[Song Review #111] "(They long to be) Close to you" by Miki Imai
Hi. Today's song is "(They long to be) Close to you" by "Miki Imai".
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Index
1.Song data
| Title | (They long to be) |
|---|---|
| Artist | Miki Imai |
| Album Title | fiesta |
| Catalog Number | FLCF-3628 |
| Track No. | 2 |
| Duration | 4:04 |
| Released | 1988 |
| Publisher | For life records |
| Lyricist | Hal David |
| Composer | Burt Bacharach |
| Arranger | Jun Satō |
- About the creators
Hal DavidLyricist
Hal David was a legendary American lyricist active since 1940s to 2012.
He wrote a lot of super hit songs, and contributed to the popular music scene enormously.
A great lyricist
He started his professional career around the '40s by offering lyrics to the bands like Guy Lombardo's or Sammy Kaye's.
In New York in 1957, he first met with "Burt Bacharach" who later become a great composer.
Then they teamed up, and started working together. And later on, the team created many monumental popular songs, particularly from the '60s to the '70s, by collaborating with the artists like Dionne Warwick, The Carpenters, Dusty Springfield, B. J. Thomas and others.
The team supported screen music as well. "What's New Pussycat?", sung by Tom Jones, was a theme music for a well known film of the same title.
And "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", sung by B. J. Thomas, is not just a beautiful theme music for the 1969 film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" starred by "Paul Newman and "Robert Redford, but a world-popular, great song too.
Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head (1969)
B. J. Thomas
Anyway, his history is too interesting to digest. So, please check with the related articles for further reading.
(Ref: performingsongwriter.com, Hal David,May 25, 2013)
Video clip
Finally, here is an interview clip for "Hal David" in 2012 by "Music Express Magazine".
* Hal David Interview
Burt BacharachComposer
Burt Bacharach is an American composer, songwriter, record producer, pianist, and singer active since the late '50s.
He has won the Grammy Award for 6 times, the Academy Award 3 times and many others to date. Certainly, he is one of the most successful composer in the popular music history.
Emerging
He started his professional career as a pianist and conductor for popular singer Vic Damonea in the early '50s.
In 1956, he became a pianist, arranger and conductor of the backing band to a great actress and singer "Marlene Dietrich".
The best team
In 1957, Bacharach met with the lyricist "Hal David" and started a partnership.
As mentioned in earlier section, the pair released a number of super hit songs from '60s to the mid '70s. The songs like "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" by Dionne Warwick, or "The Look of Love" by Dusty Springfield.
Besides the work with Hal David, Bacharach also wrote a famous hit song Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" which was sung by Christopher Cross in 1981 with an American lyricist "Carole Bayer Sager".
Arthur's Theme (1981)
Christopher Cross
As same as Hal David, Bacharach's history has a lot of drama. So, please check with the related articles for further details.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Burt Bacharach)
(Ref: telegraph.co.uk, Burt Bacharach interview, 12 Jul 2015)
(Ref: popentertainment.com, Burt Bacharach)
Video clip
Finally, here is a music clip of "Toledo" by "Elvis Costello(Vo) with Burt Bacharach(P)".
* "Toledo" (1999)
Jun SatōArranger
Jun Satō is a keyboardist, arranger, composer and a music producer active since 1973.
Smoky medicine
He started his professinal career as a keyboardist of a legendary band named "Smoky medicine" which "Mari Kaneko", "Yoshihiro Naruse", "Char" and "Shōji Fujii", all super musicians, used to belonged to.
But the band broke up in 1974. Then after a while, he participated with several band as a keyboardist until he started taking an arranger's job in around 1976.
A busy arranger
Since then, he has participated in a lot of songs for various musicians as an arranger.
More than 60 singers and groups are listed on Wiki, but perhaps more.
The names listed are all well known musicians, for example,
- Hikaru Genji
- Tatsuhiko Yamamoto
- Onyanko Club
- Kiyotaka Sugiyama
- Keiko Mizukoshi
- etc.
Now, his time in music exceeded 40 years, but he is still actively working as an arranger and producer.
