Douji Morita -- Samishii Kumo（淋しい雲）

 

Whenever I hear the name Douji Morita（森田童子）, my thoughts will always go to that enigmatic singer-songwriter behind the theme song, "Boku Tachi No Shippai"（ぼくたちの失敗...Our Failures）, for the infamous 1993 Fuji-TV drama "Kou Kou Kyoushi"（高校教師...High School Teacher）. Although the song itself was released as a single in 1976, it fit the dark mood of that show almost twenty years later, overhanging the sinful proceedings going on within a high school. JTM wrote up that epic article on "Kou Kou Kyoushi" and then I provided one of my own articles on Morita's "Sayonara Boku no Tomodachi"（さよならぼくのともだち...Goodbye My Friend）, and my impression was that she had needed to get out some very gloomy thoughts through a very soft voice. I wrote that article in June 2018, just a few days after finding out that Morita had passed away at the age of 66.

About a year before the release of her most famous "Boku Tachi no Shippai", Morita had released her debut original album "GOOD BYE Good Bye" （GOOD BYEグッドバイ）in November 1975. In that album was the track "Samishii Kumo" (Lonely Clouds). Considering my impression of Morita thus far, this particular folk song is downright happy-go-lucky as a young man remembers a friend (or perhaps her status was even more elevated) who had been with him all throughout the summer but is no longer there (he misses her dearly). I don't get the impression that something untoward ever happened to the lass; perhaps she moved away or she's simply attending a different school. I'd just like to think that the couple will be back together again sometime soon.

Written and composed by Morita with Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏行）as arranger, I like the combination of harmonica, guitar and that gallant country piano. Morita's vocals here serve as something purely innocent and wistful, and hopefully the singer did look kindly upon "Samishii Kumo". Perhaps that title came about from the lad looking out the school windows and seeing those lonely clouds out there. Incidentally, the album "GOOD BYE Good Bye" got as high as No. 44 on Oricon.

The one thing that piqued my interest within the lyrics was the name "Mrs. Carmichael". Who the heck was Mrs. Carmichael? Thinking that finding the answer would probably be impossible, I punched in Morita's name, "Samishii Kumo" and then the name of the mystery woman here, and strangely enough, I did get a straight answer. Fascinatingly, Morita was a fan of the American sitcom on CBS, "The Lucy Show" (1962-1968), and that name in the lyrics for "Samishii Kumo" was for legendary comedienne Lucille Ball's character of Lucy Carmichael. I used to watch the show in the late afternoon rerun slot of 4 to 5 pm when I was a kid. 

I very barely remember any of the episodes of "The Lucy Show" but I do remember that imaginative kaleidoscope opening credit sequence featuring Lucy in her usual zany situations along with the brassy theme song. Moreover, it was the first time for me to realize how red her hair was after watching the original "I Love Lucy" which had been filmed in black and white. All this Lucy-Douji connection was due to Kazuhiro Kanai's（金井和宏）blog.

Good heavens! Never thought that an old sitcom from my childhood would ever figure in a kayo kyoku blog entry.