J-Canuck's Favourite Kyohei Tsutsumi Songs (A Tribute)

 

This morning, I was watching the usual NHK evening news broadcast when there was a brief one-minute statement announcing the passing of prolific kayo and J-Pop composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）. He had passed away on October 7th from pneumonia at the age of 80 but to hear that one of the musical greats was gone still had my jaw dropping.

The news was still quite fresh in the media which explained the brevity of the announcement but I think for someone like Tsutsumi, there will be big tributes to the composer in the weeks and perhaps months to come on shows such as "Uta Kon"（うたコン）and maybe there will be a show dedicated to him on at least one of the major networks. Certainly, he was well represented on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" over the years via articles on individual songs and even articles showing how big he was such as a Creator article and an Author's Pick. Not surprisingly, Tsutsumi probably has the most number of KKP articles as a songwriter which partially reflects his status as the No. 1 popular music composer in Japan and also how much I enjoyed his work over the years. My most recent article involving him was about a week ago for Asami Kobayashi（小林麻美）.

As such, I've decided to pay tribute to the Tokyo native by showing off some of my favourites composed by him. It was fairly difficult to pare down; I had thought that I could give five but could do no "better" than ten. The majority are naturally the big hits but there are also a few that are perhaps not well known but are quite dear to me.

1. Ayumi Ishida -- Blue Light Yokohama (1968)

"Blue Light Yokohama" by the vivacious Ayumi Ishida（いしだあゆみ）, I think, was one of Tsutsumi's earliest hits and remains one of his evergreen classics. I also think it has one of the best intros to any kayo, and the song was created in tandem with Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）, his first regular songwriting partner. It may be an oldie but whenever I enter Yokohama itself, this song inevitably enters my brain at some point.

2. Hiromi Ohta -- Momen no Handkerchief (1975)

The song may not have the happiest lyrics by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, another frequent songwriting partner, but there's no doubting the bouncy melody by Tsutsumi. Since I hadn't been a lyrics person at the time, when I first heard "Momen no Handkerchief" sung by Hiromi Ohta（太田裕美）, I just thought it was one of the most carefree songs that I had ever heard in Japan.

3. Junko Ohashi -- Tasogare My Love (1978)

Another wonderful creation by Tsutsumi and Matsumoto, Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）"Tasogare My Love" also showed that the former could also come up with some of that urban kayo along with the breezy love ballads. For Ohashi fans, there are plenty of splendid examples in her discography but "Silhouette Romance" and this one are probably the two songs that Ohashi is widely known for.

4. Judy Ongg -- Miserarete (1979)

In Tsutsumi's vast collection of songs, Judy Ongg's "Miserarete" is his biggest-selling single and one of the prime examples of the exotic kayo boom that was taking place in the late 1970s. Of course, a lot of folks will point out the visual spectacle of Ongg and that dress of hers, but that dramatic and free-flowing melody has provided the wind beneath her wings (as corny as that may read).

5. MANNA -- Tokio Tsushin (1980)

Compared to the previous songs, MANNA's "Tokio Tsushin" is probably one of the lesser-known creations by Tsutsumi but it has been one of my favourites by the composer. It's got that disco beat, to be sure, and I think he was on that disco kick for a bit, but it also has some of that exotic kayo feeling as well. Perhaps he was aiming for France in this case. As I mentioned to one person, "Tokio Tsushin" is appealingly quirky.

6. Kyoko Endo -- Kokuhaku Telephone (1981)

"Kokuhaku Telephone" is another appealingly quirky and lesser-known song composed by Tsutsumi with new singer Endo（遠藤響子）providing the lyrics. "Kayo Kyoku Plus" helped me get to know more about the songwriters for all of the kayo, and with Tsutsumi, I first got to realize how many of the big hits he was responsible for, but then with further digging, I also discovered that he had a lot of hidden gems in his jewel case as well. For "Kokuhaku Telephone", the setting might be a stationary one by the phone but Tsutsumi makes it all sounds like a whirlwind tour around the city.

7. Hiroshi Itsuki -- Aishitsuzukeru Bolero (1982)

As I stated in the original article for "Aishitsuzukeru Bolero", this won't be one of the bigger songs for enka/kayo master Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）, but it's still one of my favourites by the singer and that is because of Tsutsumi's melody. The composer splendidly weaves in Latin, Mood Kayo and even some hint of City Pop to create that classy tune to accompany a drink in an expensive Akasaka bar. After first listening to this one on "Sounds of Japan", I realized that Itsuki wasn't just strictly an enka singer.

8. Jun'ichi Inagaki -- Natsu no Claxon (1983)

For me, "Natsu no Claxon" is one of Inagaki's trademark tunes as he wistfully sings about the end of the hot season, and Tsutsumi here spins up a bluesy City Pop/AOR melody handled by the piano, strings and background chorus to provide instant relaxation and some reminiscing of the pop ballads of yesteryear on the radio. Summer might be going away for another year but it's going out gracefully.

9. TOKIO -- Ambitious Japan (2003)

I think by this point, Tsutsumi may not have been as prevalent in the pop culture sphere but he still provided a banger with "Ambitious Japan" by the Johnny's Entertainment band TOKIO. I'm not sure if the composer had meant to do so, but he may have given the staff of Japan Railways and for that matter, anyone who wants to see Japan get higher, stronger and faster, the song to rev up to. The entire arrangement is designed to power a maglev train up to 603 kph and then whip it across the country. I'd probably say that this is my favourite Johnny's song.

10. Kiyohiko Ozaki -- Mata Au Hi Made (1971)

I've saved this one up for the very last entry since I think as a final farewell song for Kyohei Tsutsumi, "Mata Au Hi Made" is the one to use since it does mean "Until We Meet Again". Ironically, when I wrote up the article back in June 2012, it was on the occasion of singer Kiyohiko Ozaki's（尾崎紀世彦）death. One of Tsutsumi's greatest creations may have been initially meant for an air conditioner commercial, but I think since then, it has become not only Ozaki's most famous song but also a fine kayo of bittersweet bye-byes and then hoped-for reunions. Speaking of hope, I do hope that this will be the show-ending showstopper for any televised tribute to Tsutsumi. Perhaps this could be an idea for the upcoming Kohaku Utagassen, as different as it will be this year.

As I mentioned off the top of the article, it was difficult to pare down my choices and I've left a few that I would have put up if I had wanted to push it to twenty. However, these are my own favourites but if any of you have your favourites that I didn't mention, please feel free to say so below.

Although I couldn't track down how many songs he composed in total during his 55+ years in music, according to his J-Wiki article, Tsutsumi has 2709 songs registered in JASRAC which I'm pretty sure is only part of that total. He may not have covered the entire breadth of music in Japan (just couldn't see him doing punk rock or hardcore enka) but he took care of a huge chunk of it. One question that I've seen pop up in Japanese sometimes for a Tsutsumi tune (and one that I've blurted out myself) in the comments section of a YouTube video consists of three words, a question mark and an exclamation mark: "He composed that?!". Yup, he certainly did. 

He may not have been as prolific in recent years as he once was, but he kept on working right to the end. In fact, his final song was one he did for seiyuu/singer Azusa Tadokoro（田所あずさ）in mid-2019 at the age of 78.