This song was first released in April 1975 by Sugar Babe with Tatsuro Yamashita. So the setting that became the image of the song when it was written was not Shinjuku in the 80s. It was probably about 5 years earlier than that. Listening to it now, it sounds like a night in Shibuya today, which is full of foreign tourists. I wonder if Tatsuro Yamashita and Ginji Ito could already see what Shibuya looks like today on a Saturday night 50 years after.
@@naturally807 The original of this song was created in 1975 In 1975, the cutting-edge town for young people was Shinjuku, Harajuku or Omotesando There were many live music clubs such as Shinjuku Pit Inn and YANEURA, jazz cafes and classic music cafes that were hideouts for young people in Shinjuku rather than Shibuya. Tatsuro and his friends were also regulars at Shinjuku live music clubs. Therefore, it is highly probable that the image of the city that was used as the model for this Downtown song was the scenery of Shinjuku on a Saturday night around 1975. Shinjuku in the 70's and mid-80's was the most redeveloped city in Tokyo with a futuristic feel, the most advanced in Japan at that time, and was filled with students and young people on weekends, especially around the skyscraper district in the subcenter of Shinjuku West Exit and the fountain park in front of Shinjuku Koma Theater in Kabuki-cho. Kabukicho at that time had many large, cutting-edge discotheques such as Asibe Park, which was filled with students on weekends. If you went one street back, you could find yakuza, but until the mid-1980s on the main street, it was also a cutting-edge hangout for young people with long hair. Unlike today, most of the residents were Japanese and there were very few foreigners, and if you did not go to the back of the street, you would never see a yakuza out in the open. There was less trash on the streets than now, and it was more polite than a lawless area, and it was a surprisingly decent downtown.
Eu imagino aquela época dos anos 80, Japão em pleno apogeu econômico, imagino um executivo de uma grande empresa ouvindo isso durante o banho que ele ta tomando com uma secretária depois do expediente, a musica tocando bem baixinho e aquele clima noturno, ninguém na empresa pode saber do affair dos dois.
"DOWN TOWN" (Lyrics: Ginji Ito, Music Composed and Arranged by Tatsuro Yamashita.) The original song from Sugar Babe's first album "SONGS" Released on April 25, 1975 (Rough English translation of Japanese lyrics) The sun was setting, and the sky was twilight that changed to seven colors. The wind feels somehow to begin cooler Saturday night city is bustling The streets on Saturday nights are always full of people. Still, this cheerful city is alive and well It looks like always to be fun Even my gloomy feeling When I look at the city, I feel completely better Just as excited as everyone else. ※ Down town he Kuri Daso! Let's go to Down town Let's go to Down town Let's go to Down town It will disappear somewhere like a soap bubble before you know it. I think tonight's one-off love is also fun. Cause the night has just begun. Even my gloomy feeling When I look at the city,I feel completely better. Just as excited as everyone else. ※ Down town he Kuri Daso! Let's go to Down town Let's go to Down town Let's go to Down town