Pink Lady -- Pink no Ringo（ピンクの林檎）

 

"Uta Con"（うたコン）this week started off with a big tribute to the iconic aidoru duo Pink Lady（ピンクレディー） from the 1970s with one-half of the duo, Mitsuyo Nemoto（根本美鶴代）aka Mii（未唯mie）, appearing on stage to perform some of the old hits such as UFO. In place of her partner Keiko "Kei" Masuda（増田啓子）, some of the other guests stepped in to help out with the singing and dancing. The reason for all of the hubbub is that August 25th signified the 50th anniversary of the release of Pink Lady's debut single "Pepper Keibu" (ペッパー・警部) back in 1976.

Now I'd thought that I could do the B-side of "Pepper Keibu" in tribute but alas, I already did "Kanpai! Ojou-san"（乾杯!お嬢さん） last year. So I'm now going with the B-side of Pink Lady's 2nd single "S.O.S." which was released in November 1976. Written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed/arranged by Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）, the duo's go-to songwriters for quite a while, the short-but-sweetly sung "Pink no Ringo" (Pink Apple) sounds like quite the B-side since there is no hint of the disco or the feeling of dynamic limb moves that are part and parcel of a Pink Lady performance. Instead, it's a happy-go-lucky conventional aidoru song about a pink apple being the magical love charm. In real life, I would stay far away from a pink apple.

Hiroko Mita -- Glass Mado（ガラス窓）

 

For some interesting reason, I came across a number of songs whose titles amount to "glass windows" in Japanese music including one by the mixture rock band King Gnu. Unless the music industry has a major Windex fetish, I gather that the window has been thematically used as a source of reflection or introspection after a certain unhappy situation.

But for this one, I have Hiroko Mita's（三田寛子）B-side to her January 1984 7th single "Haru no Bouken"（春の冒険...Spring Adventure） to start off this Hump Day. Indeed, this is titled "Glass Mado" (Glass Window), and it's quite the stylish aidoru tune by Mita with a splash of tango. And as noted above, the young lady in question here is looking at the titular window with a sense of sadness after an implied romantic breakup; she can see the reflection of herself as a happy lass yesterday but things cloud over considerably when it comes to tomorrow. Yes, definitely get the Windex!

"Glass Mado" was written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）, composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and arranged by Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）. I don't hear too much Latin from Hayashi usually so also for that reason, this song stands out for me. 

Eiko Segawa -- Waraijiwa（笑いじわ）

 

I've been seeing vivacious enka singer Eiko Segawa（瀬川瑛子）from time to time on the kayo shows such as "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）. It's been hard to believe that she's actually 79 now and that next year will be her 60th anniversary in show business.

The last time I saw the Tokyo native on stage, it was to sing one of her hits "Waraijiwa" (Laugh Lines) which was originally released as her 61st single in September 1995. It's been classified as a straight enka tune but its arrangement incorporates some of that Latin to such an extent that personally I can also treat it as a New Adult Music number....kinda along the same lines of a Matt Bianco song but without the synthesizers.

The songwriters for "Waraijiwa" were husband-and-wife composer Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）and lyricist Yoko Aki（阿木燿子）as they came up with a song for Segawa regarding a woman's lifetime filled with its share of roses and thorns. As quite a few KKP viewers would know by now, Uzaki and Aki were the main duo behind many of Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）hit songs in the late 1970s including "Yokosuka Story"（横須賀ストーリー）. I couldn't find out how "Waraijiwa" did on Oricon but Segawa was invited onto the 1996 edition of the Kohaku Utagassen to sing it.

Naomi Chiaki -- Yoru e Isogu Hito（夜へ急ぐ人）

 

For those people like myself who's known singer Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）for her biggest hit "Kassai"（喝采）from 1972, this song by her might be a tad different. I heard it performed on a recent episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）.

"Yoru e Isogu Hito" (A Woman Running into the Night) was Chiaki's 26th single released in September 1977, and it was one of a number of songs for her around that time which had the singer requesting works by New Music singer-songwriters such as Miyuki Nakajima（中島みゆき）and Eigo Kawashima（河島英五）to record. For "Yoru e Isogu Hito", folk singer-songwriter Kazuki Tomokawa（友川カズキ）was the one behind words and music here.

The whole thing about this song from my vantage point is that it's about all of the potentially sordid goings-on within an inner city neighbourhood somewhere in the metropolis whether that would be an area like Kabukicho in Tokyo. The titular woman escaping somewhere among the laneways and alleys is the central figure surrounded by a person who stops her by grabbing her by the shoulder, people who are ignoring the scene and passing by and other folks who are staring and laughing at the plight of the lady. Not exactly Mr. Rogers' neighbourhood we are talking about.

"Yoru e Isogu Hito" is also interesting in its arrangement by Hiroshi Miyagawa（宮川泰）. It may have been created by a New Music fellow but it still sounds like a kayo kyoku with elements of rock and funk. For that matter, it also sounds custom-fit for Chiaki, albeit a Chiaki who's gotten a little wilder and devilish. In fact, when the singer performed the song on the 1977 edition of NHK's Kohaku Utagassen, she put in quite a lot of theatricality in her performance including some throaty screams at the end, all to emphasize the lyrical theme of a woman in a frenzy. I'd probably say that there was even something of the horror movie in this one. Apparently, the captain of the White (Male) team right after Chiaki's performance admitted that he was somewhat freaked out by what he had just witnessed...saying that was quite the gross-out song.

Yuko Kawamura -- Kodoku na Runner（孤独なランナー）

 

I see that those marathons are still taking place at the Metro Zoo in Toronto. Over forty years ago, I actually ran a couple of those in successive years as a high school student. Yes, it's hard to believe, but I, J-Canuck, did something healthy by training and then running what was actually half-marathons. Those were still enough to nearly kill me.

Jogging was starting to become a thing sometime in the mid to late 1970s as I recall, and I guess that may have also been true in Japan according to this song by Yuko Kawamura（川村ゆうこ）. Compared to her cool and refreshing debut single "Kaze ni Naritai"（風になりたい）from April 1976, her second single "Kodoku na Runner" (Lonely Runner) which was released later in September is a bit more jaunty as if the song itself were on its own jog in the countryside. In terms of tempo, I'd probably put it above a languid folk tune but not quite at the same level as an upbeat aidoru song. Kawamura is a songwriter but this time, "Kodoku na Runner" was handled by lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composer Katsuo Ono（大野克夫）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. Her first two singles were placed onto her debut album, released in November, "Konna ni Sora ga Aokute wa"（こんなに空が青くては...For the Sky to Be This Blue）.

Gerald Fried -- The Ritual/Ancient Battle/2nd Kroykah (aka "Star Trek" Fight Music)

Wikimedia Commons

Considering that I've become a lapsed Trekkie in recent years, I completely forgot that tomorrow will be 60 years to the day since the very first "Star Trek" episode was televised on NBC. 

It was the episode "Man Trap" that started the whole ball rolling on September 8th 1966...in America. But the crazy thing I found out very recently was that Canada had actually cut to the chase by broadcasting "Man Trap" two days earlier on September 6th on CTV at 7:30 pm. That's a little early in the evening to be showing a man-killing salt vampire but hey, maybe Gene Roddenberry was feeling a bit daring.

It is a holiday Monday so it is time for a special Reminiscings of Youth but several years previously, I already posted an article on Alexander Courage's original theme for "Star Trek" so I was kinda knocking my head about what I could do to pay further tribute to the series. And then, an idea struck me.💡

On September 15th 1967, the second season began with "Amok Time", the episode where we first got a taste of Mr. Spock's culture including the ultimate example of Vulcan randiness, pon farr. It all climaxes (sorry, pun intended...haha) with a battle to the death between Spock and Captain Kirk. I always love a good battle with a lirpa and an ahn-woon.

Also, accompanying the fight was composer Gerald Fried's music that may rival Courage's theme as the most recognized piece of music from "Star Trek" even for non-Trekkies. Titled officially as "The Ritual/Ancient Battle/2nd Kroykah", I'd just like to call it the "Star Trek" fight music. It kinda has that atmosphere of gladiator games and no-holds-barred hand-to-hand combat with the dissonant horns and rapid-fire percussion. No wonder it was used for a lot of other fight scenes in the show since.

I gained quite the smile when I heard the fight music being used again on one episode of the current series "Strange New Worlds" a few seasons ago.

Gerald Fried (February 13, 1928 – February 17, 2023) was a composer and conductor who created scores for many TV shows and movies from the 1950s to the 2010s, and I read on his Wikipedia file, he provided music for the original "Mission: Impossible" TV series, "Gilligan's Island", "My Three Sons", etc. So, basically I had plenty of Fried (aural) food even before I was five years old. Anyways, LLAP!

By Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons

So, what else was coming out of Japan in September 1967? Well, I've got two singles that got released around that time.

Masayoshi Tsuruoka & Tokyo Romantica -- Otaru no Hito yo （小樽のひとよ）

The Tigers -- Mona Lisa no Hohoemi（モナリザの微笑）

Shinpei Nakayama & Yaso Saijo -- Kata Tataki（肩たたき）

 

Happy Labour Day! This is the day in tribute to the working class in North America. Of course, being the master of the ham-fisted segue, I can say that after a hard day's work, folks can use a nice massage especially around the shoulders. As someone who's read a few books on the practice and used to undergo regular massage at the neighbourhood clinic in Ichikawa, I remember the masseur at both that clinic and the barber at my regular shop finishing up a session with some tapotement on my shoulders and back. They would just tap away while sounding like some slow maracas.

I've got just the song for you then. Weirdly enough, I heard about this one during last night's episode of "Asaichi"（あさイチ）which had the theme of ground sesame seeds. According to one expert on the topic, the ideal length of time to pound those seeds is to go five verses of this song before saying "thank you" in Japanese and a few more words.

The song is called "Kata Tataki" (Shoulder Tapping) and it is a children's song that was selected by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the Parents-Teachers Association of Japan in 2006 to be a part of The Collection of 100 Japanese Songs（日本の歌百選）consisting of beloved songs and nursery rhymes. It was actually created in 1923 by famed lyricist Yaso Saijo（西條八十）and composer Shinpei Nakayama（中山晋平）as a song celebrating Mom's hard work and the children recognizing this by offering a shoulder massage. Not sure if Mommy appreciates being told that she's grown a gray hair, though.