Mieko Takamine & Noboru Kirishima -- Junjou Nijuusou（純情二重奏）

From the new collection of old 45s that I received from Steve some weeks ago, I found this donut-ban by actress-singer Mieko Takamine（高峰三枝子）. Looking at the cover, I had imagined that the songs involved were produced sometime in the 1960s being unaware how far back Takamine's career started.

Actually, the first song on the 45, "Junjou Nijuusou" (Duet of Innocence) was sung by Takamine and Noboru Kirishima（霧島昇）all the way back in 1939 as the theme song for the movie of the same title which starred Takamine. I don't know anything of that film but judging from Yaso Saijo's（西條八十）lyrics, it must have been a bittersweet production as the words talk about two young lovers who started out as orphans missing their mothers.

Even though I categorized the song as an enka tune, I'm not quite sure whether it would be considered as such by kayo fans. The melancholy/jaunty melody by Tadashi Manjome（万城目正）perhaps could be equated with the sweet music that had been popular at the oh-so-dainty evening parties back in the United States at around the same time. Some folks in the States back then probably would have seen jazz as being a little too raunchy.

In any case, "Junjou Nijuusou", both movie and song, brought Takamine to everyone's attention according to the J-Wiki article on the film.