Bonny Jacks/Hideko Hirai -- Ano Machi Kono Machi（あの町この町）

 

Remembering that I wrote about Akina Nakamori-related article on the 100th anniversary of Kiyose Station in Tokyo yesterday, and then encouraged by Noelle's article on Columbia Rhythm Boys' "Kappore" (かっぽれ) just this morning, I was wondering about what had come out in the record shops in Japan a hundred years ago in 1924, aka Taisho 13（大正13）.

Well, a beloved children's song titled "Ano Machi Kono Machi" (That Town This Town) was first created by the popular songwriting duo consisting of lyricist Ujou Noguchi（野口雨情）and composer Shinpei Nakayama（中山晋平）in that very year. Its first appearance was in the January issue's pages of a magazine known as "Kodomo no Kuni"（コドモノクニ...The Land of Children）. However, the earliest actual recording I could find on YouTube was the one by 10-year-old singer Hideko Hirai（平井英子）in 1928. Noguchi's lyrics and Hirai's voice gently send the message that it's time for the kids to head on home from playing outside before it gets too dark.

In 2007, "Ano Machi Kono Machi" was selected to be included in the "Nihon no Uta Hyakusen"（日本の歌百選...Collection of 100 Japanese Songs）, a collection of a hundred songs and nursery rhymes. On top of that, a stone monument with Noguchi's lyrics was established in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture where the lyricist had once lived. The veteran vocal group Bonny Jacks（ボニージャックス）also included their rendition of "Ano Machi Kono Machi" in their December 2021 "Bonny Jacks ni yoru Nihon no Jojou Uta Senshuu Nana-juu Kyoku"（ボニージャックスによる 日本の抒情歌選集 70曲...A Selection of 70 Japanese Lyrical Songs by Bonny Jacks）. Their version really amps up the folksiness of the song.

Ichiro Utsumi/Hachiro Kasuga/Senri and Mari Unabara -- Dontonbori Koushinkyoku（道頓堀行進曲）

 

Thanks to this blog, I've not only been able to enjoy the various types of Japanese popular music of the current times and relatively recent times but also the kayo going back way before my birth. So I'm talking about a very young Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）, Ichiro Fujiyama（藤山一郎）, etc. Part of the reason that I've been able to enjoy and appreciate some of the Japanese music spanning back to even before World War II is that I had already been getting a taste of the old orchestra pop stuff as a child.

When I was a kid, I used to watch Charlie Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy and The Little Rascals all the time on television. "The Little Rascals" was regular afternoon fare for years so as I was watching the hijinks of Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Porky and the rest of the bunch, I heard some of that music as the soundtrack. Once in a while, the gang even held their little concerts and performances on homemade stages.

What got me remembering my childhood days today was listening to this particular song "Dontonbori Koushinkyoku" (Dontonbori March), first recorded by singer and theatre director Ichiro Utsumi（内海一郎）. Released in December 1928, as the title signifies, it's a brisk and jaunty little march composed by Seihachi Shiojiri（塩尻精八）celebrating the activity of Dontonbori, one of the most famous areas of Osaka. Right now, it's known as one of the great foodie neighbourhoods within a metropolis that has been called the stomach of Japan but even way back then, Shigejiro Hibi's（日比繁次郎）lyrics note that Dontonbori was quite the place for happy carousing. Incidentally, Hibi may have been the pseudonym of novelist Koichi Hata（畑耕一）according to some YouTube comments and other webpages, but his J-Wiki article doesn't make that perfectly clear.

Utsumi was known as a singer of jazz songs but with "Dontonbori Koushinkyoku", I'm not quite sure if this original version of the song would be placed as such. It sounds like a kayo of that time or maybe it was even the equivalent of the sweet music that had been played by orchestras in the West as a counterbalance to the so-called sinful jazz.

According to the uploader for this video, the legendary Hachiro Kasuga（春日八郎）gave his own marching band take on "Dontonbori Koushinkyoku" in an album titled "Kasuga Hachiro no Taisho Showa Hayari Uta"（春日八郎の 大正昭和はやり唄...Hachiro Kasuga's Taisho and Showa Era Popular Songs） released in 1963.

Then in 1977, the Osakan sister act comedy duo Senri and Mari Unabara（海原千里・万里）released their own cover of "Dontonbori Koushinkyoku" as a single. This version is quite a lot of fun with a playful poke at "In the Mood" in the intro before going into some swinging Dixieland jazz. The sisters had another hit tribute to their hometown through "Osaka Rhapsody"（大阪ラプソディー）the previous year.

Teiichi Futamura/Frank Nagai -- Kimi Koishi （君恋し）

Another deep dip into the musical vault of time here. A couple of weeks ago on an episode of "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）, there was a rendition of a song called "Kimi Koishi" (I Miss You) which had that finger-snapping rhythm of a cool Mood Kayo from way back, so I decided to look it up. Well, it looks like I had to go further back in time.

"Kimi Koishi" started life in the early 1920s as a kayo kyoku, or ryūkōka（流行歌...popular song）as it was known back then, written and composed by Kouka Sassa（佐々紅華）. However, the following year, lyricist Otowa Shigure（時雨音羽）provided new words with the prominent jazz singer Teiichi Futamura（二村定一）supposedly recording it. However, no surviving records of that recording exist and apparently it was never put on sale. But later in the decade, Futamura finally made another recording which did get released in December 1928. Shigure whipped up a new batch of lyrics but the original composer Sassa just asked that the original line of "kimi koishi" be retained in this version. Meanwhile, just before this version went on sale, Futamura declared that he would include "Kimi Koishi" in the song list for his Asakusa show, the "Denki Kan Review", and it went on to become one of the big hits in his career.

There is a lot of scratch on the old record in the video but if you listen carefully, the arranger Ichiro Ida/Ita（井田一郎）put in near the end an excerpt of "Home Sweet Home", a song that I used to hear all the time on those Warner Brothers cartoons with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. And according to the J-Wiki article, Ida arranged it so that it was set lightly to the rhythm of the foxtrot which was the popular dance at the time.

The version I heard on "Kayo Concert" was the Frank Nagai（フランク永井）version. Released in 1961, the Man of Mood Kayo gave it a bar-friendly swinging delivery with a good amount of oomph. I wonder if he ever performed it with a hat worn rakishly over his head with a trench coat slung over his shoulder a la another Frank...Sinatra. This also became a hit for Nagai, and it earned him the Grand Prize at the 3rd Annual Japan Record Awards. Enjoy it on the rocks!