Kyu Sakamoto -- Calendar Girl

To be honest, I didn't think I was gonna be able to come up with another Kyu Sakamoto （坂本九）song, aside from the ones that I had already written about, including his world-famous "Ue wo Muite Arukou"（上を向いて歩こう）. However, I was browsing through Dad's ancient (didn't need carbon-dating, though) collection of 45s when I found this cherry-red 45" record with Sakamoto's cover of the Neil Sedaka hit, "Calendar Girl".

Sakamoto's "Calendar Girl" came out in June 1961 (the same year that the Sedaka version was released), just a few months before the late singer really hit pay dirt with the Sukiyaki song. At the time, it was common for non-enka singers to have hits with Japanese-language cover versions of US/UK songs, and it seems as if Sakamoto's cover was still treated very favourably years later. The melody, of course, was provided by Sedaka but the Japanese lyrics were written by Rumiko Seika or Hoshika（星加ルミコ...not sure of the reading）.

Memory has served me correctly in that I do remember listening to this on the old RCA Victor back in my toddler days. In fact, I probably heard Sakamoto's version before the original by Sedaka. I'd say that Sakamoto acquitted himself quite well with that high voice of his.