Kaientai -- Hito toshite（人として）

The last time that I saw "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, I noticed the folk group Kaientai（海援隊）led by veteran actor/singer Tetsuya Takeda（武田鉄矢）on stage at NHK. My natural assumption was that the band would perform "Okuru Kotoba"（贈る言葉）, since it is basically the song that Takeda and guitarists Kazuomi Chiba and Toshio Nakamuta（千葉和臣・中牟田俊男）are known for.

But I was given a pleasant surprise (not that I've gotten tired of "Okuru Kotoba" as one of the premier graduation kayo) when Kaientai performed something different. This turned out to be their 18th single, "Hito toshite" (As A Person) which was released in November 1980 and was also the theme song for the second season of "3-Nen B-Gumi, Kinpachi Sensei"（3年B組み金八先生...Mr. Kinpachi of Class 3B）, one of the most famous school-based dramas on Japanese TV, starring Takeda.

"Hito toshite" was a Kaientai creation with Takeda writing the lyrics while Chiba and Nakamuta composed the music. Sounding similar to the good-time folk of "Okuru Kotoba", which might explain why it didn't rise nearly as high as the earlier song on Oricon (peaked at No. 25), Takeda's lyrics relate some advice about people in general. Folks are reliably flawed but they're the only folks we have on the planet so love them all the same.

And since I didn't mention it in "Okuru Kotoba" (I wrote the article back in early 2012 when I had yet to get into the habit of also putting down the songwriters), I should say that it was Takeda who also provided the words there while Chiba took care of the music.