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.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
I was rather surprised that for all of the hits that Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）supplied throughout the decades, it is his 10th single that has been the only hit that went all the way to No. 1 on Oricon. Written by Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）for release in September 1974, there is a bit of Latin swagger in "Yoroshiku Aishuu"(Suitable Sorrow), along with the usual Go nasal quality, in this song about a guy who's trying his darnedest to grab the heart of a girl but not quite making it.
"Yoroshiku Aishuu" was also used as the theme song for a 1974 TV Asahi (known as NET back then) drama titled "Chotto Shiawase"（ちょっとしあわせ...A Little Happy） starring Go and actress Wakako Sakai. As I mentioned, the song made it all the way to No. 1 and became the 16th-ranked song for the same year. Go has covered it twice since its original release in 1989 and 2005. The 1989 version made it onto his 28th original album in 1991"Junbi Bantan ~ Vingt Ans"（準備万端...Preparations All）. A number of artists have also done their version of the song, including Saori Minami（南沙織）.
Now, Minami was a contemporary of Go's back in the 1970s when they were teens, but her cover of "Yoroshiku Aishuu" didn't come out until June 1994 as her 31st single. It's definitely a more mature and surprisingly epic urban contemporary take on an aidoru song, and it came out under her English name Cynthia. The song was also included on "Cynthia Best ~ Eternity", a compilation of her hits that came out in June 1996.
Yes!
ReplyDeleteWhile I loved Hiromi's original, I would have to go with TOKIO's version here. More upbeat and current, and it doesn't hurt too much to listen to.