Ikimonogakari (いきものがかり) - YELL

Recently, I've written 3 consecutive pieces about Akina, and most of them were love songs (and sad too).  Let's change the scenery a little bit.

Do you remember what song you sang with your classmates at graduation? Or maybe you didn't sing anything at all?

I never went to high-school in North America, so may be this feels a bit cheesy for Americans and/or Canadians.  But I surely remember it was a fixture when I was attending secondary school in Hong Kong.  Our school designated one day as Teachers' Day, and the graduating classes would organize a 3-hour performance for our teachers' enjoyment (since all teachers are at the performance, there'll be no class; rest of students can watch the show or play soccer, basketball etc.).  Some people would do short skits, or a monomane of some of our teachers (think Alec Baldwin's impression of Trump).  Some people would do a group speech.  Some people may choose to do group singing.  When they sang, the song was usually about farewell and friendship.

I remember that there's this wildly popular song that I heard every year, and even multiple times on the same Teachers' Day.  It was a cover song from Randy Sparks' Today.  The Cantonese version, named "Sitting Across Each Other, Silent" (相對無言), was covered by Michael Kwan (關正傑), who was extremely popular in the late 70s and early 80s.  The Cantonese lyrics was actually quite touching.  It is about 2 people who vowed to pursue their dreams at graduation.  But many years later, when they met again, they realized that they've all changed.  Both of them had to abandon their dreams in order to adapt to the society they lived in.  They drank, they cried, they held each other in their arms.  At the end, they cheered each other, wished each other well, and hoped their fate would change some day.  Reminds me of Bruce Springsteen's Glory Days.

This is Randy Sparks' Today covered by Glen Campbell: https://youtu.be/DqKNTn3UWI0

And this is Michael Kwan's Cantonese version: https://youtu.be/xoqydwRJyYU

On my Teachers' Day during graduation, we decided to sing this one:

For Japanese high-schoolers, Ikimonogakari's YELL has become a very popular farewell song.  According to wiki, Oricon's "Graduation Song Ranking 2012" ranked YELL as the 2nd most popular farewell/graduation song on its chart.

Yoshiki Mizuno (水野良樹), the primary song writer and lyricist for Ikimonogakari, was invited by NHK to write a theme song for the 2009 NHK All-Japan School Choir Competition.  The requirement from NHK was to write something "as up-tempo (cheering) as possible".  However, Yoshiki looked back on his days at high-school when he was deeply confused and frustrated, and wrote YELL, along with one more "up-tempo" song.  At the end, NHK chose YELL to be the theme song.

YELL was the first song I heard from Ikimonogakari.  I watched their live performance at 2009 Kouhaku (紅白).  I have to admit that the vocalist, Kiyoe Yoshioka (吉岡聖恵), looks like my ex-girlfriend and so they got my immediate attention :)  I was very impressed by their performance.  Probably, I was watching Kouhaku for the first time after many years of absence, and was pleasantly surprised by the new music scene.  I was still living in Akina era back then :)

I couldn't find that Kouhaku performance anymore, but I found this live performance in their 2015 concert (maybe not).  I've heard a much better live performance from Kiyoe.

YELL, as I mentioned previously, is a reflection on Yoshiki's young self.  It was about exploring your inner self.  Often, we're living the "image" or "impression" of people around us, and as a result we're lost and confused.  Saying goodbye to our friends, and choosing our own path, is nothing sad at all.  It's a chance for us to reborn, and search for our own ultimate self.

Chris Hart, an American who made his singing career in Japan, covered for this song as well.  Enjoy!