Norihiko Hashida and Climax -- Futari dake no Tabi（ふたりだけの旅）

Another kayo singer-songwriter left this mortal coil earlier today. Norihiko Hashida（はしだのりひこ）who participated in a number of bands, notably The Folk Crusaders（ザ・フォーク・クルセダーズ）and Norihiko Hashida and Climax（はしだのりひことクライマックス）, passed away at the age of 72 due to Parkinson's Disease.

I wanted to do a small tribute to him so I did a search on his J-Wiki page. His band Norihiko Hashida and Climax had that huge hit from their debut single "Hanayome"（花嫁）when it was first released in January 1971. But then I found their second single which came out later in June of that year, "Futari dake no Tabi" (A Trip Just For Two).

Written by Osamu Kitayama（北山修）, Hashida's old bandmate from The Folk Crusaders and composed by Hashida, "Futari dake no Tabi" keeps the cheeriness of "Hanayome" but also brings in a bit more of a seeming urgency that rather makes the song sound less like a folk song and more like something from the Old West. The theme of marriage continues with this song from their debut hit, though, as a young couple puts up roots and then heads off on a trip somewhere...perhaps the honeymoon.

There's no mention about how it did on the Oricon weeklies but according to the folks at entamedata, the song was the 71st-ranked single for 1971.