Tadaharu Nakano to Rhythm Boys -- Yama no Ninkimono（山の人気者）

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Stefan Kuhn

 

Milk and I have been together for a very long time. Even with the situation that a lot of Asians tend to not be able to drink the stuff due to lactose intolerance, I've never had that problem. Although the variety I drink here has been 1%, the milk that I used to drink back in Japan was a fair bit creamier...at least over 4%. I can only imagine the Japanese drinking 1% here and thinking that it was white water.

Now, Noelle Tham has been the go-to person on KKP for the last several years when it comes to Showa Era singer Tadaharu Nakano（中野忠晴）, although I got the ball rolling with his rendition of "Rokko Oroshi" （六甲おろし）, the fight song for the Hanshin Tigers. And it was just a few days ago that Noelle posted her article on the duet between Nakano and Mamechiyo (豆千代), "Koya wo Yuku" (曠野を行く).

Well, just out of curiosity, I threw in Nakano's name into YouTube and found this jaunty little number. Tadaharu Nakano and Rhythm Boys had sung "Yama no Ninkimono" (The Favourite on the Mountain) back in 1934 as this happy-go-lucky yodeling tune about a beloved dairy farm or a milk maid. That's quite the higher profile for the drink considering that outside of Hokkaido back in the day, I didn't think milk was all that big a deal.

"Yama no Ninkimono" was a cover of British singer-songwriter Leslie Sarony's 1930 "The Alpine Milkman". It's the first time I've heard yodeling being used for innuendo in those original lyrics.