The Works of Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）

 

2020 has been a rough year for many reasons, a lot of them due to COVID-19 but it's also been a sad year in that a number of famous songwriters have passed away. Kayo kyoku's most prolific composer Kyohei Tsutsumi （筒美京平）died earlier in September and then another famed lyricist Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）left this mortal coil only a few days ago. Then on December 20th, lyricist/composer Taiji Nakamura also passed away from liver cancer at the age of 81.

According to a Sankei Sports article from 2017 via J-Wiki, the songwriter was born in Nara Prefecture in May 1939. He was a junior high school student when he joined the brass band club where he played the trombone. Feeling restricted from performing marching music, Nakamura turned into more of a jazz enthusiast. However, although there was no band club in senior high school, as a sophomore, he became enamored with the rock n' roll of Elvis Presley and Neil Sedaka, and at the height of the rockabilly boom, he even got his own pompadour hairstyle.

At the age of 18, Nakamura joined a band which included actor/musicians Yuya Uchida and Mitsuo Sagawa（内田裕也・佐川満男）called Blue Jean Bops（ブルージーン・バップス）where he took on the stage name of vocalist Taiji Mikawa（美川鯛二）. This is where J-Wiki takes a huge leap forward in time, only then mentioning that Nakamura had actually run for the Nara Prefecture gubernatorial election in 1995, only to finish in second place.

But of course between 1957 and 1995, Nakamura had all those years to create many songs for many singers, some of which have become kayo classics such as the elegiac "Kassai"（喝采）, a huge hit and trademark tune for Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）in 1972. The video at the very top has Nakamura singing the song himself.

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

As mentioned, though, he had his time behind the mike as Taiji Mikawa but the only song that I could find of him singing is "Kimagure Date"（気まぐれデート...Whimsical Date）, a B-side to his 2nd single in 1962 "Akai Yacht wa Shindeita"（赤いヨットは死んでいた...The Red Yacht was Dead） and a cover to Bryan Hyland's "Every Other Night" released the same year. Hyland is more famous for his 1960 novelty hit "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini". As for "Kimagure Date", listening to the Hyland original with the male chorus, I have to confess some confusion as to why the Mikawa cover had to include a female chorus that's practically shrieking.

Not exactly sure when Nakamura made his foray as a full-time songwriter but perhaps one of his early works was "Ima wa Shiawase kai"（今は幸せかい）for his old bandmate Sagawa in 1968. 

Nakamura didn't just focus on the more melancholy aspects of kayo. He also provided a huge number of songs for 70s aidoru Junko Sakurada（桜田淳子） such as her "Watashi no Aoi Tori"（わたしの青い鳥）in 1973. 

In 1982, Nakamura also composed the song that would be another big hit for enka singer Takashi Hosokawa (細川たかし）, "Kita Sakaba" (北酒場）. It's a kayo that has been my second choice in the karaoke box all these years.

There are quite a few songs that I've also put into the Nakamura list here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but I also wanted to include a couple of more that I had yet to cover. One example is "Futari wa Hitori"（ふたりはひとり...Two are One）, a song performed by Sachiko Kobayashi（小林幸子）and written by Kotaro Aso（麻生香太郎）. Recorded in 1980, it's a light and cheerful enka thanks to the singer, the strings and the guitar.

One more discovery that I'll include to wrap up is Nakamura's music for Miki Obata's（小畑ミキ）1968 B-side, "Goodnight Andy"（グッドナイト・アンディー）with the A-side being "Kono Hana ni Ai wo Komete"（この花に愛をこめて...These Flowers With Love）. Obata herself provided the lyrics to Nakamura's melody which sounds like his old roots of rock n' roll. 

Perhaps Nakamura's output wasn't quite as prolific as those of Tsutsumi but he has also left his generous share of kayo classics to be performed and cherished.