is Pink Lady's third single release in Japan. Inspired by the novella ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'', the song was written by

Yū Aku (occasionally credited as You Aku) (February 7, 1937 – August 1, 2007), was a Japanese lyricist, poet, and novelist. Early life Yū Aku was born as Hiroyuki Fukada (深田公之, Fukada Hiroyuki) in Awaji Island, Hyogo, Japan. His parents ...

and

Shunichi Tokura , is a Japanese composer and was the chair of the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) from 12 August 2010 to 31 March 2016. Early life Tokura began playing the violin at age 4. He spent his elementary and hi ...

, and was released on March 10, 1977. The single sold in excess of 1,100,000 copies, and reached the number-one position on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

charts in April 1977, and maintained its place at number one for five weeks. It also reached the number-one position on the Japanese Music Labo charts. The song's dance choreography incorporates elements of

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

and European

marionette A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or reveale ...

theatre. Traditionally, Mie and

Kei Kei may refer to: People * Kei (given name) * Kei, Cantonese for Ji (surname), Ji(姫) * Kei, Cantonese for Qi (surname), Qi(奇, 祁, 亓) * Shō Kei (1700–1752), king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom * Kei (singer) (born 1995), stage name of South Kor ...

wore white dresses decorated with roses while performing this song. According to Oricon it was the seventh best selling single from 1977. A re-recorded version of the song was included on the two-disc greatest hits release, ''

Innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity ...

'', released in December 2010.

Track listing (7" vinyl)

All lyrics are written by

; all music is composed and arranged by

Chart positions

Covers

Speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quanti ...

covered the song for the 1997 Yū Aku tribute album ''VELFARRE J-POP NIGHT presents DANCE with YOU. * Trasparenza covered the song in their 2002 album ''Pink Lady Euro Tracks''. * Korean duo Red Pepper Girls covered the song in 2008. * Ruriko Kubō and Kyōko (formerly of the

Barbee Boys Barbee Boys are a successful 1980s Japanese rock band. The band debuted in 1984 and was popular through the 1980s, becoming the first Japanese rock band to perform at the Nippon Budokan, until disbanding in 1992. The five members were: Konta (real ...

) recorded a cover version for the 2009 Pink Lady/Yū Aku tribute album ''

Bad Friends is a 2009 tribute album, is kade from , which translates to "Bad friend" and is the origin of Yū Aku's name. The final track, "Kawahara no Ishikawa Goemon" was originally recorded by Eiichi Ohtaki (under the pseudonym "Niagara Fallin' Stars") o ...

''. * In 2019,

Momoiro Clover Z is a Japanese idol girl group, commonly abbreviated as MCZ or . The four members of MCZ are known for energetic performances, incorporating elements of ballet, gymnastics, and action movies. MCZ is notable for being the first female group to ho ...

recorded their version of the song titled to promote Radisma Hybrid Radio, an Internet-based FM radio service.

References

External links

* * {{authority control 1977 singles 1977 songs Pink Lady (band) songs Japanese-language songs Disco songs Oricon Weekly number-one singles Songs with lyrics by Yū Aku Songs with music by Shunichi Tokura Victor Entertainment singles