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.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Chisato Moritaka -- Nozokanaide (のぞかないで)




Recently, I’ve been listening to some odd songs released by Chisato Moritaka (森高千里). I’m talking mainly of coupling songs that were released on singles, but rarely saw the light of the day on albums. One of the most interesting ones is “Nozokanaide”, which was “Kusaimono ni wa Futa wo Shiro!!’s” (臭いものにはフタをしろ!!) coupling song, from May 1990.

As “Kusaimono...” was a more rock-oriented song, and – at the time – Chisato only released her more hyper Techno songs or midtempo ballads as main songs, I really think this single served as a major change in her marketing strategy. Probably aware of this, and trying not to alienate her dance music fans, she (or whoever took the decisions) decided to include the edgy “Nozokanaide” as “Kusaimono...’s” coupling song.

In fact, I think “Nozokanaide” was recorded way before “Kusaimono...” – maybe still in 1989 –, as the song opened the “Moritaka Land Tour” concerts from January to March 1990. I can’t say if the song was, at first, created to be a single on its own, but what I know is that it ended relegated as a coupling song later.

One of “Nozokanaide’s” interesting features is, of course, the hyper active dance arrangement, which, as my dad argued one day, is similar to some Sonic The Hedgehog themes from the same time. He’s probably right, but that’s not exclusive to “Nozokanaide”, since a good portion of the electronic music produced at the time could sound a little bit like video game.

Other than that, as I never quite understood why Chisato dressed like a bug (cockroach?) during “Nozokanaide’s” performances (she also did it in the “Moritaka Land Tour” concerts), I decided to take a look at the lyrics.

The lyrics are very strong... probably the strongest I’ve seen from Moritaka so far. As I could understand, she talks about a pervert guy, maybe a boyfriend, who wants to do things that are not appropriate with her. She, then, compares him to a molester during the chorus, aiming for some kind of punishment for this guy. However, it has nothing to do with the costume. Maybe dressing like a disgusting cockroach, she’s addressing how the attitude of this guy is disgusting. I’m just guessing, though.

To finish, here’s Moritaka singing a new version of “Nozokanaide” in one of her recent concerts.


The “Kusaimono ni wa Futa wo Shiro!!” single reached #4 on the Oricon chart, selling 117,000 copies. As for “Nozokanaide”, it was remixed and included in the remix album “The Moritaka” (ザ・森高), from 1991. Years later, in 1999, the original version was included in a compilation called “harvest time”. The song was written by Moritaka herself, while music and arrangement were done by Hideo Saito (斉藤英夫).

Source: generasia.com

3 comments:

  1. Hello again.

    I read the J-Wiki article on "Nozokanaide" and apparently Moritaka had written the lyrics to express her anger at some of the peeping incidents that she herself had experienced as a target. I'm fairly sure that aidoru of any stripe have gone through the same before and after.

    As for the song, it kinda reminds me of some of the Rick James funk from the early 1980s. In fact, I think it approaches a bit more to some of the Wink material than her usual stuff at the time.

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    Replies
    1. Hi, J-Canuck.

      Very interesting stuff about "Nozokanaide's" origins. Moritaka, and, like you said, many other aidoru must have experienced this type of treatment from creep guys. What's most surprising is that she decided to address the problem in a song. That's probably one of the good points of writing your own songs, and Moritaka has always been an exception in the aidoru world thanks to this ability.

      Since I can now translate some lyrics (I don't have lots of patience and determination, though), even if not 100% accurately, I've been wanting to dive into Moritaka's lyrics to see what kind of things she liked to talk about in the late 80s/early 90s. "Nozokanaide", for example, was a pleasant and interesting surprise.

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    2. Hi Marcos.

      I'm not sure but I have a feeling that Chisato may have come across some resistance from the recording company or her superiors about supposedly "biting the hand that feeds her". However, good on her for standing up to the perverts with her special abilities.

      Looking forward to your growing analysis since you can now tackle at least some of the lyrics.

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