Video clip
Finally, here is a music clip of "Jun Satō" at the "The 25th aniv. concert of Masaki Matsubara", at STB139 in 2002.
The keyboardist on the right hand side wearing black shirt is "Jun Satō". (Left side is "Masae Nagumo".)
Other musicians are,
- Guitar, Blue telecaster
- Masaki Matsubara
- Guitar, Green telecaster
- Tsuyoshi Konn
- Bass
- Kenji Takamizu
- Drums
- Hideo Yamaki
- Peercussion, Conga
- Matarō Misawa
- Percussion, Tamb.
- Nobu Saitō
All of them are Japan's top musicians.
* "The 25th aniv. live" (2002)
Cover art today
- Sound impressions
Natural & relaxing
This song is a cover of an orthodox and classic popular song "(They long to be) Close to you" sung by The Carpenters in 1970.
In Japan, the Carpenters version has been hugely popular, then the most of the cover version are based on theirs.
Different from original, the vocal starts without an introduction by the piano and vibraphone.
Otherwise, this is a quite faithful tribute to the original, from the line-up of instruments to the chorus arrangement.
Healing voice
However, the impression of the song is very different.
This "Miki Imai" version, we feel it is natural and relaxing, whereas the Carpenters version is more pop and dynamic. (It is just a matter of how you listen though.)
Perhaps it is because of the healing nature of "Miki Imai"'s voice, we suppose.
Here is the Carpenters (1970) version for your information.
(They long to be) Close to you (1970)
The Carpenters
- Reference
- About the artist
Miki ImaiPeachy sweet voice
"Miki Imai" is a singer and female actor active since 1983.
As a singer, she debuted in 1986 with single "Tasogare no monologue"(A monologue in the twilight). Since then, 30 singles, and 23 original, 8 live, and 7 best albums have been released until now.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Miki Imai)
Debut
"Miki Imai" started her career from becoming a model for a popular fashion magazine "mc sister" in 1983.
In 1984, she participated in a TV series for the first time in life. And in 1986, she acted in a drama film portraying a postwar mess.
And these experiences ignited her to start acting.
And, in the same year, she also started her career as a singer, by releasing the first single "Tasogare no monologue" (A monologue in the twilight).
Big hits
She is competent in her fields, but her talent and passion for music seems to be a little special.
In 1988, she released the 3rd album titled "Bewith". This new CD was actually well made, and appealing her charm more to the listeners.
Naturally, it sold well and finally hit the top of the charts.
So, perhaps this album became an important milestone for her as a singer.
In 1990, she sung a theme music for TV series. The song titled "Piece of my wish" became popular and sold a million disks for the first time in life.
And in 1996, her 12th single "Pride", which is a beautiful and encouraging ballad, turned into a super hit, and being the most well known song of her.
"Pride" (1996)
Miki Imai
Since then, she has been having hectic days as a popular singer and actor.
And quite recently, her 20th original album "Sky" went on sale in June 2018.
This album is somewhat different from her past albums. It sounds to us that she is more relaxed. If you like, please listen.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Miki Imai)
(Ref: highflyers.nu, Miki Imai Interview,
#29 Vol.1 May 10, 2018) 🇯🇵
(Ref: style.nikkei.com, Music review, Miki Imai,
07.Nov.2015) 🇯🇵
Video clip
Finally, here is a music clip of "Miki Imai".
"Hito-hira" (* A piece of...) from her 2009 album "corridor".
* "Hito-hira" (2006)
* "Hito-hira" only means "one piece of thin, light and small something". So. it could be a flower petal, snowflake, small cloud, butterfly, and so on.
What it suggests is still unclear even read the lyrics. Then, it may be a good idea to let it remain obscure.
- Samples from online music stores
About the samples
Please go to the page below, and just play or click track No.2.
Trial button is on the left side of the song title.
AD : Free listening samples
Amazon JP(en)
recochoku.jp
8. Japanese Letters
| Song Title | (They long to be) Close to you |
|---|---|
| Artist | 今井美樹 (Miki Imai) |
| Album Title | fiesta |
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