Yukio Hashi -- Muhyou （霧氷）

Well, it's the 1-year anniversary of KK Plus! And I had been kinda wondering which songs I would be putting up on this day. Then, a few weeks ago, I was watching an episode of NHK's "Kayo Concert", and enka veteran Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫） sang this song which immediately turned on a switch. I decided then and there that this would be the one song I would be putting up on January 31 2013, exactly a year after I put up "Memory Glass" by Jun Horie（堀江淳）.

"Muhyou"(Silver Frost) just happens to be one of the very first songs I had ever heard....period, so I'm talking about the late 60s. As I've mentioned a few times before, as a toddler, my place was often in front of one of the speakers of that old RCA Victor, and this song was a Japanese standard in our 5th-floor apartment. 

Hearing it again with re-tuned ears, I realized how haunting it was with the chorus and the sad arrangement. This is Mood-y Kayo! Written by Tetsuo Miyagawa（宮川哲夫） and composed by Ichiro Tone（利根一郎）, the song is about a melancholy breakup and its aftermath. I can imagine the dumped guy walking down a lonely street on a cold winter night while the song is playing. Now that I've heard it again, I kinda think that the arrangement sounds somewhat reminiscent of a particularly serious 60s James Bond theme, thanks to the shimmery strings in the background.

Yukio Hashi debuted in 1960, and between then and the release of this song in October 1966, he released so many singles (at least 70), I couldn't tell you the exact number of this single. Back in 1962, he did a duet of another kayo kyoku classic with actress Sayuri Yoshinaga, "Itsudemo Yume wo" (already profiled) which was a far more happier piece. "Muhyou" was released before Oricon, but a couple of accolades it did get was the Grand Prize at the 8th Japan Record Awards, and a place at that year's Kohaku Utagassen.

(empty karaoke version)

Maybe somewhere in one of the family lockers, the record is still sitting somewhere....