Yasuko Naito -- Otouto yo（弟よ）

From YouTube

When it comes to Yasuko Naito（内藤やす子）, I will always remember her for "Roppongi Lullaby"（六本木ララバイ）from the mid-1980s whether it be the refined urban lullaby version or the one with a bit more of rock kick to it.

However, let's go to her debut single from November 1975, "Otouto yo" (Hey, Kid Brother). From the cover of that single, Naito gave a first impression of someone who didn't suffer fools gladly and could carve flesh out verbally or physically. Even the way the title is displayed, it looks like quite the rough life in the city.

Although nothing of the kind is mentioned in its J-Wiki article, I wonder whether "Otouto yo" could have been an answer song of sorts to folk band Kaguyahime's（かぐや姫）"Imouto"（妹...Younger Sister） which had been released the previous year. Lyrically speaking, and those were provided by Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）, whereas "Imouto" was the touching story of an orphaned young man proudly if sadly giving away her younger sister to his best friend through marriage, "Otouto yo" is the more pensive tale of a young woman trying to get her estranged younger brother back on the straight and narrow path, presumably pleading with him not to end up like herself. The music by Makoto Kawaguchi（川口真）is dramatic and somewhat foreboding, but there's an ever-present ocarina blowing away as if it represents one lone ember of innocence and goodness in the man. 

For a debut, "Otouto yo" was an auspicious one for Naito as it broke the Top 10 of Oricon by peaking at No. 8, becoming the 24th-ranked single for 1976. The singer also earned Best New Artist honours at the 5th annual FNS Kayo Festival, also in 1976. The single sold around 650,000 records.

Osaka Songs - Part 2

  A friend of mine went to Japan for vacation about a month ago. Last time we spoke he was on the train headed to Osaka. While he was planning his trip he had asked me to hook him up with a Osaka playlist for when he got there. Of course I included the essential hits by Masaki Ueda, but I also found him some other great artists like Takajin Yashiki, and Masahiro Kuwana. One common theme I find with Osaka music is that they really love the blues. Which makes sense since I'm pretty sure they had a big Blues Rock scene back in the 70s, spearheaded by bands like West Road Blues Band, Funny Company,  and Ukadan. Here's some of my favorites, let me know if I should have recommended others.

Osaka Big River Blues (大阪ビッグ・リバー・ブルース) by Ukadan

Sweet Home Osaka by Funny Company

Your Osaka (あんたの大阪 ) by  Hako Yamazaki (She's from Oita Prefecture but its still a nice song)

Since coming to Osaka (大阪へ出て来てから) by Junji Ariyama (有山じゅんじ) and Masaki Ueda 上田正樹 

おそうじ Obachan by Ukadan

As a bonus, here's an updated version of Since coming to Osaka from 2007. much jazzier while still retaining the honky-tonk nature.

Airport Kayo

 

I was once asked by one of the commenters about an Author's Picks regarding airports. After all, in terms of an old kayo kyoku, the airport serves as a setting for romantic farewells and (rarely) greetings. Plus, they can also be the launching point for adventures abroad. Now, I believe that I had yet to post such a list of airport-themed songs so I'm going with this one today to finish my trio of articles.

(1974) Teresa Teng -- Kuukou （空港）

(1975) Hi-Fi Set -- Doyoubi no Yoru wa Haneda ni Kuru no（土曜の夜は羽田に来るの）

(1984) Akina Nakamori -- Kita Wing （北ウィング）

(1987) Kye Eunsook & Keisuke Hama -- Kita Kuukou（北空港）

(2013) Keisuke Yamauchi -- Kushiro Kuukou （釧路空港）

BanBan -- Ichigo Hakusho wo Mou Ichido（『いちご白書』をもう一度）

 

It's interesting when I go down an especially deep and winding rabbit hole, figuratively speaking. This time, it's led me to a 1970 movie called "The Strawberry Statement" which was an American comedy-drama revolving around the 1968 Columbia University protests. It starred a couple of folks who I've usually associated with sci-fi: Bruce Davison who I've always seen in much later movies as these smarmy corporate/political types such as in the very first "X-Men" as Senator Kelly, and Kim Darby who had earlier guested in the first season episode "Miri" of the original "Star Trek". Never thought I would see a young Davison playing an idealistic good guy.

Well, what led me down to the burrow in the first place was this song titled "Ichigo Hakusho wo Mou Ichido" (The Strawberry Statement One More Time) that I heard performed on either "Uta Con"（うたコン） or "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）recently. It's a folk-rock song that was first recorded by the folk group BanBan（バンバン）as their 5th single in August 1975. And just to hold you off the pass for a minute, this isn't the other sibling folk duo Billy BanBan（ビリーバンバン）that I've spoken about in the past on the blog. Yep, same genre, similar name and same time period but BanBan and Billy BanBan are two different entities in the music industry.

