Seiko Matsuda -- Sweet Memories

One of the Seiko classics. Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆） and composed by Masaaki Ohmura（大村雅朗） who had arranged several of her previous hits, "Sweet Memories" is one of the great kayo kyoku with that hint of 50s-era balladry and an English-language interlude to boot. And yet, it was initially the B-side of Seiko Matsuda's （松田聖子）14th single, "Glass no Ringo"(ガラスの林檎....Glass Apple), released in August 1983. It quickly hit No. 1 on the Oricon weeklies, thereby becoming the 12th straight Seiko single to do so since her 1980 single "Kaze wa Aki Iro"(風は秋色....The Wind is Autumn-Coloured), but it quickly fell out of the Top 10 after 6 weeks (not too bad for any other singer, but this is Seiko we are talking about here).

But then, a bunch of cute penguins gave it new life....

"Sweet Memories" was given a jazz torch song re-arrangement and attached to an unusual Suntory Beer commercial in the same year. It featured some anime penguins as customers in a piano bar, with Seiko-chan as a female penguin giving her heartfelt rendition. The ad became a huge hit, and revitalized the single so that a few months later at the end of October, it hit No. 1 again. The studio then re-released the single with both "Glass no Ringo" and "Sweet Memories" as twin A-sides. The single ended up ranking No. 7 for 1983, and even won Japan Record Awards: the Gold Award for "Glass no Ringo" and the Arrangement Award for "Sweet Memories".  However, the commercial-song tie-up didn't go just one way. The little birds also got their time in the sun thanks to the Suntory ad by getting their own movie in 1985, titled "Penguins Memory".

This is the wholly English version of the song done by Seiko as a B-side to her 1993 single, "A Touch of Destiny". The original version, by the way, was first included in her 4th Best album, "Seiko Plaza", released in November 1983.

Whichever version you prefer, have a Suntory on me!