Morning Musume - Daite Hold On Me

Ooohhhh~ Hold on Me~

Ah Tsunku and 90's dance grooves. A match made in heaven. I think this song is a bit weird if you never heard music coming out of Japan in the second half of the 90's.  Artists like Namie, Speed, and Hikki were making sounds like this.

Namie

Speed

Hikki

These songs had a lot of influences like eurobeat (which itself is influences by italo disco and regular disco) and American Urban Contemporary.

TLC

Dessex

Yet and still, out of all the songs from this era, Tsunku's songs are my favorite of them all. (As a side bar, I think I remember Tsunku being frustrated that Morning Musume was not as "talented" as Namie or Speed, I think he wanted stronger vocalists / dancers than he had) This was their first AMAZING song in my book. An oldie but goodie. I don't think this song generated too much of a buzz. Tsunku has not subsequently done many songs with this vibe, I'm sure its because he thought it was not profitable. This is from the time where music was still "real." There was no proliferation of Protools, no one using autotune in live performances yet, yea they had overdubs, but this was the last era where what you saw it is what you got.  When they first performed this song live, they were still performing with a band behind them as they sung the song... This is the era this song hails from.


This song was the third single from the group. It appeared on their 2nd album. released on September 9, 1998 as an 8 cm CD. It sold a total of 410,850 copies. It was Morning Musume's first single to reach the #1 position on the Oricon music charts. The song is unique in Hello!Project history as it has a number of "remixes." None are really that different  from the original besides the sexy long version.

The song was written by Tsunku and arranged by Maejima Yasuaki. Maejimi arranged both the original and Sexy long version of this song. (As a side note he arranged my favorites of early Musume and another of my favorite songs, Tsumetai Kaze to Katamoi (Type B)).

As a late comer to Hello!Project (2013) I have been exploring Musume backwards. I got to know Platinum era Musume first, and worked my way back. But Daite hold on me was an instant favorite as soon as I heard it, and I was smitten with Iida Kaori when I first saw her... So sorry I missed her tenure. Her "Moetemo Moetemo"  and "Ne Waratte" lines set me on fire EVERY time! Love her voice, so sultry!

This song was the second single after Tsunku decided that the girl's image should not be cute (kawaii), it should be cool (kakkoii). This feeling lives on in the current musume as Oda Sakura said that being cute is not enough. I have heard commentators refer to the style of Musume dancing as not just cute (implying that some dance moves were weird). So if a Tsunku lead Musume has one legacy, its the fact that they are not your typical idols.

The song is in the lovely key of B minor, and you guys know how I feel about a minor piece with a frustrated woman singing it, lol. The song spends the most time in its chorus which is really long, its very atypical. But aren't most Tsunku things atypical?

Key of: Bmin (B C# D E F# G A B)

Song structure

Lead in 1: 4 (ai ga nai otoko ne)
Intro 2: 4 (instrumental)
verse 1: 10
Pre-chorus 1: 8
Chorus 1: 20 (ohh hold on me)
Lead in 2: 4
Rap: 8
Intro 2: 4
Verse 2:10
Pre-Chorus 2:8
Chorus 2: 19 (ends a measure early)
Bridge: 8
Chorus 3: 20
Lead in 3: 4


Bass:

Lead:
G F# E F#

Intro:
B B C# F#

Verse:
B B B C# 
B B B C#
B B

Pre-chorus:
G F# C# B
G F# E F#

Chorus:
F# <- hold on me
B G F# C#
B G F# C#
B G F# C#
B G F# C#
G B B <- second B not in second verse

Bridge:
G F# F# F#
G F# E F#


Daite Hold on Me's protagonist is a really frustrated, single, late 20's type of woman. This song reeks with the flair of a kayokyoku type of woman. As you can guess.... it just my style, lol.

The setting of the song is right after a break up of a relationship. With lines like   I just want to hear you say I love you one more time, it is the type of thing a pathetic wota like me loves to hear a gorgeous woman sing.

I think Tsunku tried to fit a little too many words in there, house is a genre where the lyrics are pretty repetitive and important to the song. But Tsunku is going a mile a minute outside of the pre-choruses (my favorite part of course)

This song is based on the house music genre. A personal favorite of mine. Piano stabs, cheesy synth horns, this song screams early 90's house. Nice pulsing BPM. It's too great.

Listen to these poppy house tracks
Crystal Waters

Ce Ce Peniston

Now this my favorite early Musume song and is one of my favorite songs in all the eras (which is high praise). It harkens back to early 90's American Music and it allowed me to fall in love with Iida Kaori. That's why this was super long. I really wanted to savor my time with this dissection.