Shinichi Mori -- Toshiue no Hito（年上の女）

It's the middle of the week and I'm feeling rather shibui, so perhaps it's time for a spot of enka. Not being much of a drinker, I never really got to explore too much of the side street nomiya or other watering holes during my life in Japan. However, perhaps it is because of this fact that I've managed to retain some feeling of romanticism about the image of a regular seen-it-all and done-it-all patron entering his favourite bar somewhere deep in the city or town.

Veteran Shinichi Mori（森進一）doesn't make too many appearances on the music shows that appear on TV Japan anymore, so it's always nice when he does come on and sing some of those oldies. He did make an appearance on last weekend's "Omoide no Melody"（思い出のメロディー）, though.

I came across this very early record from his discography titled "Toshiue no Hito" (An Older Woman) which was released as his 11th single in November 1968. It's one of those classic tenderhearted enka ballads about a man and the titular older woman who have enjoyed a torrid affair but now have to part permanently. There isn't anyone out there who can render such heartbreaking sadness in an enka song (with the exception of Hibari Misora) than Mori when it comes to sweet sorrow. Crying in one's sake is definitely a thing here.

(empty karaoke version)

Written by Takami Nakayama*（中山貴美）and Takeshi Mizusawa（水沢たけし）and composed by Masao Saiki（彩木雅夫）, this was another hit for the young Mori as it made it up to No. 4 on Oricon and became the 14th-ranked single for 1969. The record sold a total of 800,000 copies, but it wouldn't be until 2014 when the singer finally sang it on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen.