Hideo Murata -- Meotozake (夫婦酒)

 

I love sweets, but this will be what gives me cavities.

I think I've established that enka veteran Hideo Murata (村田英雄), in spite of his larger than life manly man demeanor, can turn on a dime and turn that ferocious scowl into an adorable grin... Pretty much the inverse of fellow kayo-rokyoku artiste Haruo Minami (三波春夫). He's like a burnt marshmallow - crusty and hard on the outside, but gooey and sweet on the inside. His penchant for recording very many meoto (husband and wife) enka over his long career furthers this soft side of his. The best example of that would probably be "Meoto Shunju" (夫婦春秋), with "Meotozake" being a close second. 

Nana Hazono's (はぞのなな) words to "Meotozake" (Husband and Wife sake) talk about a couple who's been through some really rough times but have now achieved the happiness they strived for, and so are having a drink to that and to many more years to come. With words like that, one could imagine that "Meotozake" is like a sequel to "Meoto Shunju"; the latter highlighting the beginning and trials of the relationship and the former a celebration at how far they've come. Chiaki Oka's (岡千秋) rather grand sounding melody seems to aptly fit this celebratory, maybe even triumphant occasion. In true Murata fashion, he fiercely growls out certain bits and has his eyebrows set in a frown a third of the time, but somehow that just makes it sweeter every time he breaks into a smile and emphasizes the fact that the message is coming from a stoic showa era man who's usually too shy to bear his heart to the woman he loves. 

"Meotozake" was released in 1980 and I think it was popular enough since Muchi sang it during the Kohaku in that same year.

Anyways, although I have "Meotozake" in one of my Murata compilation albums, the live versions just hit better, as with a number of songs I like in general. But, no live version of this ode to a happy marriage hits better than Murata and Minami's version in a rare joint performance in 1983, the whole of which can be watched here. Every enka fan's dream come true, the hilarious duet is easily my favourite part of this amazing collaboration. The biggest kicker being the moment the announcer said, "One of you has to be the WiFe, though." I think it's pretty obvious who took on that role... And I love how Haru-san is able to make Muchi blush. 10/10 I don't know how many times I've watched it already.

Objectively speaking, though, I like this duet because I thought the back and forth between man and wife fit the context of the song well. But, after being blessed with this rendition, I can never hear/see the studio-recorded "Meotozake" the same way again.

My heart...

OH, if the enka world EVER did shipping they'd surely be number one. Not even Hachi and Michi can top that. So, I tried giving them a ship name and settled with "Haru-Hide" because combining their names otherwise gave either "Haru-o" or "Hide-o" which defeats the purpose of a ship name... I'd drink to that. Oolong tea, of course.