Koichi Aoki -- Boku wa Nagashi no Untenshu（僕は流しの運転手）

 

I've only seen taxi drivers in Japan as some of the politest and most button-down professionals in the service industry. But in the past couple of decades, I've unfortunately heard of increasing numbers of incidents of theft and assault against them. Absolutely undeserving of that.😠

Perhaps back in the middle of the 20th century, things were a little more footloose and fancy-free for the regular cab driver in the big city. That's the vibe I get from kayo singer Koichi Aoki's（青木光一）"Boku wa Nagashi no Untenshu" (I'm Just a Working Driver). Released in April 1957 with music and lyrics by Toru Funamura（船村徹）and Miyuki Hatakeyama（石本美由起）respectively, it's a song that I heard in the most recent episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）, and it's all about a taxi driver, originally from the countryside, who's having a pretty good and interesting life in Tokyo. He's probably been privy to all sorts of intriguing conversations and information while driving all over, enjoying his dinner on the road and dreaming of bringing over his ol' flame for a tour of the capital.

Here are singers Hiroshi Takeshima and Takuya Nagasawa（竹島宏＆中澤卓也）covering "Boku wa Nagashi no Untenshu" on the kayo show "Jinsei, Uta ga Aru"（人生、歌がある）.