Takao Hirata & Sellsters -- Hachi no Musashi wa Shinda no sa（ハチのムサシは死んだのさ）

 

Last year, the media was going nuts about this horrifying horde known as the murder hornets. However, when I was much younger, it was all about the killer bees. Very similar modus operandi as well. I kept my prudent distance from any natural hives of honeybees in general and yet, these guys are also responsible for one of the finest and tastiest liquids ever made.

Quite the introduction for one fun little novelty song that I encountered recently. "Hachi no Musashi wa Shinda no sa" (Hey, Musashi the Bee Died) was the 2nd single for the band Takao Hirata & Sellsters（平田隆夫とセルスターズ）released in February 1972. Had a heck of a time trying to track down how to portray that final word in their name in romaji. Luckily, the Yahoo Japan search engine actually threw up an image of one of their records that had the name printed out in English.

Takao Hirata（平田隆夫）, a graduate from Musashino Academia Musicae in Tokyo, and Eiji Kikutani（菊谷英二）, formerly of the Group Sounds band Rubies（ルビーズ）, met up in 1968 and formed the Sellsters with a debut single, "Akuma ga Nikui"（悪魔がにくい...Detestable Demons）, in August 1971, which ended up at the top spot on Oricon for 5 straight weeks starting from January 1972. With Hirata on piano and vocals, and Kikutani on guitar and vocals, there was a shifting lineup but at the beginning, it was Remi Murabe（村部レミ）on lead vocals, Ai Mimin（みみんあい）on vocals, Osamu Oi*（小井修）on bass and chorus, and Toru Matsuyama（松山徹）on drums and chorus.

As for "Hachi no Musashi wa Shinda no sa", it was written by Ryohei Uchida（内田良平）and Chico Murofushi（むろふしチコ）with composition credits going to Hirata. Although the song didn't hit No. 1 this time, it still made it into the Top 10 by placing in at No. 8 and ending up as the No. 43 single of 1972. From the lyrics, it seems like the song is the apian version of Icarus in those wax wings trying to soar but dang it, just not making it as he falls to his death. Apparently, according to an interview on a 2017 music program dedicated to Showa Era kayo, the protagonist was some student who was taking on the world a little too hard through his school activities and burning himself out. Ah, overachiever, eh? That's definitely someone that I never was.

It may not have reached the top of the charts but it still sounds as if Hirata and his Sellsters made a lot of honey out of that 2nd single (sold around 600,000 records), since it was not only used for a pesticide commercial, but it was also played on various shows such as the tokusatsu classic "Ultraman Ace"（ウルトラマンA）and the anime "Tensai no Bakabon"（天才バカボン）. On top of that, at around the same time, another anime "Konchu Monogatari Minashigo Hacchi"（昆虫物語 みなしごハッチ...The Adventures of Hutch the Honeybee）, the adorable tale of a honeybee, was also very popular which helped out in the success of "Hachi no Musashi wa Shinda no sa". Basically by having all these kid-friendly media connections and the fact that the song has that cool Group Sounds arrangement paired with the catchy beat and title, it was really a no-lose proposition for this tune and a lot of children became fans of the Sellsters because of it; just surprised that it didn't go all the way to No. 1. The final bow on everything was that the band got their only invitation onto NHK's Kohaku Utagassen to sing this very song. 

A total of 13 singles and 10 albums were released by the band up to 2005, but sadly co-founder Kikutani passed away early last year at the age of 77.

*Both the first and last names of the bassist have a number of readings according to Jisho.org, and I couldn't confirm that full name, so if anyone can let me know if this is indeed the right reading, I'd be most appreciative.