It was written and composed by the same duo of Yukio Tanaka and Isao Hayashi（たなかゆきを・林伊佐緒）who would later create the aforementioned "Rosario no Shima" but "Nagasaki no Hito" is this very cheerful folksy enka as if it were describing a day out walking through the local market and having short chats with the storekeepers and fellow neighbours. The lyrics actually tell the tale of pining for that woman from Nagasaki with the shoutouts to a few sites in the city such as Oranda Saka（オランダ阪...Holland Slope）. Although it is a happy song, I also heard some of those staccato horns and that resonant rhythm that would characterize "Rosario no Shima".
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| Hachiro Kasuga -- Nagasaki no Hito |
Hi J-Canuck,
ReplyDeleteYeah, this song does sound like a happy song where the protagonist in the song finally has everything going in his favour and... well... sunshine and sparkles for him. But I suppose like any other Enka song, cheery sounding doesn't equate to quite as cheery meaning... kinda like Takashi Hosokawa's 'Kokoro nokori' I suppose, but less sad.
Although it isn't an enka song per se, Kyu Sakamoto's "Ue wo Muite Arukou" is the classic example of the cheery melody paired with the depressing lyrics. If I hadn't been able to understand the words, I would have easily assumed that Kyu was having a grand old time walking in the park.
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