Jackey Yoshikawa and his Blue Comets -- Blue Candle

 

When I began the first Xmas season for "Kayo Kyoku Plus" in the inaugural year of 2012, it was on this day that I put up Yumi Matsutoya's（松任谷由実）1978 "Lodge de Matsu Christmas" （ロッヂで待つクリスマス）, a J-Xmas tune that was as welcome and heartwarming as a bowl of soup on a cold day. At the time, though, I was naive enough to assume that Yuming's（ユーミン）Christmas classic was the very first original Japanese Yuletide song. However, I was quickly set right on discovering that the Queen of Kayo Kyoku herself, Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）, had recorded an original Xmas song all the way back in 1952, "Hitori Bocchi no Christmas" (ひとりぼっちのクリスマス）. And I'm sure that there have been others.

Well, for example, here is this Christmas-themed maxi-single or mini-album by Group Sounds band Jackey Yoshikawa and his Blue Comets（ジャッキー吉川とブルー・コメッツ）titled "Bara no Christmas"（バラのクリスマス...Roseate Christmas） from 1967. I was initially clued in on the Blue Comets' contribution to the Holidays via Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" November 1st podcast which covers the band's versions of some Christmas classics. However, the tracks on "Bara no Christmas" are original creations.

I'm taking care of the first track here, "Blue Candle", which sounds like an older doo-wop tune like "Earth Angel" by The Penguins, thanks to the melody by Blue Comet Tadao Inoue（井上忠夫）who would later change his name to Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）. Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）was responsible for the lyrics of a couple enjoying their romantic Holiday season. The song doesn't sound like a typical Christmas song, but I think that it still plays into the usual Japanese notion of the Holidays there being more like a second Valentine's Day.