Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Kaientai -- Omoeba Tooku e Kitamonda (思えば遠くへ来たもんだ)



Along with discovering new old songs via "Kayo Kyoku Plus", another one of my pleasures from my pet project has been discovering new old songs because commenters or my fellow collaborators wrote about or inquired about them.

The former is indeed the case here with Kaientai's(海援隊)"Omoeba Tooku e Kitamonda" (I've Come So Far When I Think About It). Commenter Ranawaka Aruna asked me about it on the one other song I wrote about the band, the graduation season favourite, "Okuru Kotoba"(贈る言葉). Veteran actor Tetsuya Takeda's(武田鉄矢)folk group released "Omoeba" as its 2nd single under the Polydor label (they had 11 previous singles with 2 other recording companies since their debut in 1973) in September 1978, more than a year before their most famous hit, "Okuru Kotoba" came out.


To be honest, I had thought that the go-to song for graduation ceremonies would be the only song by Kaientai that I would ever add to KKP. Happily, I am wrong. "Omoeba" was written by Takeda and the wistful melody was composed by Yasuyo Yamaki(山木康世), who was one-half of the folk duo, Fukinoto(ふきのとう). In the song, Takeda sings about a man at the ripe old age of 20 as he remembers what he was like 6 years previously when he was still living in his small town. He reminisces about that train track which ultimately led him away from home and that love he left back there, although he also states that he now has a wife and kid(s) and has been hitting the booze at night. Man, middle age already?!

Still, the sentiment is there and I'm sure that there a lot of businessmen in their 40s or 50s who would hear this song and get all swoon-y. And there is something about that melody that gets me all sepia and nostalgic for all those old J-Folk ballads. Incidentally, "Omoeba" was the theme song for a TBS drama of the same name starring Takeda in which he played a substitute teacher straight from Kyushu who had to teach at a school up in the northern prefecture of Akita...perhaps this was good training for him before he got that even more famous teaching role later on.

The song was also included on Kaientai's first album on Polydor, "Tsuirakuhen"(墜落編...Falling Edit), which came out in November 1978. One other thing...on how the group decided on its name. Apparently, Kaientai (Maritime Support Group) came from the first modern corporation in Japan founded by Ryoma Sakamoto in 1865. Sakamoto is one of the most famous folk heroes in Japanese history as he attempted to overthrow the Tokugawa feudal government in its last years.

9 comments:

  1. Thanks J-Canuck for your quick respond. I know this song is about "Furusato" which mean your home town or your birth place etc.. But still I couldn't find the meaning of word "Kitamonda". Can you explain what that exactly means please.

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    1. Hello, Ranawaka.

      "Kitamonda"(来たもんだ) is an informal version of "kitamonoda" (来たものだ)which would translate as "someone who has come". I hope that helps out.

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  2. Thanks J-C. Will contact you again when I find a song with a catchy tune.

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  3. Please do a same about two songs of Konosuke Sakazaki;s two songs of "Bride/Farewell lover". These two songs in a one clip in U TUBE uploaded by one arihiko2013. I love these two songs. It is from his final concert. I check your "Alfee" section but I couldn't find these two songs. Thanks.

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    1. Hi, Ranawaka.

      I found that arihiko2013 video on YouTube, and actually Sakazaki was performing a couple of covers of folk songs done by other singers. The latter song, "Saraba, Koibito" was originally done by actor/singer Masaaki Sakai and I've already written an article on it (http://kayokyokuplus.blogspot.ca/2012/07/masaaki-sakai-saraba-koibito.html). It's a lovely song!

      However, it was the first time I heard "Hanayome" and I enjoyed that one, too. It was originally performed by Norihiko Hashida and Climax back in 1971. I will contribute a post about it, but how long ago did you find out about these two songs?

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  4. Thanks C-J. I found out this clip about few months back, while I was searching for another song. I put a book mark for this clip and keep watching it. I tried to find the English meaning but failed. And I'm not fluent in Japanese language like Kanji etc..But I loved Japanese music in 70-80 period. And also if you can please add more words to the meaning of Hiromi Ota's "Amadare" song in your column. That's another song I like very much. By the way I would like you write a column about "Carol" and Eikichi Yazawa. Though he is a rock singer, he has some light songs like I love you OK,Futari Dake, Ai sagashi motome[Cry of Love], Keseno Kudhoki, Mou hitori no ore, Jikan Yo Tamare. [Futari Dake, Sagashi Motome are "Carol" songs while Yazawa in the band with Johnny Okura in 72-75.

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    1. Hi, Ranawaka.

      The 70s and 80s are my period, too. I'm a fan of folks like Momoe Yamaguchi, Hiromi Ohta, Yuming, Off Course, etc. I'll see if I can decipher a bit more of "Amadare" in the next few days, but there are a couple of articles I want to output first, though.

      As for Carol and Eikichi Yazawa...to be honest, I'm not a huge fan, but I have a feeling that you know these songs much more than I do. If you're interested, how would you like to write about a few of these songs? One of the points of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is for various kayo kyoku fans to talk about their favourite songs and why they like them. If the Japanese language is indeed a problem, I can help out with that along with digging up some of the information on release dates and rankings, so it can be a collaboration.

      Of course, I can eventually tackle some of these songs by myself but I think a fan who has some personal connection with them will usually be a better choice. Anyways, let me know if you're interested, and I'll help you along from there. :) I will take care of "Hanayome"!

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  5. Thanks C-J, I'll think about it later 'cos I'm so busy these days. Anyway I have another song of Sachiko Kobayashi which I like most. Please add that song to her column of yours. The song title is "Snow" and in the U Tube one "sachikofan" uploaded it.

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    1. Hi, Ranawaka.

      I understand your opinion on the offer since I'm also getting quite busy myself. I'll take a look at Sachiko Kobayashi's "Snow" and if I like it, I will put it up and talk about it.

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Feel free to provide any comments (pro or con). Just be civil about it.