Yasuo Tanabe -- Lullaby Tokyo（ララバイ東京）

 

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1ja411e7g8/

I figure that singer and actor Yasuo Tanabe（田辺靖雄）must have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth in regards to the entertainment industry. His father was Masaharu Tanabe（田辺正晴）, an NHK announcer who was the main host of the first two editions of the national network's Kohaku Utagassen on radio in 1951 and 1952. As well, he and composer/conductor Koichi Sugiyama（すぎやまこういち）were the core of the Roppongi Yajunkai（六本木野獣会...Roppongi Wild Animal Pack） which was basically Japan's take on Hollywood's Rat Pack, and this group had celebrities including actress Reiko Ohara（大原麗子）and future Group Sounds band The Spiders'（ザ・スパイダース）member Jun Inoue（井上順）as part of the group. His nephew also happens to be one-half of Shibuya-kei pioneer Flipper's Guitar（フリッパーズ・ギター）, Keigo Oyamada（小山田圭吾）.

He was scouted in 1961 by Watanabe Productions and in 1963, he did a duet with singer Michiyo Azusa（梓みちよ）which was a cover of Paul and Paula's "Hey Paula", becoming a huge hit. Later that year, Tanabe was one of the White team on that edition's Kohaku Utagassen (hope his old man was proud); he would make one more appearance on the New Year's Eve special in the following year. In September 1968, another single that he released was "Lullaby Tokyo", not to be confused with the 1978 "Tokyo Lullaby"（東京ららばい）by Rie Nakahara（中原理恵）.

Although "Lullaby Tokyo" just has him behind the mike, the arrangement of Masaaki Hirao's（平尾昌晃）melody is pure Mood Kayo right down to the Latin guitar that sounds like it could be covered by any of those genre groups such as Los Indios or Los Primos. Lyricist Akari Yamaguchi（山口あかり）sets the scene of a fellow comforting an inconsolable paramour because in all likelihood, their night together will be their final night together. He even offers to croon a sweet tune to her to lighten the mood, although I don't think that it will be successful.