Music Moves Me: The Light of Youth with This Memory

💕 Happy Monday! 💕

Today was my first day with my new preschool class. I knew the kids in this year’s class as the preschool I work at is small and I knew them from last year. So there was no crying. Relief! I also have a better schedule this year, and Monday is not so busy. I get to come home and take a nap (or just close my eyes for about twenty minutes) before Tae Kwon Do!

Today’s 4M is a freebie! Check out what I choose below the cut!

Morning Daughters?!

I have recently been watching a lot of episodes of a late 90s Japanese show called ASAYAN. This show would be like TRL mixed with Big Brother and American Idol. There would be countless auditions, behind the scenes of singers during various tasks like recording or making a music video, and there would be a live performance with small talk beforehand.

Morning Musume., which is translated as Morning Daughters, came from an audition held by a Japanese rock band called SharamQ that was televised wholly on ASAYAN in 1997. The five runner-ups, or losers, would come together and form Morning Musume. One of the ideas of the groups is to have a revolving door of members. Every year or so, members will leave the group or “graduate” and new ones would be added.

The group is still going strong after 22 years since their formation. However, the members are much younger, some were born AFTER the group formed. By the way, the original five have become moms and have gone on to have solo careers or become a mom.

(BTW, Morning Musume. is still one of the top selling girl groups in Japan.)

Memory: The Light of Youth

“Memory Seishun no Hikari” was released twenty years ago. It was the group’s fourth single and the last one to feature first generation member Asuka Fukuda (who said she was graduating to focus on studies, but then she quit school afterward and just hang around Tokyo. This is a story for another day). The song is an R&B tune that was inspired by the popularity of R&B tunes released by Hikaru Utada. When Utada’s “Automatic” rocked the music world in 1998, Tsunku, Morning Musume’s main producer at the time, decided to try his luck at making an R&B hit. Well, it didn’t go so well. It only sold over 400,000 copies, compared to the million copies that “Automatic/time will tell” sold.

However, Tsunku does mention in the linear notes on his official website that he was trying to make a song with a worldwide beat and features session musicians. The group actually recorded the song in New York with legendary musicians Will Lee, Chris Parker, and Hiram Bullock. The CD jacket was shot in Shanghai.

Kaori Iida once explained about the meaning of lyrics on the music TV show CDTV. The song is about a girl who is reminiscing past memories (with an ex-lover), and she is continuing those memories in a letter. The song is pretty sad as the girl is painfully recollecting those memories. The guy in the relationship moved on, but it is taking the girl a bit longer as she is still haunted about being in love with the guy.

This kind of painful, sad memories of after a breakup is what a lot of girls and women have experienced in their lifetime. I have experienced it. It took me a long time to get over it, but I finally did.

How about you? Do you have similar experiences with painful breakup memories?

One more thing to add, I didn’t pick this song because of the sad lyrics. I chose it because I love the harmonies in the song. Japan, especially with late 90s Morning Musume, was all about the harmonies. When I was in an online cover group for Morning Musume. songs back in high school, I would try to memorize the harmonies so I could sing them. I am trying to practice the harmonies for “Memory Seishun no Hikari” so I can drag a friend to the karaoke booth and let me sing harmonies.

The harmonies are pretty, right?

Here are the lyrics translated:

The memo’s a bit long
But please read it all the way to the end
I didn’t realize how lonesome
It is to be alone

That night when everything broke apart
I cried with all my heart… Good bye
Exhausted by love,
I’ll lock up this room and return the key to you

Goodbye (Just breaking my heart)
I don’t want to see that face ever again
Goodbye (Just breaking my heart)
The one I loved

You can crumple the memo and throw it away
But please read it all the way to the end
I’ve never been held
that affectionately before

I’m leaving my memories behind, but
Don’t love your new girlfriend
In the same way you loved me
Goodbye… goodbye… goodbye…

With a little bit of chance
We really did last a long time, didn’t we?
Just in the time we spent fooling around
I found myself falling in love with you

Goodbye (Just breaking my heart)
We won’t meet ever again
Goodbye (Just breaking my heart)
To our room

The memo’s a bit long
But please read all the way to the end
I didn’t realize how lonesome
It is to be alone

Memories, my memories
It’s hard to part with them
I learned that from loving you
Goodbye… goodbye… goodbye…

You can crumple the memo and throw it away
But please read it all the way to the end
I’ve never been held
that affectionately before

I’m leaving my memories behind, but
Don’t love your new girlfriend
In the same way you loved me
Goodbye… goodbye… goodbye…

Goodbye… goodbye…
Goodbye… goodbye…

Credit: https://projecthello.com/momusu/memory.html

Here is a bonus of Maki Goto, who was in Morning Musume from 1999-2002, and Aya Matsuura, who was a soloist alongside Morning Musume, singing the song. I am a big fan of Maki Goto, so I always enjoy watching her sing:

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