I never expected to see her name up on television but recently I saw that veteran lyricist Fumiko Okada had received some sort of award for her decades of work via an NHK report. From that, I thought that it would be time to post a Creator article regarding her.
But first a bit of background from her J-Wiki file, Okada hails from Hiroshima Prefecture. When she gradated from university, her parents pressed her to get a job at television broadcaster TBS working as a timekeeper for music programs. However, knowing herself as someone who never really enjoyed the rigors of an average job or career, she was pretty miserable. Also, she developed insomnia but one night, she gained the urge to write poetry and found out that the words flowed out of her surprisingly easily. Then one day, after amassing her poems into a collection and having some faint interest in becoming a songwriter, she was noticed by the manager of a famous arranger at work. Noting how unenthused young Okada looked, he asked her what she really wanted to do for which she replied "I want to become a lyricist". A mere few days later, that manager suggested Okada to a record company as a rookie lyricist. At least, one song with her lyrics got into a music festival and that apparently was all she needed to write...literally. She started getting requests for her words, something that has been continuing for her for close to 55 years.
(1972) Young 101 -- Kaiju no Ballad（怪獣のバラード）
In a desert where the blood-red sun set
A great big monster lived there in peace
One morning when he woke up, he heard a bell from a caravan off in the distance
He suddenly screamed out
I wanna see the ocean! I wanna love people! Monsters have hearts, too, you know!
Let's leave the desert behind and head to where love and the ocean reside
Although I didn't note this in the original KKP article for "Kaiju no Ballad", this was apparently Okada's first work as a professional lyricist.
(1981) Ruiko Kurahashi -- Glass no Yesterday （ガラスのYesterday)
Yesterday
I danced all night with you
Yesterday, although we can never meet again
We said "See you later" and parted
You're the one who embraced me while saying
I can't love you on mere kindness
Whenever Okada's name is mentioned, I will always first remember Fashion Music specialist Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子）songs since the lyricist provided a number of her works to her.
(1986) Shibugakitai -- Sushi Kui ne! （スシ食いねェ！）
In terms of style or genre「スシ食いねェ！」is clearly the odd one out in this list. I am sure Shibugakitai had a blast singing this performing and singing this song! I am pretty sure that「ロンリー・チャプリン」is the most well know song on this list. However, I wonder is it Charlie Chaplin that the song writer had in mind or if the writer was thinking of a Chaplain?
ReplyDeleteHello, Brian. I'd probably say it's a toss-up between "Sushi" and "Chaplin" as the most well-known song. As for the figure in the latter song, I'm pretty sure that it is indeed the Little Tramp as the subject...if in an existential way.
Delete