Jun Togawa – Page 6 – BOSHI / JUSEI

YAPOOS – MEN’S SUFFERING [MEN’S JUNAN] (1991)

lyrics by JUN TOGAWA | music by NOBUO NAKAHARA

One of the few singles released by Yapoos during their time together, this song has Jun Togawa playing the role of a stalker, following her lover around everywhere. Togawa’s lyrics are generally straightforward here compared to some other songs, but she really can’t seem to get through a single song without using some sort of classical Japanese, which is a bit of a pain.

Translation and notes are under the cut:

JUN TOGAWA AND YAPOOS – AN ARMY OF BUGS [KONCHUGUN] (1984)

lyrics by KENZO SAEKI | music by KOJI UENO

Originally taken from Halmens’ self-titled, Togawa and co., not yet Yapoos as a cohesive unit, covered this song live during the early 80s. It’s not quite as good as the original, but Togawa’s screeching, squealing vocals do the song a real justice, I think. Also it’s right up her alley what with the bug metaphors.

Worth noting she can’t hit the notes the lead singer does on the Halmens version, though.

Translation and notes are under the cut:

YAPOOS – SHEER LOVERS (2003)

lyrics by JUN TOGAWA | music by TODA SEIJI

The first track of Yapoos’ final (to this point) release, CD-Y is a relatively marked departure from Yapoos’ previous work. It coincides with a darker period in Togawa’s own life, marked by another suicide attempt. It’s a good song both in and out of its context, however, and it features classic Togawa metaphors about color. In fact, you could say that’s pretty much all it is.

Translation and notes under the cut:

GUERNICA – CAFE DE PSYCHO (1982)

lyrics by FOX | music by KOJI UENO

Before Guernica got all orchestra-y, their first album provided a nice balance between synth and 30s-style orchestral music. This song is one of the more markedly synthetic ones in the entire Guernica catalog, and one of the standouts from the album.

I’m not quite sure who FOX is. I ran some google searches and apparently he’s got writing credits on a few Togawa tracks and has a tenuous connection to HALMENS, a band in which Togawa was a member, but there’s no Wikipedia page for him or anything. Suppose it’s just a mystery lost to time at this point.

Worth noting that the title of the song is written with the now (and then) outdated katakana ヰ instead of イ, rendering it Cafe de Sawiko in purest Romanization.

Translation and notes are under the cut:

YAPOOS – BARBARA SEXEROID (1987)

lyrics by JUN TOGAWA | music by YOICHIRO YOSHIKAWA

The debut single of Yapoos and a pulpy mixture of secret agent drama, exploitation film, and mid-century SF that doesn’t sound much like the other music Yapoos would go on to make.

Translation under the cut: