Saturday, January 17, 2015

Koji Tsuruta -- Machi no Sandwich man (街のサンドイッチマン )


As much as I would've liked to hear the Meatball Sub and Philly Cheese Steak or any kind of sandwich in existance being mentioned in Koji Tsuruta's (鶴田浩二) "Machi no Sandwich man", this song has got nothing to do with the food itself and 'Sandwich man' is just a term for a human billboard...bummer. Nevertheless, it still makes me envision a hoagie every time I listen to it.

I came across this song just about a week ago while feeling bored and a little more adventurous in the music department. While on this YouTube channel by the name of 'subaru enka' that uploads Enka and Kayokyoku from the 50's (or even farther back) to the 70's from time to time, I decided to just pick a random video from the unfamiliar lot and listen to it, and hopefully like it. So I ended up choosing Tsuruta's first big hit (unbeknownst to me yet) since I recognize the fellow's name and the title sounded fascinating.

The 1979 performance I first watched.

"Machi no Sandwich man" occurred to me as quite a catchy, slightly jazzy tune with the trumpets, the sharp, high notes of the violin (I think), and the prominent bass in the background, or at least it does in the 1979 version where I had first heard of the song. The original from 1953 doesn't have such a full arrangement, and it sounds a little like one of those Disney tracks from the 50's... I can just see one of those walking brooms/mops marching away to this. It was composed by Yoshida Tadashi and written by Tetsuo Miyagawa (吉田正.宮川哲夫).

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2 comments:

  1. It must be the 1953-version that I remember since I left Japan for Canada to study in Canada in 1964 (and still here). My mother hated Kayokyoku calling it a "Jangara Jangara", and so it must be the time when I was in Tokyo attending a prep-school failing the entrance exam on the first try. The life was nothing but study day-and-night and of course very bleak. That is why, I think, the first verse (and melody) is still with me. I remember, though, the third line as "Namida deru toki", or "when I am about to cry", and not "when the tear flowed" as in the original. Thank for posting.

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    1. Hi, Yoshi. I'm not the one who wrote the article but I did want to give my greetings to a fellow Japanese-Canadian. My parents always had a nice relationship with kayo kyoku which slowly trickled down to me. I'm not the expert that Noelle is, though. :)

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