Jun Mayuzumi - Tenshi no Yuuwaku (1968)

Artist: Jun Mayuzumi / 黛ジュン
Title: Tenshi no Yuuwaku / 天使の誘惑
Released: May 1, 1968
Oricon Peak Rank: 3
B-Side: ブラック・ルーム

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Near the latter end of the 1960s, Japanese popular music has started absorbing much of the styles and affectations that were in use in Western popular music during the decade prior, formally breaking away from the heavy influence of high jazz in favor of a fresh approach. Songwriters have now begun to be more creative with the new tools at their disposal and some of the earliest hit songs to define themselves as definitive pop has come out. "Tenshi no Yuuwaku" (Temptation Angel) is one of the more stellar examples. A very sunny and tropical-sounding piece, wonderfully invoked by the music and arrangement of Kunihiko Suzuki and the writing of Rei Nakanishi.

Here we hear a lamentation of a woman who thinks fondly of the brief encounter she had with someone, hoping someday he will return to her. One would think someone may take such a subject and inject a melancholy to it, as an opportunity lost, but here the approach is taken to a more optimistic track, the driving but rhythmic drums, the dreamscape strings, and gliding guitar effects, painting the orange-glow tropical paradise the song resides in. One can imagine this is a nostalgic recollection told to us with a smile. Surely it had charmed the public and critics alike, having sold more than 460,000 copies and garnering the top prize in the 10th Annual Japan Record Awards.

天使の誘惑
(Tenshi no Yuuwaku)

Music: Kunihiko Suzuki / 鈴木邦彦
Lyrics: Rei Nakanishi / なかにし礼

好きなのにあの人はいない
話し相手は涙だけなの
幸せはオレンジ色の
雲の流れに流れて消えた

私の唇に人さし指で
くちづけしてあきらめた人
ごめんなさいねあの日のことは
恋の意味さえ知らずにいたの

砂浜で泣きまねをすると
やさしい声が流れてくるの
思い出はオレンジ色の
雲のかなたに浮かんでいるの

私の唇に人さし指で
くちづけしてあきらめた人
今ここにあの人がいたら
陽にやけた胸に飛び込むでしょう
飛び込むでしょう
飛び込むでしょう
飛び込むでしょう . . .