Hibari Misora -- Ore-tachi no Uta Ima Doko ni（俺達の歌今どこに）

Oh, so shibui. I haven't heard too much enka or Mood Kayo recently, especially with the summer songs taking over the previous episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）. So it's nice to encounter one of the oldies but goodies by the Queen of Kayo Kyoku herself.

I'm not totally sure about the release of Hibari Misora's（美空ひばり）"Ore-tachi no Uta Ima Doko ni" (Where Is Our Song Now?) but a couple of YouTube videos had it pegged down in either 1978 or 1979. Well, I will go with the latter for now.

Part of the title will give the show away in terms of who Misora is characterizing in Hiroshi Yokoi's（横井弘）lyrics. Ore refers to the very informal masculine version of the first-person singular so the legend is singing from the man's point of view. In this case, the song composed by another late legend, Toru Funamura（船村徹）, has Misora singing in that lower register with a slightly playful but also wistful tone about how time is passing by. It's not just about the music that has been changing but also the world that has been evolving as the guys spend time at the local nomiya reminiscing and commiserating. The singer seems to take on a tipsy delivery to reflect those hours drinking with good buddies. Even the song itself has that slightly tipsy quality.

The above version has a boozy sax in there so "Ore-tachi no Uta Ima Doki ni" perhaps has a more Mood Kayo flavour here. And indeed, those two fellow bracketing her are Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）on the left and Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）on the right in their younger days (unfortunately that video has been taken down and replaced). Itsuki and Kitajima were probably already enka veterans when this concert took place but can you imagine how they still felt standing with Misora herself? By the same token, can you imagine them now seeing this video wearing those clothes? Ah, those were the 1970s for you.