I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Yoshimi Iwasaki -- Koi Hodo Suteki na Show wa Nai (恋ほど素敵なショーはない)
Through the comments for J-Canuck’s post about Yoshimi Iwasaki’s (岩崎良美) debut single “Aka to Kuro”, we agreed that most of her songs are not the type that hook you right away. Some might be unimpressive; others just take a while to warm up to. Nevertheless, there are some truly enjoyable songs scattered within her catalogue, which I assembled into a playlist when I started listening to her, and that playlist has grown since then. There’s one particular tune that I find especially lovely and that’s “Koi Hodo Suteki na Show wa Nai” (恋ほど素敵なショーはない…There’s No Show Business Like Love), her 12th single from January 1983. This beautiful song just oozes with all the delicate feelings that accompany springtime romance. The melody is so positive that I haven't paid attention to the lyrics until recently. Turns out the poor gal in there has no luck with love and wishes it was as magical as it appears in musicals. Before she blinks, their movie is over. Well, the English part in the refrain sort of gave the ending away, but the tune is so sweet like the sight of cherry blossoms that I was hoping it would be a happy one.
Masao Urino (売野雅勇) was responsible for writing the song and based its title off Walter Lang’s 1954 musical film “There’s No Business Like Show Business”, known as “Show Hodo Suteki na Shobai wa Nai” in Japan (ショウほど素敵な商売はない). There’s also Irving Berlin’s song, which was used in that film among others. Tatsushi Umegaki (梅垣達志) , whom I read a little bit about through this blog, composed the mellow sweet melody and I think it fits Yoshimi’s light delivery perfectly. The breezy country-pop touch makes me time-travel to those charming days of the early 80’s aidoru, though Yoshimi’s natural tone (not the actual voice) aligns more with the classic 70’s idols like Hiromi Ohta as opposed to the new generation with the bouncy curls and girly voices ala Seiko Matsuda. Makes me think that Yoshimi has looked up to her older sister a bit in terms of generational tendencies.
“Koi Hodo Suteki na Show wa Nai” was the seasonal CM campaign song for Nisshin OilliO (日清製油). The single peaked at No.22 on Oricon weeklies and sold about 72,000 copies, according to this page. It's also a track on her 6th studio album "Kuchibiru ni Yume no Ato" (唇に夢の跡).
Really like this Yoshimi song...kinda wish this had been on that BEST disc I got. Yeah, "Koi Hodo Suteki na Show wa Nai" has got that usual structure of happy music and delivery with some downbeat lyrics. The melody had me thinking of all those sunshine-y songs I heard on 70s radio, and as Yoshimi went into the refrain, it even hit me as being a bit Carpenteresque.
Hi, nikala.
ReplyDeleteReally like this Yoshimi song...kinda wish this had been on that BEST disc I got. Yeah, "Koi Hodo Suteki na Show wa Nai" has got that usual structure of happy music and delivery with some downbeat lyrics. The melody had me thinking of all those sunshine-y songs I heard on 70s radio, and as Yoshimi went into the refrain, it even hit me as being a bit Carpenteresque.