Happy Monday! I heard this particular song on an episode of "Songs of Japanese Spirit" on NHK's broadcast satellite service the other day and was interested in it enough that I tracked it down to it being one of Rumiko Koyanagi's（小柳ルミ子）singles from the 1970s. There are a number of her songs that I've known for decades such as her early hit "Watashi no Joukamachi" (わたしの城下町）and her 1983 "Ohisashiburi ne" (お久しぶりね）, and perhaps I may have heard this one here sometime in the past. However, for all intents and purposes, I'm treating "Nakinurete Hitori Tabi" (Traveling Alone, Drenched in Tears) as a new Koyanagi treat.
Written and composed by the late singer-songwriter Eigo Kawashima（河島英五）, this was Koyanagi's 26th single from July 1978. Just from the title alone, I could tell that this was another "broken romance, will travel" kayo kyoku that has been popular among singers and songwriters, and it's also deemed as a go-touchi (local or regional) song focused on the cities of Kyoto and Kanazawa. I think what stands out here is that especially melancholy melody spiked with the twangy guitar. Perhaps something in the arrangement can also hint at some enka-ness as well.
"Nakinurete Hitori Tabi" managed to peak at No. 30 on Oricon. Weirdly enough, the song was also used in a commercial for mosquito coils. Perhaps the surviving bugs fled to Kyoto and Kanazawa out of grief for their fallen comrades. 🦟
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