Hibari Misora/Ichiro Fujiyama -- Kage wo Shitaite（影を慕いて）

Recently, I played an old 33 rpm record of some of Hibari Misora's（美空ひばり）hits which included "Kage wo Shitaite", a very sad enka song written and composed by Masao Koga（古賀政男）that was originally recorded back in 1931 by Chiyoko Sato（佐藤千夜子）.

Now, our resident enka enthusiast Noelle Tham had written a Creator's article based on the works of Koga in which she explained a little bit about the genesis of "Kage wo Shitaite" (Longing for the Shadow). The song was born out of despair which came to a head in the summer of 1928 when Koga was around his mid-20s and was planning to commit suicide due to the feeling of darkness that had been pervading him with the arrival of Modernism to Japan. However, fortunately for him and for all of his future fans, he was able to get out of that self-destructive cycle and put his frustration onto paper and into song instead.

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?".