While we’re on the subject of great 1970’s songs, there’s been this story I’ve been meaning to tell for years now, and finally got around to getting it up!
Back in the 70’s, all our 45’s were scattered around the house like leaves off an autumn tree, and when you wanted to listen to a song, you had to hunt through your room, the cabinets, shelves and boxes til you (hopefully) found it, and even then you had to hope it wasn’t too scratched to play!
My mother made sure that HER music didn’t go through this kind of abuse, and kept all of her 45’s in a shoebox which she would take out when she felt like listening to her music. Among them I remember songs like “Top Of The World” by the Carpenters and “Laughter in the Rain” by Neil Sedaka. There was also this curious single in Japanese that she would play from time to time, and me and my sister just loved it!
The song was called “Goodbye My Love", a catchy, VERY 70’s sounding tune with Japanese lyrics alternating with English words. When we would ask her if it was a record from Japan, my mother would say, “this is a girl from “here”singing this! At the time, I took “here” to mean, from HAWAII, so for YEARS I thought it was a curious Japanese song played only in our state, on OUR Radio stations.
Growing up, from time to time I would remember that song, and when I got in Japanese Music in a BIG WAY in the mid-ninties, I really wanted to get my hands on that single! Unfortunately, I couldn’t recall either the artist OR the name of the song, and even worse, when I asked my mother about it, she didn’t recall ANY of the 45’s she had when we were growing up, not even a Japanese one, which you would have thought would have stood out or something. Shimatta!
In the days before the internet, there wasn't a whole lot of places to get information about anything you were interested in. What To Do! I remember I would try and sing it as best I could remember to Yametekudasai, who listened to Japanese music played on the radio growing up in the 70’s, but did not know this one at all, no matter how much I crooned at him. LOL! “I guess it really was some obscure local girl, then”, I sadly concluded.
Years later I get a call from my friend Golden, who was the J-pop Buyer at Tower Records in town, and he asks me, “Can I ask you something? Have you ever heard of a Japanese singer named Ann Lewis?” I said that the name sounded familiar but I didn’t really know of her music. “Listen to this story,” he began with flourish!
Apparently, some old guy had come into the store and looked at the J-pop section before demanding ‘Where’s the ANN LEWIS?!’ When Golden told him he wasn’t familiar with the artist but would be glad to special order anything he wanted, the customer huffed, “WHAT KIND OF JAPANESE RECORD BUYER ARE YOU IF YOU HAVEN’T EVEN HEARD OF ANN LEWIS?!” before storming out.
I laughed hearing the tale and told him sympathetically, “I’m in the same boat as you, dude, I really don’t know her.” But I SHOULD have known... for of course, Ann Lewis was none other than that elusive artist, the girl who SANG “Goodbye My Love”!
I didn’t make the connection at the time. While I became aware that this “Ann Lewis” that the customer was yelling about was a Japanese entertainer from America in the 70’s, it was only through the magic of Youtube that I FINALLY made the discovery of my J-pop loving life, when scrolling through various 70’s clips I came across a videoclip labelled:
“Ann Lewis: Goodbye My Love”.
GOODBYE MY LOVE? As soon as I read it, something clicked in my head, and I suddenly KNEW it was going to be THAT song even before I clicked on the link and heard the song.
WOW! What memories came up listening to that song again after SO MANY YEARS! I think the last time I heard that song was back in 1977 at our old house, SOOOOO NATSUKASHII!
I remember seeing the image of a picture 45 sleeve, and wouldn’t you know it, that picture sleeve was the very one my mother had! I even remember that it was wrapped in plastic, which made it stand out from the other singles. Man, how did I FORGET all of this?
I excitedly played it for Yametekudasai but he still shrugged and said he never heard of it it. Was this some secret song that only my Mom's friends played?? LOL!
At our next family gathering, I grandly told my Mom, “Hey, remember that Japanese Song I was asking you about? It’s called Goodbye My Love!”, to which she dismissively said, “Oh, the Ann Lewis One?” D’OHHH!
Now that we knew what song I was talking about, I asked her how she came to buy a single from a Japanese artist, apparently she got introduced to the song from one of her friends and not the radio at all! What a long strange trip of discovery for the VERY FIRST J-POP SONG I EVER HEARD!
