Yujiro Ishihara -- When the Saints Go Marching In

 

"When the Saints Go Marching In" is one of the oldest songs that I know. According to Wikipedia, it started out as a Christian hymn which transformed into one of the most popular jazz standards, thanks to greats such as the legendary Louis Armstrong in 1938.

However, the thing is that Satchmo wasn't the first fellow to introduce me to the song. There were actually two other fellows who did, though, when I was a wee toddler, and one of them is a fictional character. Yep, as you can see above, it was good ol' Fred Flintstone who gave me his own rendition back in the 1960s.

As for the other fellow, well, it was the Tough Guy and the Boss himself: Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）. Earlier today, I was listening to Scott's latest podcast on "Holly Jolly X'mas" which focused on his 1966 Christmas album "Xmas Carol" and at around 16 minutes into the episode, I heard Ishihara's version and it turned out to be the one that I remember hearing as a kid on one of my parents' LPs. Didn't know at the time and for many years after that, who was going all super jazzy on "When the Saints Go Marching In", which, incidentally, is titled as "Seija no Koushin"（聖者の行進...March of the Saints）, but today I finally found out.

Fred Flintstone went all in for his performance and so did the Tough Guy as well; Scott said that he really seemed to enjoy singing that one. And I enjoyed listening to this one too, especially since I can now say that I actually listened to an Ishihara song far earlier than once thought. Until today, I thought that his Mood Kayo classic from 1977, "Brandy Glass" (ブランデーグラス）was my first listen to him.

Since another Christmas season at "Kayo Kyoku Plus" will soon be upon us in less than two weeks, I will have to get at least one of Yuletide Yujiro's songs of the season onto the blog. But in the meantime, have a listen to Scott's podcast and get his insights regarding "Xmas Carol".