Kunie Tanaka -- Sammy Bow（サミー・ボウ）

 

Continuing on from Friday's article in which I noted the passing of actor Kunie Tanaka（田中邦衛）on March 24th this year, I found out that Tanaka had released a couple of singles in 1971 and 1980 (though J-Wiki states the latter single came out in 1981).

The latter one is "Sammy Bow", and that romanization of the title is a pure guess on my part. I really don't know about who the title character is outside of the revelation through Yu Aku's（阿久悠）lyrics that he is the son of the protagonist and he was born in a port town. Perhaps it's a tribute to the scion in the same way that the old chestnut "Danny Boy" is.

I punched in the original katakana for "Sammy Bow" in Yahoo Japan, and I certainly got a hit which led me to the J-Wiki article for Sammy Baugh (March 17, 1914 – December 17, 2008) who played for the Washington Redskins in the National Football League. Not really sure if Tanaka's ballad and Baugh really have a connection.

Perhaps Tanaka's vocals weren't the most polished but their cracking and crackling qualities helped the image of a father's heartfelt feelings toward his son within a country melody composed by Katsuo Ono（大野克夫）and arranged by Takayuki Inoue（井上堯之）. A year after the release of "Sammy Bow", the heartwarming family drama "Kita no Kuni kara"（北の国から）starring Tanaka also came onto the small screen so an emotional connection can be made there.

The above video might have a few of Tanaka's fans getting a little misty-eyed at this time because it shows a 1980 Budokan concert celebrating the 20th anniversary of Yuzo Kayama's（加山雄三）career. Kayama and Tanaka were the rivals in the "Wakadaisho"（若大将）film series in the 1960s, and Kayama had his old co-star come onto the stage to sing "Sammy Bow". Kayama graciously pointed out that without Tanaka, there probably wouldn't have been any Kayama in show business.