Goro Noguchi -- 19:00 no Machi （19:00の街）

I first heard...and saw....Goro Noguchi（野口五郎） on the 1983 Kohaku Utagassen performing this song, "19:00 no Machi"(7 p.m. City). At the time, I didn't know about his career as an aidoru in the 70s or his media-created loose association with Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹） and Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ） as the Shin-Gosanke（新御三家....The New Big Three), although I did see those two on the first few Kohaku I had caught on TV here. But I do remember the announcers on that 1983 show along with the audience creating a louder-than-usual hoopla when he made his appearance for some reason. Apparently, Noguchi had been a fixture on the NHK New Year's Eve program since he had appeared consecutively from 1972 to 1981, but not having any sort of hit in 1982, his invitation was summarily dropped which caused some ripples. So his return in 1983 was a bit of a comeback of sorts, although this appearance would be his very last one up to the present day.

I enjoyed "19:00 no Machi" as the dapper Noguchi performed it in front of that darkened huge staircase behind him all decked in lights. It helped give that image of nightlife that the song was providing. The lyrics by Kaoru Ito（伊藤薫） concocted a nighttime metropolitan scene during the winter as a light sleet hit the glass and the fog rolled into the city; I especially enjoyed that early metaphor of "The city is the ocean, the people are the desert, and love is the mirage". There are also references to the cars passing by and cigarette smoke floating up....makes me miss the ol' Tokyo scene. The bluesy, languid music by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平） evokes images of being in that hotel top lounge, and perhaps it's the high-pitched chorus behind Noguchi but that refrain reminds me a tad of a Bee Gees song. About a few years later, I was actually to pick up the song via a compilation tape sold in Chinatown.

"19:00 no Machi" was Noguchi's 43rd single since his debut in 1971. It was released in January of 1983, and was used as the theme song for a drama that starred him called "Dareka ga Watashi wo Aishiteiru"（誰かが私を愛してる....Somebody Loves Me）. The song also got its fair share of accolades as it was his 30th single to get into the Top 20 of Oricon, and it was his first single since his 1978 "Good Luck" that was able to get into the Top 100 for the year....71st place for 1983 with 177,000 records sold. On the weekly charts, it peaked at No. 16.

Interestingly, Noguchi also got one more accolade for his song. It won the Julio Iglesias Prize at the 12th Annual Tokyo Music Festival World Competition. I guess when it came to this Shin-Gosanke, where Hideki Saijo was the rocker and Hiromi Go was the Casanova heartbreaker, Noguchi would probably be seen as the urbane man-about-town....somewhat akin to Iglesias. That 1983 Kohaku would also be the final get-together of that trio.

Goro and his guitar