way, this song "Sotsugyō"(Graduation) was a middle hit at the time of release.
But interestingly, the song had continued to spread among the people slowly over time.
And without even noticing, it has been a standard number for a graduation season even now.
Finally, here is a moving picture of Mr. Takabe. The person playing a piano is him. (The singer is Mr. Norimasa Fujisawa.)
* A clip of Mr. Takebe
Cover art
- Sound impressions
Light & warm
This is a warm, light, & soft touch pop tune in 8-beat at the middle speed.
When the drums send a signal by fill in, the bass, electric piano, strings, trumpet and the percussion join, and start the introduction.
Later, the chorus and synthesizer both participate, and add the richness to the ensemble.
Yuki Saitō's vocal is soft, tender, and very natural.
She does not try to add funny tone on her voice, and it is the charm of her vocal.
It remain unchanged even in her recent album of 2010.
Luxury sound
Simply speaking, this ensemble is rich, gorgeous, and luxury. We reckon the producer might spent some amount of money for this recording.
This looks like a good point of the '80s music in general.
In the '80s, the budget control was less strict, and the production teams were able to spend necessary amount of money for creating quality stuff.
It depend on the personal preference, but if you like rich and gorgeous, '80s are the good choice.
- Reference
- About the artist
The first "Suke-ban" idol star.
Yuki Saitō debuted in 1985 with single "Sotsugyō"(Graduation). Since then, 21 singles, and 13 original, 1 live, and 11 best albums have been released until now.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Yuki Saito)
A super idol
"Yuki Saitō" seems to be one of the most shining and successful idol star, actress, and a singer in recent half a century.
She is still maintaining a top class popularity, and being a star even now.
"Suke-ban deka"
Now, she is such a big name.
But, we suppose the first important step for success was the wonderful performance she delivered in a TV drama series "Suke-ban deka"(Delinquent Girl Detective. Will try to explain later.) in 1985.
* Suke-ban deka
(Delinquent Girl Detective)
From the debut
In 1984 when Yuki Saitō was 17, she entered a movie star contest, and was placed at the top.
This prompted her to join the entertainment business, and she quickly became a popular model.
In Feb 1985, she released the debut single "Sotsugyō"(Graduation).
Luckily, this song became a smash hit, and her exposure increased. As a result, she succeeded to deliver her soft and elegant image.
To be a "Suke-ban deka"
In the April, she then was selected as a main cast for a new TV drama series "Suke-ban deka".
It was a TV series for young. The main plot of the drama was, a 16 year old delinquent schoolgirl(Suke-ban) named Saki Asamiya was appointed as an undercover by the police.
She then fight with a criminal group which was a social enemy, and a personal villain who killed her father.
Apparently, it was a challenge for Ms. Saitō, since the role looked like an opposite personality to her.
What's "Suke-ban"?
Now, we would like to try to explain little about the unique Japanese girls called "Suke-ban".
The literal translation of "Suke-ban" is "delinquent girl", or "a female boss of school gangs".
"Suke" is a rough and rude way of saying "woman". "Ban" is a shortened form of "Ban-chō", which means a leader of homeboys.
The image of "Suke-ban" is like this.
What she hold in hand is a bamboo sword(Shinai), which is used for "Kendō", a martial art.
Perhaps you can catch the image of their troubling and violent nature now.
For more details of "Suke-ban", please refer to the linked Wikipedia page in the above, or here.
Caring and righteous
There are however sometimes good "Suke-ban"s with caring and righteous personality, though they are still rebellious.
Such young women usually have charming character, and attract the people around them. And often become leaders in the real life after they have grown up.
So, the heroine of "Suke-ban deka", namely "Saki Asamiya" is also a such type of person.
That is why she was appointed as a "Deka"(=detective) by the police.
Became popular
"Yuki Saitō" acted the main character "Saki Asamiya" very well.
This increased her popularity much, and brought many new offers for movies and dramas.
So, we think "Suke-ban deka" was an important series for her.
Suke-ban disappeared
By the way, the natutral "Suke-ban"s seem to be extinct from Japan due to the recent cultural change.
If possible, please revive them in your country. They are mostly lovely and not very bad.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Yuki Saito)
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Sukeban_Deka)
To be continued
The history of "Yuki Saitō" is just at the beginning, but we have exceeded the today's plan already.
Please allow us to stop it now and continue in the next opportunity.
Thank you.
- Samples from online music stores
About the samples
Please go to the page below, and just play or click track No.3.
Trial button is on the left side of the song title.
AD : Free listening samples
Amazon JP(en)
recochoku.jp
Apple Music(jp)
3
8. Japanese Letters
| Song Title | ストローハットの夏想い (Straw-hat no natsu omoi) |
|---|---|
| Artist | 斉藤由貴 (Yuki Saitō) |
| Album Title | Chime |
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