Kingo Hamada -- Hishochi no Dekigoto（避暑地の出来事）

I realize that I will sound like an announcer from those old K-Tel record commercials but do you remember this old chestnut? Well, probably folks under 30 will not have but those going into early middle age may have their memory engrams jogged a bit. It's the "Theme from A Summer Place" by Percy Faith which was used for the 1959 romance movie, and then used over and over again in other forms of broadcast media, including one notorious scene from "National Lampoon's Animal House" in 1978.

Now, why would I start off an article with that old instrumental? Well, it so happens that the movie must have hit the shores of Japan since the movie got its own native title "Hishochi no Dekigoto" which directly translates as "Happening at a Summer Resort".

And to add to that sense of drama to one of his own songs, crooner Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）used that same title for a track from his 1981 album "Gentle Travelin'". But no slow and shimmering strings to be had here. Instead, there is that slightly tropical tang of Resort Pop coming in through the ears courtesy of Hamada himself with Takashi Matsumoto's（松本隆）lyrics relating the sad story of a fellow commiserating over a lost love with a can of beer on the lonely beach. Nothing torrid about this scene; the romance had already faded long ago according to the singer. Still nothing like a song such as "Hishochi no Dekigoto" to nurse a cocktail with that paper umbrella before the summer goes out with the tide.