Dirty Old Man ~Saraba Natsu Yo~

Artist: Southern All Stars Product Code: RZCD-45435 Release Date: 2006.08.09 Debut Ranking: #1 First Press: Stickers Label: Victor Entertainment

Southern All Stars’ 52^nd single, “Dirty Old Man ~Saraba Natsu Yo~” is the groups first release since their album “Killer Street” in October of last year. Known for their fun comic-styled songs, “Dirty Old Man” is the 8^th consecutive upbeat single released since 2000’s “HOTEL PACIFIC”.

The cover of the single features a naked man with a watermelon as a head and a hat covering his “privates”. The single, as suggested in the title, is the groups’ farewell to summer. Each song’s tempo becomes much slower than the one before it. The fun and party style “Dirty Old Man” drifts into the easy going “BREEZE”, while “Taiyou ni Hoe Ru!!” has Kuwata, the lead singer, begging for summer to come back.

Dirty Old Man ~Saraba Natsu Yo~
The name of this song has to be the weirdest one ever! But then again, most of the members in the group are in their 40’s and 50’s, so I guess it applies to them. This song starts surprisingly mellow for one about “dirty old men”, but that quickly changes. The drums kick in, and it feels Hawaiian like, with the tambourine and the soaring melody. You can’t help but move to this song. The difference between this song and any other upbeat summer song is that this one always makes sure that the vocals are the centerpiece, and the instruments are just accompanying it. Kuwata’s vocals are what make this song like it’s coming from the perspective of a dirty old man.

For promotion of this song, 10 men dressed in flesh coloured suits with a watermelon as a head and a hat covering their “area” walked around Tokyo. Sadly, they were not featured in the promotional video. The “~Saraba Natsu Yo~” (good-bye summer) part of the title is explained in the video. The dirty old men are saying goodbye to seeing women in their bikinis. Although the video starts out quite boring and the premise is not very unique (a beach party), the fun is seeing the band members doing the “Dirty Old Man dance”.

A minute long video teaching the “Dirty Old Man Dance” was released in conjunction with the PV. This hilarious short film seems to parody many different dance styles.

Rating:

BREEZE
As suggested by the name, this song is much slower than the one preceding it. Starting with only an acoustic guitar and drums, the song changes into an easy-going end-of-summer tune. It is also a nice relief from the hyperactive song before. This song just seems like something you can really relax to. Because of the simplicity of this song (very little instruments), “BREEZE” is very reminisce of a campfire song.

Rating:

Taiyou ni Hoe ru!!
If “Dirty Old Man” was the this summer’s ultimate upbeat song, “Taiyou ni Hoe ru!!” is the complete opposite. In this ballad, Kuwata screams at the sun telling it to come back, and hoping summer never goes away. After hearing it, it made me so depressed because it reminded me that summer is ending, and school is starting! The only bad part of this song is when Kuwata screams “Oh baby, oh baby, please don’t go…” in a digitally altered voice, which sounds really bad and screechy.

Rating:

Conclusion: This is a great single from Southern All Stars that really signals the end of the summer. It contains everything: an upbeat summer song, a relaxing song, and a depressing ballad. The only abysmal part is the cover – no one wants to look a nude man on a beach with a watermelon head; it’s just plain weird and unpleasant!

Overall Rating:

1. Dirty Old Man ~Saraba Natsu Yo~
2. BREEZE
3. Taiyou ni Hoe ru!!