Kozo Murashita -- Ashita Areba Koso （明日あればこそ）

(cover version)

"Ashita Areba Koso"(Indeed If There is a Tomorrow) is one of the late Kozo Murashita's（村下孝蔵） well-regarded songs that he wrote and composed for his 4th album, "Yume no Ato"（夢の跡）, in 1982. It was a song that I enjoyed on one of my tapings of "The Sounds of Japan"...and subsequently lost for a couple of decades....never knowing what the title was. A couple of nights ago, after putting in my entries for this blog, I just decided to look him up in YouTube and see if I could track it down. Found it all the way in the back, so to speak....good to hear it again after so long.

http://y.qq.com/#type=song&mid=003tjlPk1EVah9

It's a song of encouragement.....kinda like in the vein of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel. The strings and Murashita's mellow voice and gentle guitar all help to create this tender ballad.