Takashi Matsumoto (松本 隆, Matsumoto Takashi born July 16, 1949 in Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo) is a Japanese lyricist. He is a former member of pioneering folk rock band Happy End, for which he played the drums and wrote lyrics. Before Happy End he was in the short-lived but influential psychedelic rock band Apryl Fool, going by Reiji Matsumoto.
He was most prolific in late 70's and 80's, offering lyrics to many idol singers such as Agnes Chan, Seiko Matsuda (especially, he wrote 17 of her 24 consecutive #1 singles), Kyōko Koizumi, Miho Nakayama, Masahiko Kondo and Hiroko Yakushimaru as well as musical artists such as Yellow Magic Orchestra. Also, Akira Terao's hit song "Ruby no Yubiwa" which won the 23rd Japan Record Award Grand Prix was written by Matsumoto.
The songs "Garasu no Shounen"(硝子の少年), "Hakka Candy"(薄荷キャンディー) and "Boku no Senaka ni wa Hane ga Aru"(ボクの背中には羽がある) by the KinKi Kids are some of his notable recent work.
Total sales of his works equal over 49,460,000 copies. He is a Keio University graduate.