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| (1952-2023) |
I end this broadcasting day on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" on a sad note unfortunately since there has been another Japanese musician who has left this mortal coil. Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" Twitter feed was the first source that I had read about Yukihiro Takahashi's（高橋幸宏）passing at the age of 70 on January 11th, but then I saw that in the last several hours, other accounts were posting their condolences and tributes to the singer-songwriter, drummer and producer. I knew that Takahashi had been suffering from a brain tumour but it was still a shock to hear about his death.
The Tokyo-born Takahashi was involved with a number of bands and other music projects ranging from the Sadistic Mica Band in the 1970s to METAFIVE in the 2010s. Of course, he had his own solo career, coming out with albums such as "Saravah!" in 1978. However, I will always know and cherish him as the drumming and singing member of the legendary Yellow Magic Orchestra which also had bassist Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）. Takahashi was the one who composed "Rydeen" (雷電）, one of the trademark songs if not the trademark song for YMO and perhaps even a musical symbol for 1980s Japan.
In tribute to the man, I found this really happy-go-lucky December 1980 3rd solo single by Takahashi called "Kanaishiki Blue Colour Worker" (Blue Colour Worker). Written by Chris Mosdell and composed by his YMO partner Hosono, it's really a laidback pop duet stroll down the merry lane while it is dressed up in all of those synthesizers and technology. Takahashi's singing partner is none other than Sandii from Sandii & The Sunsetz and the two of them seem to be having a ball behind the mike. Also from Hip Tank Records, I found out that it was Kenji Omura（大村憲司）handling the electric guitar. "Kanashiki Blue Colour Worker" was also a track on his 2nd album "Ongaku Satsujin"（音楽殺人...Murdered by the Music） from June 1980 which peaked at No. 12 on Oricon.
Mosdell's lyrics might be hard to hear due to all of the techno stuff happening to Takahashi's and Sandii's voices, but I did find a YouTube commenter by the name of Arisu who was kind enough to provide them underneath the video. Just in case, though, I will also put them down below. My condolences go to Takahashi's family, friends and fans, and also to Sakamoto and Hosono along with all of those other musicians and singers that he worked with over the decades.
Walls of blue I'm walking through
Blinding my eyes
Flooding in behind
Washing away
The colour I see
The colour in me
The colour I feel
The Blues
Sometimes green carry knives of envy
The Blues
Sometimes see red
Keep it bottled in their heads
The Blues
Sometimes green
The Blues
Sometimes see red
The Blues are colour blind
To all but blue in their eyes
Walls of blue
Surprise you
Out of the blue
(Blue is you) [transcriber's note: not included in the lyric book, going by what I hear]
Naked blue
Is a red letter
Written about you
(Blue is you)
The Blues
Sometimes green carry knives of envy
The Blues
Sometimes see red
Keep it bottled in their heads
The Blues
Sometimes green
The Blues
Sometimes see red
The Blues are colour blind
To all but blue in their eyes
Blue is silent
Blue is golden
The touch of blue
Leaves blueprints on you
[instrumental]
Walls of blue I'm walking through
Blinding my eyes
Flooding in behind
Washing away the colour I see
The colour in me
The colour I feel
The Blues
Sometimes green carry knives of envy
The Blues
Sometimes see red
Keep it bottled in their heads
The Blues
Sometimes green
The Blues
Sometimes see red
The Blues are colour blind
To all but blue in their eyes
Blue is silent
Blue is golden
The touch of blue
Leaves blueprints on you
[instrumental]
Blue is silent
Blue is golden
The touch of blue
Leaves blueprints on you (rep x4)
As a PS, Takahashi was the YMO member that I saw the most on television during those early years in Japan. He used to host a late-night Friday entertainment news series called "AXEL".
RIP. One of the tributes I saw yesterday was from Questlove of The Roots. He posted a clip of them playing on Soul Train and I was shocked because I never would have expected that but I looked up the performance on Youtube and they were groovin' along with the audience.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. It's been a sad day and I noticed on Twitter that there have been many, many tweets in tribute to Takahashi including Taeko Ohnuki and the American band SPARKS. I ended up listening to one of his tracks from "Saravah!" and then a couple of versions of "Rydeen".
DeleteStill can't cope with his death. Such a huge loss...
ReplyDeleteIt's truly a pity but we still have that huge legacy of music to listen to for years and years.
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