So that I don't end up confusing folks who have been reading the Yutaka Kimura Speaks file over the past number of weeks now, last week's edition with Marina Watanabe（渡辺満里奈）and her "Anata kara Tooku e"（あなたから遠くへ）is indeed No. 4 in "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020). Logically then, we would have No. 5 tonight but I have yet to cover that song (which I will do soon) and so I'm going to jump ahead to No. 6.
Number: 006
Lyricist/Composer/Arranger: Nobuo Ariga
From his 1987 album: "Sherbet"
Through his unpretentious vocals, Nobuo Ariga（有賀啓雄）expresses a romantic rainy world that has been passed down from Eiichi Ohtaki's（大滝詠一）"Long Vacation", especially "Ame no Wednesday" (Rainy Wednesday). Just how many people must have noticed the quality within the refined pop music so delicate that it would crumble at a touch during the Bubble Era of the late 1980s? Thirty years later, I think songs like "Ameiro no Boku to Kimi" are truly being accepted now.
In general, I think that music from the last 15 years of the Showa era was often designed for people to be able to sing along to or at least imagine that they could and I think that aspect it what gives song some lasting value. The words are song clear and the lyrics are memorable and if the songs are kayo kokyu the lyrics are mostly going to tell a story and all of that gives showa music from the late 70 and 80 the edge at least in mind.
ReplyDeleteNot surprisingly, those last 15 years of Showa starting from the early 1970s marked the advent of karaoke.
DeleteHey, that is a great point!
DeleteI don't have any particular academic or statistical proof but generally I've always thought that the Japanese have been more into the singalongs than Westerners so writing songs to fit that pattern was probably a godsend for listeners and karaoke bar operators there.
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