One reason that I decided to do a follow-up of sorts after Noelle's 2017 description was that this was another Misora ballad that I had been hearing for years probably starting when I was a small kid, and I've placed her "Kage wo Shitaite" alongside "Kanashii Sake"(悲しい酒)as her most tear-inducing works. If there is a certain similarity between them, it's probably because Koga had also composed the latter song. The evolution in recording techniques aside between Sato's original in 1931 and the possible recording of Misora's cover in 1969, there is a certain Misora-esque grandeur in her version although that same poignant mandolin intro has remained constant in the many covers by other singers.
When I listened to Sato's original via Noelle's article, my impression was that the song took on a simpler but operatic quality as if it had certainly been meant to be sung in front of others but also in humbler surroundings, among friends and/or fellow barflies. In a movie, I would have seen the formerly jollity in the drinking establishment dissipate temporarily for customers to reflect on their station in life over their drinks.
Ichiro Fujiyama's(藤山一郎)version came out in March 1932 and it was noticeable by how quickly that mandolin opening went before that melancholy tone set in once more. Plus, it sounds like that the instrument contributed a little more before a fuller orchestra entered the picture. Fujiyama's cover came across as the one that would have been performed on a radio program. Of course, Fujiyama and Sato have different voices but that common mournful quality still wafts through the air.
One other reason that I put up "Kage wo Shitaite" is that it has made for an interesting comparison with an American standard by one of the foremost authors of the Great American Songbook, Irving Berlin. Somewhere in my cardboard boxes is Ken Burns' multi-volume DVD discourse on jazz and I remember that the song "What'll I Do?" was given some attention. According to the Wikipedia article for the song, Berlin had created it as a forlorn inquiry following the end of a romantic relationship, although I had remembered it (perhaps wrongly) on the Burns DVD as his despairing message over the death of a loved one.
I'm not sure how jazz purists have felt about Linda Ronstadt's tackling of the standards through her 1983 album "What's New?", but I purchased my copy of the album years ago, and I still love her take on "What'll I Do?".
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