George Yamamoto -- Namonai Hana ni Kanpai wo (名もない花に乾杯を)

"Namonai Hana ni Kanpai wo" is the second song on George Yamamoto's (山本譲二) "Daizenshu" (大全集) 2013 edition, just under the mushy "Hana mo Arashi mo" (花も嵐も), and I admit that the first few seconds of it that sort of resembles a muscle car's engine roaring to life temporarily mislead me into thinking that "Namonai..." is another of Yamamoto's cool, manly tracks, which I was mostly hoping for. Then came the trumpets and the rest of the cheery music with lots of elegantly used strings, a trait I've noticed in many Tetsuya Gen (弦哲也)-composed songs. It was a strange transition, but I'm usually more welcoming to this type of happy-sounding enka so I accepted it quickly.

Rei Shirooka (城岡れい) was responsible for the lyrics to "Namonai...", and from whatever I can make out from it, it doesn't seem to be as happy as its score, but its not particularly sad either. Mostly about dedicating a toast to either a nameless flower or a nameless woman... I don't think its that literal though, so I think he's referring to a woman.

"Namonai..." was released on 1st February 2005 as Yamamoto's 56th single, and is one of his 6 best known hits. Around the time I had begun to like this song, it was just a week or two away from Chinese New Year, and I thought that "Namonai..." really matched the holiday in terms of its music; makes you think of a bunch of people (family members, friends) getting together and having a good time.

www.bellworldmusic.com

That mic drop and salute Yamamoto does in the video gets me every single time...