Her 11th single, the haunting "Ningyo no Ie"(The Dollhouse), was released in July 1969. It was a crying song that would have made Connie Francis proud, as Hirota sings about being cast aside by a lover like an old doll. The song was written by Rei Nakanishi(なかにし礼) and composed by Makoto Kawaguchi(川口真)who has composed songs for Naoko Kawai(河合奈保子)and the first leader of Morning Musume, Yuko Nakazawa(中澤裕子).
"Ningyo no Ie" was a big hit and became one of her trademark tunes as it won a prize for her at the 1969 Japan Record Awards and her 6th of 8 invitations to the Kohaku Utagassen. The song hit the top spot on Oricon and was the 18th-ranked song of that year.
Hideaki Tokunaga(徳永英明), who has been known of late for doing cover versions of many kayo kyoku/J-Pop songs over the decades, performed "Ningyo no Ie" on a music show although I'm not sure if this cover has made it onto any of his "VOCALIST" series of albums.
A surprisingly good version by Milva, an Italian singer and muse of Ennio Morricone, from her Japanese album Love Feeling in Japan.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3JgHwch6lY
Quite good indeed, Jim. Milva does a fine job with the Japanese.
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