Who could forget "歌舞伎町の女王"?
The controversial seedy classic, in which Ringo takes on the character of a young prostitute in the Kabuki-Cho area of Shinjuku. Quite frankly, it's a testement to her brilliant mind that she comes from quiet Fukuoka in the south, up to busy Tokyo, and manages to completely deconstruct the underbelly of Shinjuku and then reconstruct it as a slice of, as the great Paul Morley would say, Pop Perfection. As if she had always lived there. Outstanding.
The song sounds folkish in nature, resembling the outsider folk 60's anthems as performed by "三上寛". Or a more modern example would be the recent output by elderly punk legend "遠藤 ミチロウ".
The particular line I wish to speak about is as follows.
"kono machi de musume no atashi ga joou"
Or
Or
"From tonight onward in this town, I, once the queen’s daughter, am now queen."
For the stupid.
For the stupid.
First you must understand what happens musically during this particular recital. The tempo drops, the guitar begins to stir, the line is delivered with a restrained exuberance, our jaws drop to the floor.
When I first heard this, a time when I was rather unfamiliar with Ringo, I sat silently in amazement. "Who is this girl? I need her!"
Spectacular. It's almost as if the whole song builds up to this one line, in which she rather proudly announces she has taken her mother's title of best prostitute in Kabuki-Cho, she has become...
When I first heard this, a time when I was rather unfamiliar with Ringo, I sat silently in amazement. "Who is this girl? I need her!"
Spectacular. It's almost as if the whole song builds up to this one line, in which she rather proudly announces she has taken her mother's title of best prostitute in Kabuki-Cho, she has become...
"The Queen Of Kabuki-Cho".
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