Translation of the June 11th 2022 Interview with Tatsuro Yamashita by Yahoo Japan News (Page 4)

 

Voice training. Hmm...I've seen it done on television shows and movies such as "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" but always as a gag to be laughed at. I have no idea how singers and seiyuu, etc. prepare and warm up their larynxes. Do they la-la-la up and down various scales and/or race through tongue-twisters at warp speed?

One thing for sure...Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）doesn't do voice training. And so we will now go into Page 4 of this multi-page article. His opinions on voice training come near the end but first there will be some recollections on one of his most famous creations.

I Don't Do Voice Training

Interviewer: And yet, Yamashita has continued to express himself musically.

Yamashita: When Sugar Babe debuted, we were told that "DOWNTOWN" was no good as a single. Along with that, they said that "The melody is fine but the lyrics are weak" and "We're gonna have to have a professional lyricist take care of the words". When I objected, they shot back with stuff like "Don't you wanna sell? You'll be able to do anything once you do!". So I said "I don't particularly wanna go that far to sell records. It's 'DOWNTOWN' or nothing! If it isn't 'DOWNTOWN', then I quit. I don't care how long I end up at the bottom!". I was just 22. At the time, I thought that was pretty fuckin' cool! (LOL).

During the 1970s, we were literally musicians who couldn't sell anything. When "GO AHEAD!" was released as my solo album, I thought that this was probably the end for me. But then one of the tracks "Bomber" started becoming a hit in the Osaka discos, and that was the turning point. I finally caught my break, and that helped in making "Ride On Time" (1980) a hit. The previous albums were forced to be made on a low budget, and so even when I wanted to do another take during recording, I was told "There's no more money. If you wanna do what you want, how about selling some records?". So when it comes to why I wanted to sell, it was just to get that one more take. That principle has always stuck with me.

Interviewer: Yamashita says that it's a total lie that all is rosy and that one could live the life of Riley after a hit. It was still a tough slog to go through even after that. When he made "Pocket Music" in 1986, he was going through hell with the recording as it was during the time that analog was transitioning into digital. Even now, he always searches for the know-how on recording in tandem with the changes in technology.

Rule of thumb is a pretty intimidating thing and once you taste that one success, you tend to cling to it. Most artisans are in their 50s when they hit that sort of wall, and then they throw away the old things and try to pick up on the new, but then they go "Uh, nope! Up to now, I've come up here this way" and just get stuck. There are all sorts of these junctions along the way.

If you just rest on your laurels, you'll end up getting left behind in no time. I don't do streaming on Spotify but I always listen to the Top Global 50 on the service. Because it's absolutely vital for today's sound and vibe, I guess. To see how it can blend into the style that I've had up to now. Just like "Ride On Time" (LOL).

Interviewer: Yamashita began touring again from 2008 just when it was believed that the age of the compact disc was waning in the 2000s. He still sings his songs in their original key although he doesn't do any voice training.

Yamashita: I don't have much faith in voice training. Because it loses character. Take for example, bel canto in opera which requires training so that the voice can break through the walls of La Scala. But our voices come through microphones, and even if someone sounds husky or like a kid, that's also character in the voice. From the point of view of how far one can go physically, there are many instances where humans can't continue singing for long. That's why music culture has been accepted as a young person's culture, relatively speaking. It's just like soccer where as the years pass, it's not that easy to maintain a voice well. There are many factors which lead up to fortune or misfortune on how far a voice can project beyond 60 years of age.