Inoko Noko -- Hustle Baa-chan（ハッスルばあちゃん）

 

Last week's Reminiscings of Youth entry was "The Hustle" by Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony, one of the premier songs of disco in the 1970s. I just realized that I'd forgotten to quickly put up another song that had a connection.

Inspired by "The Hustle", the long-running Fuji-TV kids' show "Hirake! Ponkiki"（ひらけ!ポンキッキ）had a couple of songwriters, lyricist Hiroo Takada（高田ひろお）and composer Juichi Sase（佐瀬寿一）, come up with their own brand of disco for the children. Titled "Hustle Baa-chan" (Grandma Hustle), this came out as a single in September 1976 after it got its due being played during the episodes with a fun old lady who may have had to wear the dentures and utilize a cane but could still get down like John Travolta on a Saturday night.

Can't say that it's a verbatim copy of Van McCoy's magnum opus but it's a kid-friendly kayo with some of those disco trappings. It was sung by Inoko Noko（のこいのこ）, who was born Ikuyo Inoko（猪子育代）in Yokohama, and has been known as one of the most prolific commercial jingle singers going from the 20th to the 21st centuries with over 800 jingles under her belt. She's also performed many songs for "Hirake! Ponkiki" as well. 

You can give a listen to some of Noko's commercial jingles such as the one for Nikka Salad Oil and even more famous, the one for Onoden Electronics. I used to hear the latter all the time.