One of the other songs that had resonated with me and launched me on my 30-year odyssey with kayo kyoku was "Sumire Iro no Namida"(Violet Tears) by Hiromi Iwasaki （岩崎宏美）. It was just such a beautiful ballad. Iwasaki started out as an aidoru in 1975, but it must've been evident early to producers that she would not stay that way. She has a voice that could only belong to stage musicals....and sure enough years later, she would play a role in the Japanese production of "Les Misérables". Also, "Sumire Iro no Namida" was her 25th single in 6 years, so she was certainly not lacking for work. Iwasaki also stood out physically in a year where a lot of the new wave of aidoru were getting cute Dorothy Hamill bobs or Seiko-chan cuts. She had started her career with a similar short cut in the mid-70s but by 1981, had grown her locks to waist-length. No longer an aidoru, she was very much a songstress.
"Sumire Iro no Namida" was released in June 1981 and peaked at No. 6 on the Oricon weeklies before ending up No. 45 on the annual single charts. She personally won a Japan Record Award and appeared in the 1981 Kohaku Utagassen where she showed her tender side by weeping into the second verse which got all of the other female singers to rally around her.
Here is Iwasaki herself performing the song on stage. By the way, "Sumire Iro no Namida" was written by Yukiko Marimura（万里村ゆき子）and composed by Hiroshi Oda（小田啓義）.
The genesis of Hiromi's single: her producers had noted that she'd been singing technically difficult songs recently (ie. not great sales), so perhaps she can do a song that's easily karaoked. When she mentioned it at home, her sister Hatsumi, who was a Blue Comets fan, suggested Sumire Iro no Namida.
ReplyDeleteForward to New Year's Eve 1981. Hatsumi had been at odds with their father, who was controlling over her relationships (Hiromi would run into the same later, and Yoshimi hated him for it). Hatsumi left home that day, leaving a note for her father to read. Hiromi noted how lonely he looked as he read it. That was why she cried as she sang it.
Hi, Jim. Thanks for the information...very interesting about how the song came from the Blue Comets into Hiromi's hands. BTW, where did you find the information in the first place?
DeleteHere's the bulk of the story.
ReplyDeletehttps://nordot.app/773640327177617408
The stuff about their father controlling his daughters' relationships came from an article about his funeral, from Yoshimi. It explains why Hatsumi left home so suddenly, coincidentally on the very day that Hiromi won that singing award and then performed at the Kohaku.
I got the info from google translate, so I may have got the details wrong.
Thanks, Jim. I'll take a look at the article as well. I only hope that the sisters and their father managed to patch things up long before his passing.
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