She’s like on one hand “oh my god I get to touch Agnes Tachyon’s socks” but then on the other hand “Oh mein gott Agnes Tachyon clean up after yourself I gotta do your damn laundry because you a damn disaster zone”

I think I saw that post and I’m going -facepalm-. Though one detail kind of like that did pass over, despite her freakiness, Agnes Digital is a neat freak (mostly because Agnes Tachyon is an absolute slob and you, the trainer is also a mess).

Significant advancements in inertial dampeners and sound isolation.

Me staring at you before I start talking to you in Klingon saying "nuqneH" and if you keep staring, "bIje'be'chugh vaj bIHegh."

More the "Agnes Digital *distributes* the pass." She writes AO3 fics that makes War and Peace look like a short story.

really pretty much this.

better than I can, because he did report that 70s era soul, funk, and disco music was really popular in Japan during that time, and I'd expect Salsoul Orchestra's albums, including the Christmas one might have gotten some repeated airtime during Junichi Masuda's childhood.

The tune and lyrics itself of "Oh! Dem Golden Slippers" comes from James Alan Bland, the first popular African-American composer.

I'm shooting this up to a few people that have better musical ears then I have, and try to ping Dexter Thomas regarding questions on his old article to confirm >

Yeah it's the closest out of all the arrangements I've heard, comparing different versions of "Oh! Dem Golden Slippers" from older recordings and from various Mummers Parades like this one from the Duffy String Band. But the Salsoul Orchestra seemed the closest.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmWK...

The true correct answer.

At this point, I'm trying to get the hive mind + the writer of that old article about soul music in Japan to see if my hypothesis is strong, as it makes a LOT more sense then a Shirley Temple tune (even though yeah I know it's a common motif).

that is often known as the unofficial tune of the Mummer's Parade in Philadephia-- and therefore eventually filtered down to Japan. Philly soul music and disco tunes was definitely in 70s/early 80s Japanese pop-media.

So I'm going "could it really be that simple", Junichi Masuda inspired by that?

Tracing it down, Soul music was definitely in the pop-culture of 1970 and early 1980s Japan, and disco lasted significantly longer in Japan (and generally outside the US), right around Junichi Masuda's childhood years. The tune "Oh! Dem Gold Slippers" itself comes from a minstrel tune >

This is *still* only a hypothesis but I'm wondering now @dexdigi.bsky.social (sorry for this again!), would Junichi Masuda when composing Kanto's Route 1, might have been inspired by the music of his youth, one of which might have come from Salsoul Orchestra having a disco arrangement?

Digging *even* more deeper, ran into this old article by @dexdigi.bsky.social (I'm tagging you because I kind of need another ear on this), soul music and disco would have definitely been in the mainstream during Junichi Masuda's elementary/middle school years.

dexdigi.medium.com/why-were-jap...

(Last post didn't go through don't know why!) The part that is getting me is not just the melody but the bass notes chosen, as well as the much higher likelihood of Salsoul Orchestra's music being played, when Junichi Masuda was coming of age due to disco lasting longer.

Salsoul Orchestra's Christmas Jollies was released around 1976 when Junichi Masuda would have been around 8 years old. Disco as a genre lasted much longer outside the US so I'm now wondering, instead of Shirley Temple's Polly Wally, could THIS specific arrangement be *the* one?

Out of all the versions of that song, the Salsoul Orchestra Disco cover version of that song is the CLOSEST I've heard to almost matching the full melody. I know the motif is *common*, but out of all the arrangements, this feels the closest.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6mK... (In question 3:00)