Winter 2006, Part 3: ‘Honey Pie’ runs amok

本物の
KISSしてよ！ハニーパイ
甘い甘いKISSをして
許すから！ハニーパイ
浮気はもうしないでね　ハニー

 

honmono no
KISS shite yo! [Mi/Fu] HANII PAI
amai amai KISS wo shite
yurusu kara! [As/Ko] HANII PAI
uwaki wa mou shinaide ne HANII

 

Kiss me true! Honey pie
Make it a sweet, sweet kiss
I'll forgive you! Honey pie
Just don't be unfaithful anymore, honey

 

-- From "Unfaithful Honey Pie," Country Musume, translation courtesy Projecthello.com.

 

Who can forget this sensational Country Musume classic, with Asami Konno at her vocally challenged best? It was a big part of Tsunku’s hidden Wonderful Hearts Winter 2006 concert – made bigger by its famous expanded cheerleader segment replete with pom-pons and decidedly US-style eight-count routines.

 

This was big in more ways than one. Not only did some of Morning Musume’s biggest names – Miki Fujimoto, Aichan, Yossie, Risa and the rest – stoop to what would normally appear to be crass Western commercialism with the crazed cheerleader segment, it marked an extraordinary departure for one of Hello! Project’s most amazing singles ever.

 

Would it work? The answer is – yes, it rocked! It takes some getting used to, and you have to make yourself watch this sequence a few times, but it grows on you. No doubt the fans at this concert were taken aback at first, but I must admit I would pay serious money to see the likes of Momoko, Maimi, both Sakis and Miyabi take the cheerleader thing to an unprecedented level, in much the same way that AKB48 has elevated the schoolgirl motif to a high art form.

 

And the Eggs were at their training-level best. In fact, they already had cheerleader outfits on as the concert started and kept up that buoyancy throughout.

 

But because of a variety of factors – perhaps the repeated chants of “H-E-L-L-O” stepped over the line vis-à-vis crowd response – this version of “Honey Pie” on steroids could well have been one major factor why Tsunku restricted marketing of this DVD and, in fact, never released a DVD of the arena version of this show.

 

In other words, the hyperactive version of “Honey Pie” was, perhaps, before its time – before Japanese fans could comprehend either the rationale or common sense of such an unusual number, and unusual use of a classic Hello! Project song.

 

Acrobatics were over the top in this one. Tempering the enthusiasm, though, is the spooky reminder that Megumi of °C-ute and Aibon of “W” were midway into one of their final shows. Aibon would be out the next month, February 2006, and Megumi would still be able to finish strong with the Hello! Project Summer 2006 extravaganza (in possibly one of the very best individual performances of any H!P member in history) and with °C-ute in the 2006 Yomiuri Land East outdoor daylight show before bowing out in the fall.

 

The sheer delight of “Honey Pie” is evident in the early Country Musume renditions, especially in the Hello! Project concerts of 2003 and 2004. It is a super song by a super group, and was given quite a ride in the unforgettable Wonderful Hearts Winter 2006 concert, the one Tsunku and UFA did not want most of the outside world to see.

 

This is Rad signing off – for now.