Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Friday, February 3, 2017

Toshi Ito and Happy & Blue -- Ite-za no Onna (射手座の女)


Another Friday night in the big city and I got to have my annual Winterlicious meal in Toronto. The restaurant du nuit was 5 Doors North, a fairly casual Italian place in midtown. Pretty hearty fare especially with some juicy broiled pork tenderloin; that was just the thing when the wind chill factor was about minus 300 degrees. Well...perhaps I'm exaggerating that temperature a tad but it was indeed quite frosty out there tonight.


Since it was a Friday night there over 12 hours ago, I'm sure folks in Tokyo were out enjoying themselves as well at the karaoke boxes, bars or wherever. Having my usual Showa Kayo on the brain, I often think of ol' Mood Kayo out in the ritzy areas of town, and I managed to find one by Mood Kayo group Toshi Ito and Happy & Blue(敏いとうとハッピー&ブルー).

This one was their 25th release from August 1985, "Ite-za no Onna" (Woman of Sagittarius). It stood out to me since along with the usual tropes of Mood Kayo including the Latin-infused melody and the resonant backup singers, there was some added modern keyboard work back there and even a shotgun blast or two. Written and composed by Masanuki Kato加藤将貫...I hope I got that given name OK), it's all about the romantic and flirtatious give-and-take between a woman born under that titular sign of the zodiac and a head-over-heels guy. I'm assuming the courtship is taking place in either Ginza or Akasaka. Also would like to give my compliments to Kato for the cha-cha-like beat in the intro.


Here are the Happy & Blue with Catherine performing "Ite-za no Onna". As they say in Japanese, "the neon is calling".

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