木綿のハンカチーフ (Momen no Hankachiifu) (Cotton Handkerchief) was the fourth single of 太田裕美 [Hiromi Ohta], released in late 1975. To date it is still her trademark song, as well as a huge hit that changed pop culture in Japan. It was originally from her 3rd studio album, 心が風邪をひいた日, released 2 weeks earlier. However, unlike most singles released from album material in Japan, this single was re-recorded before its release, changing the arrangement and making a small change to the lyrics.
The song was lyricized by 松本隆 [Takashi Matsumoto], a former drummer in Japanese rock band Happy End. He is mostly recognized for his work in lyricism rather than drumming, and this song was one of his biggest achievements in his career as a lyricist. The lyrics tell the story of 2 lovers: a man traveling east to the city (presumably for something employment-related) and a girl (presumably living in the country) waiting for him to return. They send messages back and forth, each of the man's messages explaining the situation there and trying to comfort the girl, and each of the girl's messages explaining how much she would rather have him back than trying to be comforted with pictures or gifts. The long-distance relationship is hard to maintain as the man gradually changes and adapts to the city life, ultimately to the point where he says he is unable to return. After hearing this the girl says "あなた 最後のわがまま" (let me be selfish one last time), asking for one last gift, a cotton handkerchief to wipe her tears.
The lyrics are quite different from anything coming out at the time of release. First of all, the lyrics unravel an entire story under 4 minutes that actually progresses gradually at a perfect pace. The producer/director at the time for CBS/Sony records actually said the lyrics were too long, and even tried to get Matsumoto to revise them. However, Matsumoto refused and kept the original lyrics. It takes some understanding of the Japanese language to fully appreciate the absolute beauty and brevity of the poetic lyrics that contain well-worded metaphors and similes. Each verse represents the boy's message to the girl, while the chorus - which, unlike most choruses, has different lyrics each time - represents the girl's message to the boy. This was a method of story-telling that was new at the time, and hard to interpret with only one singer. To remedy this, certain techniques in arranging were used to distinguish between the 2 characters (the boy and the girl).
That brings me to the genius arrangement, which was done alone by 萩田光雄 [Mitsuo Hagita] for the album version, but later revised and re-arranged by one of the most successful songwriter+arrangers 筒美京平 [Kyohei Tsutsumi], who was also the composer of this song, for the single version . It starts off with some orchestral strings like many Japanese pop songs, which later disappear, leaving only the guitars playing their soft and peaceful major sevenths along with a base outlining the asymmetric additive rhythm of 2 dotted quarters + quarter (3+3+2), along with some soft, barely noticeable percussion. There is a constant call & response technique used with each of the phrases in the verses, the response in the first section being the electric, almost twangy guitar (which, for stereo listeners, is only in the right ear). The combination of all this instrumentation already paints a picture of the man's traveling away from the country-side.
After this, the chorus starts, which has a huge change in both instrumentation and rhythm. It's much more upbeat, with much more noticeable percussion, and features a strong symmetrical rhythm that is almost ideal for foot-tapping. This does a good job at painting a completely different picture from the man's situation; the girl in the country-side waiting for his man to return. In addition, there is a very light echo on Ōta's voice during the choruses, giving the slight impression of distance. There's also the addition of the background singers in the the call & response form, along with the same responsorial guitar from the first verse. However, when it goes back to the second verse, the guitar is removed and replaced with responsorial flute motifs. This is used to represent the half-year that has passed since the man leaving. However, none of the background singers, flute, or guitar are used in the second chorus. This is used to represent the girl's solemnity as she is yearning even more for the boy now, and to emphasize that gift that he sends her (a diamond ring) does not sparkle as much as his kisses (as it says in the lyrics).
Hiromi Ōta's personality as an idol is very focused on innocence, which is emphasized not only in her appearance (for album covers , magazines, and live shows) but also her voice. Her voice, whether through training or not, is one of the most soft, comfortable voices of the 1970s idol era. It does a perfect job at painting the picture of the country-side girl in the story, loyally and patiently waiting for her man to return. The heartbreak after the man's last message saying that he will not be able to return is also very punctuated in her voice during the last chorus. This bumped up Ōta's idol by a ton during the 1970s, her followers full of men who really adored/idolized this seemingly very innocent and loyal girl.
Overall, this single is a fantastic and game-changing work of art that could not have become what it was without each individual factor that played into its creation. The artistic abilities of both Mitsuo Hagita and Kyohei Tsutsumi in their arranging, the poetic ingenuity of Takashi Matsumoto in his lyricism and story-telling, and Hiromi Ōta's innocent, prudish voice all combined to make this heart-breaking love story pop song.
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