In reply to your request, please find that I hereby protest

January 17, 2014 7:18 AM

"Nude is a concept album released by English progressive rock band Camel (wiki) in 1981. It was their eighth studio album. The album (lyrics) is based on a true story of a Japanese soldier (Hiroo Onoda) marooned on an island in World War II who doesn't know that the war is over. 'Nude' derives from his family name 'Onoda.'"

Hiroo Onoda died yesterday in Tokyo at the age of 91.

posted by jbickers (9 comments total)

Best lede-bury of 2014.

I was wondering when his amazing, absurd story would show up on the blue today.

I can't tell if Hiroo Onoda is odious for conducting a decades-long guerrilla campaign during which he killed thirty people, or if he's an astonishing iconoclast who sustained a pure personal struggle for so many years. In the BBC article he says "I am very competitive" as a reason to continue, which sounds nice, but I think I am going to have to tag him as a fanatic and be done with him.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:51 AM on January 17, 2014 [4 favorites]

See also: Dolby & Sakamoto.
posted by sonascope at 8:16 AM on January 17, 2014

Given that he died on the same day as Russell Johnson, there's a Gilligan's Island joke in there somewhere...
posted by Slothrup at 8:37 AM on January 17, 2014 [3 favorites]

Someone down my corridor in 1st year at university had Nude. Didn't like the album but 'city lights' is still one of my favourite tunes. I can't listen to it without remembering Autumn 1989. It's weird to learn more about Onoda as the song's already loaded with my own meanings. I learned years ago that it was about a Japanese soldier on an island but didn't realise it was based on a real person.

Need to give the album another try...
posted by dowcrag at 9:29 AM on January 17, 2014

dowcrag, "Drafted" is my favorite song off the album, and possibly my favorite Camel song. I think it captures their melodic nature perfectly. (Also is the source of the lyric that is this post's title.)
posted by jbickers at 9:41 AM on January 17, 2014

Given that he died on the same day as Russell Johnson, there's a Gilligan's Island joke in there somewhere...

Actually that was an episode of Gilligan's Island.
posted by cjorgensen at 9:55 AM on January 17, 2014 [4 favorites]

Thanks, jbickers, I'm going to give the full album a listen tomorrow.
posted by dowcrag at 10:43 AM on January 17, 2014

Not my cup of tea but if you like Camel then this is an excellent review of the band's history
posted by fallingbadgers at 10:59 AM on January 17, 2014

Onodo was the second-to-last confirmed Japanese holdout from WWII, though there have been rumors of others.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:34 AM on January 18, 2014