Hachiro Izawa -- Otokogasa（男傘）

 

One of the earliest television theme songs that I remember hearing when I was but a toddler was the theme song for the long-running series "Perry Mason" with Raymond Burr. That killer tune with the pounding piano keys has long embedded itself into my music memories, and in fact, I will probably cover it on this Thursday's edition of Reminiscings of Youth (or more accurately, Reminiscings of Babyhood).

I heard a bit of that piano pounding in Hachiro Izawa's（井沢八郎）"Otokogasa" last night when it was performed on the latest episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）. When it comes to Izawa, I and probably most people will always think of his signature tune "Ahh, Ueno Eki"（あゝ上野駅）from May 1964 as one of the representative songs for the mass migration of young people from the countryside areas of Japan to the big cities like Tokyo to man the engines needed to power the economic recovery of the nation.

Well, "Otokogasa" was his 5th single which came out later that year in October. There isn't a set translation of the title that I could find on Jisho.org so considering the lyrics, I'm just going to translate it as "Man Under an Umbrella". And those lyrics by Yurio Matsui（松井由利夫）seem to be describing a rather melancholy scene of one last tender embrace under an umbrella in a rain storm by a couple who will soon not be a couple. Izawa's wailing style seals the deal and the music has that jazzy if somewhat mournful Mood Kayo including the key pounding that I referred to in the above paragraphs. Jouji Osawa（大沢浄二）was responsible for the melody.