Eiji Miyoshi -- Ame（雨）

 

It was just back on Tuesday that I wrote about another song titled "Ame" (Rain) which was a 2009 ballad by singer-songwriter Jun Shibata（柴田淳）. Well, I noticed that there was one other "Ame" right close to it in the backlog, so I've given that one a go, too.

Actor-enka singer Eiji Miyoshi（三善英史）has been mentioned once before on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for a 1979 cover of "Shinjuku Jouwa"（新宿情話）. But right from the start of his career, he was suddenly given tons of accolades and popularity. First, if I can add a little more to his profile, Miyoshi was born Teruhiko Tamura（田村照彦）in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo as the son of a geisha and as a teen, he was scouted for his good looks and size.

However, much to everyone's further delight, Miyoshi also had a voice to match, and in May 1972, his debut single "Ame" was released. Given the tags of both enka singer and aidoru, the 17-year-old's light and dancing voice tripped the light fantastic over Kazuya Senke's（千家和也）melancholy lyrics of a woman waiting in the rain on Saturday afternoon, perpetually waiting for the man who will never arrive to court her for some reason. Keisuke Hama's（浜圭介）oboe or clarinet-led melody adds to the bittersweet situation with some lower strings taking the baton as well.

"Ame" did hit a nerve with listeners. The song managed to earn the Best New Artist prize at the Japan Record Awards that year, along with a Silver award at the Shinjuku Music Festival, and another Best New Artist prize at the Japan Kayo Awards. On the Oricon weeklies, "Ame" went as high as No. 2 and it could have hit the top spot but the eventual song of the year, Shiro Miya & The Pinkara Trio's（宮史郎＆ぴんからトリオ）"Onna no Michi" (女のみち）didn't relent. As it was, though, the song sold over half a million records and eventually became the 18th-ranked single for 1972. Ironically, although Miyoshi performed in the Kohaku Utagassen three consecutive times from 1973 to 1975, none of his songs were "Ame".