Hiroko Taniyama -- Oyasumi（おやすみ）

 

As much as I have mentioned that singer-songwriter Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）had once been that mysterious figure whose name I'd always hear in the wind, fellow singer-songwriter Hiroko Taniyama（谷山浩子）perhaps has been even more of an enigma. From her J-Wiki article, she's been performing since 1972 in her mid-teens and I've seen a recent NHK "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）with one of her tunes. Yet, this is someone that I've never seen hit the huge stadiums or the charts, but of course, that's not to say that those things should define a singer's or band's success.

My impression is that she has specialized in love ballads and I think this is the case with her "Oyasumi" (Good Night), the B-side to her 11th single, "Tempura Sunrise"（てんぷら☆さんらいず）from April 1982. I'm going to have to see if that A-side is out there in YouTube land; it sounds like a fairly goofy and upbeat tune. "Oyasumi" is definitely the opposite: a melancholy number about a romantic loss (through death or breakup, we don't really know), that piano and Taniyama's tenderhearted vocals are enough to perhaps cherish the things that we hold most dear instead of taking them for granted.

"Oyasumi" also ended up on her June 1985 10th album "Nemurenai Yoru no Tame ni"（眠れない夜のために...For Sleepless Nights）, a release which peaked at No. 27 on Oricon. Taniyama wrote and composed the song but it was the City Pop duo, Tohoku Shinkansen（東北新幹線）, consisting of Hiroshi Narumi and Etsuko Yamakawa（鳴海寛・山川恵津子）who arranged it. The ballad also reminds me of a similarly-toned song, "Bungaku Shojo"（文学少女）, that was used to humourous effect in the anime "Danshi Kokosei no Nichijo"（男子高校生の日常...Daily Lives of High School Boys）.