Yoichi Sugawara/Voce Angelica/Chieko Baisho -- Wasurenagusa wo Anata ni（忘れな草をあなたに）

From Amazon

 

Tonight, "Uta Con"（うたコン）had an expanded special episode featuring all of those seishun songs but in the beginning, things went a little serious with emcee Shosuke Ichikawa（市川昭介）making an announcement. And I'd been expecting that he would announce the passing of longtime lyricist Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）to whom I also paid tribute last night. But then I was surprised to find out that the announcement wasn't for Hashimoto but for singer Yoichi Sugawara（菅原洋一）who had passed away on May 31st at the age of 92 from malignant lymphoma.

(17:00)

It was quite the shock although I knew from his recent appearances on "Uta Con" up to last year that he had become frail in his old age and needed some support when going on stage. Along with those "Uta Con" appearances, I got to know him through my early viewings of NHK's Kohaku Utagassen that I started watching from the 1981 edition. He had appeared a total of 22 times between 1967 and 1988. The above video has him on the Japan Record Awards I believe, as he's singing "Kyo de Owakare"（今日でお別れ）.

I also remember him singing songs such as "Amant" and "Shiritakunaino"（知りたくないの）, these grand standards and songs with that bit of Latin flavour in there. During those early viewings of the Kohaku, I saw Sugawara as a veteran pillar representing the more Western side of music in comparison to the enka stalwarts of Haruo Minami（三波春夫）and Hideo Murata（村田英雄）.

Here is another one of his grand and sorrowful songs, "Wasurenagusa wo Anata ni" (Some Forget-Me-Nots For You) which was his November 1971 single. Written by Ryutaro Kinoshita（木下龍太郎）and composed by Hiroshi Eguchi（江口浩司）, it's another kayo kyoku of impending heartbreak as one of the soon-to-be erstwhile couple implores the other not to forget the old and beautiful times they had together. And perhaps in a way, this could be one song to represent Sugawara departing this Earth. My condolences go to Sugawara's family, friends and fans.

Incidentally, "Wasurenagusa wo Anata ni" was initially created in 1963 and recorded by the all-female vocal group Voce Angelica（ヴォーチェ・アンジェリカ）that had a run between 1960 and 1990. Made up of six women, they were famous for their renditions of Japanese folk songs and children's songs. 

In August 1971, a few months before Sugawara's version of the single, actress-singer Chieko Baisho（倍賞千恵子）released her own languid version of "Wasurenagusa wo Anata ni".