Pupating Woman

Jun Togawa had always wanted to add lyrics to and sing "Canon and Gigue for 3 Violins and Basso Continuo" (Kanon und Gigue für 3 Violinen mit Generalbaß) by Johann Pachelbel. This was originally recorded in a mid-tempo orchestral arrangement with sung vocals for her first solo album, 1984's Princess Tamahime (玉姫様). She wrote the lyrics in 1-2 minutes.

The classical roots of the song presented a conundrum: Togawa has never been a fan of progressive rock and its complex time signatures, so a new arrangement was needed for live performance. She and Yapoos burnt themselves out trying multiple failed ideas at rehearsals. For a change of pace and as a goof, a member suggested playing it as punk rock; the first runthrough was followed by stunned silence, then a member proposed calling it "Punk Pupating Woman" (パンク蛹化の女). She was surprised to hear Susumu Hirasawa likes this version.

Hirasawa made a bold techno rearrangement for The Dying Year of the Showa Era Tour of early 1990, where he and his solo backing band keyboardists (Hikaru Kotobuki and Kitune Akimoto) accompanied Togawa. He then played guitar for the Punk version in at least one of Yapoos' I3 Days '94 Tokyo & Osaka shows (30 November at Namba W'OHOL and 14 December at Shinjuku LiquidRoom).

Lyrics
"Punk Pupating Woman" opens with Togawa quickly yelling One Two Three Four! (ワン・ツー・スリー・フォー！) before the song starts.


 * 1 The lyrics originally featured horned beetles (甲虫), but as the amount of kana did not fit the composition, she swapped them for cicadas.
 * 2  "変り果てた私の姿 — lit. “My form, that has ceased to change”"
 * 2  "蛹化, although pronounced “mushi” (insect) in the title, can also be pronounced “youka”, and it means “pupation”". Official translations of the title include "Pupa Woman" and "Insect Woman".

Connections

 * This is Hirasawa's second time as sideman for a punk-adjacent interpretation of Pachelbel's Canon, after Michiro Endo's "Kanon".