Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Monday, October 14, 2024

Kenji Sawada -- Nikumi Kirenai Rokudenashi(憎みきれないろくでなし)

From imdb

Admittedly, this is a bizarre reference to start things off for this song by Kenji Sawada(沢田研二), but I remember watching the anime "Seton Academy" in which Neku the giraffe acts like the arrogant cad and suddenly drops his romantic mate like a overly heavy sack of potatoes; sorry, once is enough for him...time to move onto fresher adventures. Of course, his now erstwhile partner doesn't take it too well.

From what I've heard of Yu Aku's(阿久悠)lyrics on Julie's September 1977 21st single, "Nikumi Kirenai Rokudenashi" (A Bastard's That's Hard to Hate), that's what happening here as well. Sawada is singing about a cad who goes through his women like he probably goes through his cigarettes. But according to the title, he's got enough charm to keep them coming back. Motoki Funayama's(船山基紀)arrangement of Katsuo Ono's(大野克夫)melody, which includes a clever background chorus that sounds like train whistles off in the distance, is something that I swear that I've heard before on one of the music shows or retrospectives. Considering how proud it sounds, the rokudenashi is thoroughly enjoying his love 'em-and-leave' em lifestyle.

"Nikumi Kirenai Rokudenashi" made it to No. 3 on Oricon and not only became the 24th-ranked single for 1977, but it also hung around for another year to become the 63rd-ranked single for 1978 as well. It can also be found on Sawada's November 1977 10th album "Omoikiri Kiza na Jinsei"(思いきり気障な人生...A Completely Disturbing Life) which hit No. 1 and ended up as the No. 5 album of the year.

One reason that I put up the song is that this had been the No. 3 single on the September 19th 1977 Oricon chart which was referenced in the previous ROY article, but didn't include because I hadn't written about it yet. Just didn't want the opportunity to pass. As well, the song was released several months after Sawada's big hit "Katte ni Shiyagare" (勝手にしやがれ)which had been created by the same trio of songwriters.

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