Akira Kobayashi -- Dynamite ga Hyaku-go-juu Ton（ダイナマイトが百五十屯）

 

Just before dinner tonight, TV Japan was showing the weekly episode of "Songs of Japanese Spirit" from NHK's satellite channel, and it's been a while, but singer-actor Akira Kobayashi（小林旭）appeared in a segment in his tribute. The veteran entertainer just turned 83 a few weeks ago but he's still looking pretty spry and plenty burly.

From www2u.biglobe.ne.jp

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any footage of the above movie, "Nirenjuu no Tetsu"（二連銃の鉄）which has been translated online as "Tetsu's Shotgun" although I think that it sounds cooler literally translated as "Double-Barreled Tetsu". This April 1959 flick starred Kobayashi as Tetsutaro（鉄太郎）, a gun-for-hire who's fresh out of prison when he soon gets involved into another whirlwind of trouble and intrigue.

Anyways, one of the songs that Kobayashi performed on "Songs of Japanese Spirit" was "Dynamite ga Hyaku-go-juu Ton" (150 Tons of Dynamite) which wasn't the theme song for "Nirenjuu no Tetsu" but an insert song. Originally released as Kobayashi's 2nd single in November 1958, it's a pretty swinging kayo sung with plenty of brio by The Might Guy (his nickname) although the high pitch at which he sings out those first few words caught me off-guard. The melody by Toru Funamura（船村徹）is not quite jazz although it does sound jazzy and it's definitely not Mood Kayo but I gather that it is a tune that would be just great at a nightclub where Kobayashi is the featured performer. Shinichi Sekizawa（関沢新一）was the lyricist.

According to the intro given at the start of the video, the announcer states that "Dynamite ga Hyaku-go-juu Ton" may have been the first homegrown rock-n'-roll number to become a hit in Japan, although I'm still not quite sure whether I would consider this as such a tune from the rock genre (unfortunately, that video has been taken down).