Song blog: Loving on the Yamanote Line

This was the first funny song I ever wrote! I spent two years taking the Yamanote Line in Tokyo from Shinjuku to Tabata to the schools where I worked as an Assistant Language Teacher. It was a job with a lot of 'desk-warming' in the afternoons - where you're sitting around with not much to do. I think it was a warm summer's day when I idly jotted down the lyrics on the back of a worksheet, but it took a few months for me to generate enough of a spine to perform it to a crowd of people.

One of my friends (I won't mention her name but she knows who she is) inspired it more than anyone else with her delightfully disgraceful lechery. Her response to any accusation of the sort was always, "Well, I can't stop men staring at me, so I'm sure it's fine if I stare right back", and I've always loved her for it. I even showed her the song and she contributed a couple of lyrics: the infamous "stabbed her in the eyes" line.

Nobody has ever asked me why I chose Takadanobaba station. Nobody feels the need. It's easily the funniest name. When I originally debuted the song, I had the idea of switching out the stations every time - one performance, it would be Harajuku, the next it would be Shin-Okubo, and so on. But Takadanobaba got such a huge laugh at the first performance, so it just sort of stuck!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlxOynWWsII