Morton Gould -- So In Love/Night and Day

Wikimedia Commons

This week's Reminiscings of Youth will be a little more unusual and involved so please bear with me today. For one thing, this really ought to be one of those Reminiscings of Babyhood articles actually, but I'll explain as we go along.

For citizens and international residents of Japan of a certain age such as myself, there was the weekly Sunday night Hollywood movie of the week on TV Asahi that lasted for decades since the 1960s. So, folks could watch anything from that decade to something more contemporary like a Steven Seagal action flick but it had to fit within the tight two-hour slot with commercials...which often meant that the movie had a fair amount of footage slashed out. Annoying as heck, but that's the way it was. 

The host of "Nichiyou Youga Gekijo"（日曜洋画劇場...The Sunday Western Movie Theatre） for most of its time was the avuncular and dapper movie critic and tarento Nagaharu Yodogawa（淀川長治）. He always showed up at the beginning of the show to introduce the film and then wrap up with his thoughts about it for a few minutes before signing off with "Sayonara, sayonara, sayonara". 

Then, there were the ending credits for "Nichiyou Youga Gekijo" which had stills or slow-motion footage of the movie just presented while this really dramatic and melancholy-sounding song played in the background. In fact, I found the music so sad that I was more than happy to switch the channel. I wouldn't find out until literally several days ago that the piece was a Cole Porter standard called "So In Love" as interpreted by conductor and arranger Morton Gould.

"So In Love" was a song used in one of Porter's famous musicals "Kiss Me Kate" from 1948. It was also used in the 1953 cinematic adaptation, but Gould's interpretation was presumably from 1951. Now that I've heard the whole thing above, I have a better view of it as something more epic and moving. Japanese commenters have complimented it as being very nostalgic since they used to watch the Sunday movie of the week when they were younger.

But "So In Love" hadn't been the main target for my ROY ROB this week. That was merely a happenstance stumbling discovery. Actually, it was for another Porter classic "Night and Day" which had been created in 1932. I remember getting to see it performed on the 2004 "De-Lovely", the Porter biopic musical starring Kevin Kline where I could glean some more insight into what the song was about.

Now, I realize that there have been many renditions of "Night and Day", sung and instrumental. But the reason that I started all this was that I remember the very first rendition that I heard of this song and it was by the aforementioned Morton Gould through his 1961 record "Kern/Porter Favorites" although that track later showed up on our "RCA 50 Years Of Hits In Stereo" that I wrote about last October. 

According to his Wikipedia article, Gould was a master of interweaving different musical genres into formal classical structure without losing any of the main elements from either the adopted genres or the original song. Gould had a few more contributions to my family's "RCA 50 Years of Hits In Stereo" which were "Brazil" and "Blues in the Night" and I note that he was epic and playful with those.

With "Night and Day", he showed that same verve for grandness. His take took the ultimate song of pining away in love and made it into his own overture movie. To me, his "Night and Day" sounds like a romance between two people rudely interrupted by war with the happy and grateful return interpreted as this huge orchestral rush. And it just happened to be a song that I heard often enough as a kid on the old RCA stereo.

So, let's see about some of the major singles of 1961 in Japan.

Kyu Sakamoto -- Ue wo Muite Arukou (上を向いて歩こう)

Yujiro Ishihara & Junko Makimura -- Ginza no Koi no Monogatari （銀座の恋の物語）

Hitoshi Ueki -- Suudara Bushi (スーダラ節）

Gen Hoshino -- Suki（好き）

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With all of the various issues happening locally and abroad, it's no surprise that people could use some more of a salve for what ails them. 

Nothing medical here but musically, perhaps KKP can introduce singer-songwriter and hookmeister Gen Hoshino's（星野源）latest digital download single "Suki" (Love Ya) which was released only yesterday. And yep, it's got that catchy Hoshino hook along with some Hoshino scatting. Furthermore, I'm always going to be a sucker for any song that has those mellow horns from yesteryear...especially a snazzy flugelhorn. 

Not surprisingly, Hoshino came up with "Suki" for a TBS drama titled "Kimi no Suki wa Muteki"（君の好きは無敵...Your Love is Boundless） that started up a couple of weeks ago. He can come up with some of the great theme tunes such as "Kigeki"（喜劇）for the anime "Spy x Family" some years ago. According to one part of the J-Wiki article on "Suki", I was able to Google translate this paragraph regarding the song:

This track marks a new frontier in pop music for Gen Hoshino, characterized by a melody that instantly lifts the spirits, a groove that makes you want to dance, and a sound brimming with vitality. It captures the inner radiance felt the moment one falls for someone —as well as the immense power of that emotion—and serves to encourage anyone who is evolving with that passion as their driving force, adding vibrant color to the world of the drama.

I'm not sure if I would say that this is a new frontier for Hoshino. His reputation has usually involved very upbeat tunes and "Suki" is no different. But I would certainly agree with the groovy assessment and indeed, falling in love can pack quite a punch of positivity. I'm assuming that the final word "drama" is referring to the TBS show (unfortunately I couldn't find any footage on YouTube).

Lisa Ono -- Moon River

 

Well, out of curiosity, I wanted to see if there were any singers out there whose birthdays were on July 29th today, and sure enough, I could find one chanteuse. Japanese-Brazilian bossa nova singer Lisa Ono（小野リサ）celebrates her 64th birthday so many happy wishes upon her.

To commemorate this day, and on a Hump Day which might have been rather stressful thus far being the day farthest away from weekends, I should find something that is quite soothing. Ono has often provided the musical balm in that respect. And so I provide her cover of the classic "Moon River" which was originally made in the early 1960s by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer for the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

With a fan wafting some needed cooling air into my otherwise stuffy room and the sun beginning to set into the horizon, Ono's "Moon River" is just the tonic for a Wednesday. The only thing missing is a Brown Cow on my desk. Anyways, her version is included in the March 2002 "Ono Lisa Best 1997-2001".

The Works of Fumiko Okada（岡田富美子）

 

I never expected to see her name up on television but recently I saw that veteran lyricist Fumiko Okada had received some sort of award for her decades of work via an NHK report. From that, I thought that it would be time to post a Creator article regarding her.

But first a bit of background from her J-Wiki file, Okada hails from Hiroshima Prefecture. When she gradated from university, her parents pressed her to get a job at television broadcaster TBS working as a timekeeper for music programs. However, knowing herself as someone who never really enjoyed the rigors of an average job or career, she was pretty miserable. Also, she developed insomnia but one night, she gained the urge to write poetry and found out that the words flowed out of her surprisingly easily. Then one day, after amassing her poems into a collection and having some faint interest in becoming a songwriter, she was noticed by the manager of a famous arranger at work. Noting how unenthused young Okada looked, he asked her what she really wanted to do for which she replied "I want to become a lyricist". A mere few days later, that manager suggested Okada to a record company as a rookie lyricist. At least, one song with her lyrics got into a music festival and that apparently was all she needed to write...literally. She started getting requests for her words, something that has been continuing for her for close to 55 years.

(1972) Young 101 -- Kaiju no Ballad（怪獣のバラード）

In a desert where the blood-red sun set

A great big monster lived there in peace

One morning when he woke up, he heard a bell from a caravan off in the distance

He suddenly screamed out

I wanna see the ocean! I wanna love people! Monsters have hearts, too, you know!

Let's leave the desert behind and head to where love and the ocean reside

Although I didn't note this in the original KKP article for "Kaiju no Ballad", this was apparently Okada's first work as a professional lyricist. 

(1981) Ruiko Kurahashi -- Glass no Yesterday （ガラスのYesterday)

Yesterday

I danced all night with you

Yesterday, although we can never meet again

We said "See you later" and parted

You're the one who embraced me while saying

I can't love you on mere kindness

Whenever Okada's name is mentioned, I will always first remember Fashion Music specialist Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子）songs since the lyricist provided a number of her works to her. 

(1986) Shibugakitai -- Sushi Kui ne! （スシ食いねェ！）

This is the No. 1 sushi restaurant in Japan

Gotta eat sushi! Gotta eat sushi! Gotta eat sushi!

Green tea! Green tea! Green tea! Pickled ginger! Picked ginger! Pickled ginger!

In contrast with the elegance of Kurahashi's signature song, the raucous "Sushi kui ne!" comes under the catchphrase of "Okada wrote this one?!". She must love her sushi.

(1987) Kiyomi Suzuki with Rats & Star -- Lonely Chaplin (ロンリー・チャプリン）

Lonely Chaplin

Time passes...and even if you fade away

I will always wait for you

Smile like the little boy you are

You want to come home

Into my arms, don't you?

As long as your dreams are unfulfilled

Oh, do what you wanna do again

Oh, do what you wanna do again

Man, didn't know that Chaplin was that lucky a guy!

(1979) Asami Kado -- Fascination (ファッシネイション）

I love you. Stop it because you make me feel so helpless

Stop it if you're only going to kiss me once

I love you. I got myself all psyched up

I hate you stalling for time

Nothing like pouty coquettishness to spice up a relationship!

Reimy -- Niji no Asa Kaze no Sora（虹の朝 風の空）

 

The late 1980s for me in terms of Japanese pop music meant a lot of things: overt diversification of the genres as we moved from kayo kyoku to J-Pop, a fresher and brasher type of aidoru in the form of Shizuka Kudo（工藤静香）and Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）as examples. And also, the emergence of female pop singer-songwriters coming up with some very mellow and eminently listenable material. Of course, I think of Miki Imai（今井美樹）, Midori Karashima（辛島美登里）and the young lady of note here, Reimy Horikawa（堀川麗美）.

But I have to admit that this final track, "Niji no Asa Kaze no Sora" (Morning Rainbow, Windy Sky), from Reimy's 3rd album, "Pansy", from May 1985 is perhaps one of the earliest examples of this breezy girl pop that I've discovered. With the melody by Reimy herself and then lyrics by Shun Taguchi（田口俊）and arrangement by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, the singer's oh-so-adorable and comforting vocals are the maraschino cherry on top of this swooning sundae that can actually induce images of morning rainbows and windy skies, and nope, nothing pharmacological is involved. Nice touch with the steel pedal guitar, too!

Shinichi Mori -- Bojou ~ Amakusa no Onna（慕情〜天草の女〜）

By STA3816 via Wikimedia Commons

Earlier this morning, I turned on Jme to see the NHK news when I saw the familiar blue frame surrounding the video, and I knew immediately that there had been some major disaster. Unfortunately, Kumamoto Prefecture was hit with a big earthquake a decade following the tremor that had slammed into it before. I'm hoping that everyone in the province is doing OK under the circumstances, especially the family of an old friend of mine.

To start off today's duo of articles, I've decided to go with a go-touchi song from Kumamoto Prefecture (specifically the city of Amakusa) by enka veteran Shinichi Mori（森進一）relatively early in his career. "Bojou ~ Amakusa no Onna" (Longing ~ Woman of Amakusa). Released in April 1971 as Mori's 19th single, it's a bittersweet enka regarding the theme of "parting is such sweet sorrow" as one-half of a once-happy relationship is now on a boat slowly puttering away from the Amakusa shore (you can hear the engine itself at the beginning and the end) while the other half is probably standing devastated on that shore. Mori was most likely already the go-to singer for heartrending enka thanks to his weeping vocals.

Written by Akari Yamaguchi（山口あかり）, "Bojou" was composed by Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）. It's not everyday that Hirao came up with an enka melody so I consider this quite the revelation. It broke the Oricon Top 10 by coming in at No. 9 and it sold 300,000 copies in the first month following its release. 

Cheuni -- Wasurenagusa（忘れな草）

 

When it comes to South Korean singer Cheuni（チェウニ）, I've always known her as someone who had gotten her career in the 1990s singing a mix of enka and other genres mixed together...something that I've labeled New Adult Music. It was quite the musical version of blended refined whiskey.

However, after I'd posted my previous Cheuni song, "Glass no Tokyo Tower"（ガラスの東京タワー）, a month ago, one commenter had to give me a correction in that Cheuni's debut had actually happened perhaps as much as a dozen years earlier than expected. For some reason, although J-Wiki had noted her debut as a child singer in the early 1970s at the age of 8 and a Japanese album release at the end of that decade via what is now known as the Taihei Record Company, there is currently no mention at all of a couple of singles in 1979 and 1981.

The anonymous commenter thankfully guided me to the above video on YouTube and it was for her debut single in Japan, "Wasurenagusa" (Forget-Me-Nots), which was released in 1979. She was in her mid-teens at the time so there was of course none of that familiar rasp in her vocals but listening to them now, I can still recognize them as Cheuni's. Considering her age, the single may have indeed been marketed as one belonging to an aidoru and there is something in the arrangement that hints at enka but I think most of the song gives me folk and kayo vibes.

Yoko Yamaguchi（山口洋子）provided the lyrics while the melody was composed by Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）, the veteran songwriter who also had a hand in bringing over another lovely teen ingenue from overseas to Japan: Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）.