Anyways, BanBan was actually a trio consisting of Hiroshi Takayama（高山弘）, Hiroshi Imai（今井ひろし） and Hirofumi Bamba（ばんばひろふみ）. Bamba has been on the blog ever since KKP's inaugural year due to his 1979 solo hit "Sachiko", but BanBan is getting its first due here. Incidentally, the name of the group came about from Bamba's own nickname. The group had been kicking around since 1971 and Bamba had been a popular late-night radio DJ but he was wondering about the state of his band since it wasn't making any hits. As a last resort before deciding to break the band up, he decided to see if up-and-coming singer-songwriter Yumi Arai（荒井由実）could create a song for them because he had been entranced by her works and he'd seen her as a one-of-a-kind. So, he pulled every string and met up with Arai's future husband and musician Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）who then had Bamba and Arai meet up.

The result was a song that, in Bamba's words, extended BanBan's lifespan by at least a few more years before they officially called it a day in 1977. It's a melancholy and bittersweet tune about a man seeing that his local movie house was showing the aforementioned "The Strawberry Statement" once more and then reminiscing about going there with a now ex-girlfriend during a pretty successful date. Personally, it's probably the most different Yuming（ユーミン）creation that I have ever heard although that may have been due to Ichizo Seo's（瀬尾一三）arrangement. There's quite a bit of rock in there that I wouldn't have expected a Yuming song to have. And the ironic thing is that Bamba was much more of a rock guy than a folk guy; in fact, according to the article on the song, he had found folk musicians to be no better than country hicks which led him to found BanBan just to supposedly show them how it's really done. 

"Ichigo Hakusho wo Mou Ichido" occupied the top spot on Oricon for about six weeks near the end of 1975 which probably meant it was quite the slow burner considering its release back in the summer. It ended up as the No. 13 single for the year and then at the end of 1976, it was even ranked No. 31. It sold a little over 750,000 records. It was also the lead track on BanBan's 2nd and final album "Kisetsufuu"（季節風...Seasonal Winds） which came out in November 1975.

ABBA -- SOS

 

Welcome to another Reminiscings of Youth article where I go over some of the songs from America, Canada, the UK and other nations outside of Japan that resonated happily in my ears and brains when I was a little tadpole. 

ABBA already has a small but growing file in KKP. "Dancing Queen" was the big hit of theirs that did become a part of my musical memories because of folks loving to sing it at karaoke both in Toronto and Tokyo. However, their earlier June 1975 single "SOS" was something that I first heard via those K-Tel record compilation commercials when I just kept hearing the chorus. "SOS" became one of those builder-uppers as I started getting more of their parts together. After the chorus, I finally got to hear the beginning with the somewhat contemplative piano and then the mournful lyrics by vocalist Agnetha Fältskog. It took a while but I finally got the entire song into my head. As for the music video above, they really liked their crane shots and reflective mirrors. No need for CG or AI here although those of course wouldn't be around for a few more decades.

On Canada's RPM, "SOS" made it up to No. 17 while in America, it peaked at No. 15. It did hit No. 1 in Australia, Belgium, New Zealand, South Africa, and West Germany.

Not only have I brought "SOS" to KKP just a little after its 51st anniversary but it's being posted about a year after my last ABBA tune, "Super Trouper". So, what was hitting the top of the Oricon charts a day before the release of "SOS"? I have Nos. 1, 2 and 4.

1. Akira Fuse -- Cyclamen no Kaori （シクラメンのかほり）

2. Downtown Boogie-Woogie Band -- Minato no Yoko, Yokohama Yokosuka （港のヨーコ・ヨコハマ・ヨコスカ）

4. Sakura to Ichiro -- Showa Kare Susuki （昭和枯れすゝき）

Tomoko Koyano -- Shiawase（しあわせ）

 

It was exactly two months ago that I posted singer-songwriter Tomoko Koyano's（古谷野とも子）most recent article and that was for her 1978 number "Shiawase Modoki"（幸わせもどき）which translates into "Fake Happiness". For me, it sounded a little bit ahead of its time and had quite some cool groove.

Well, her second single from April 1975 was "Shiawase"...just plain "Happiness", so I gather that the cynicism hadn't quite landed yet. Written and composed by Koyano with Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）providing the arrangement, "Shiawase" comes across as a languid and sunny pop song of the 1970s which brings to mind something that the Carpenters would tackle...that oboe in there always sparks off Karen Carpenter in my engrams. Plus, being early in her career, the singer sounds a little flightier and more uncertain in her vocals. Not sure whether "Shiawase Modoki" was meant to be her own response song to "Shiawase".

The Works of Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）

 

Earlier today, I received word from commenter and contributor Fireminer that musician and composer/arranger Yuji Ohno had passed away on May 4th from natural causes at the age of 84 according to newspaper reports just coming out today. 

Whenever I heard his name, the music that automatically flowed through my head was jazz...whiskey-on-the-rocks jazz with lots of pizzazz. And of course, that means his iconic theme from the anime "Lupin The 3rd"（ルパン三世）comes pounding to mind. There have been a variety of versions of that theme but at the core of them all is a song that was just perfectly made for the bumbling if charming thief.

Born on May 30th 1941 in the city of Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, he started playing the piano during elementary school and formed his own unit in high school while schooling himself on the joys of jazz music. He became a member of Keio University's Light Music Society, the school's big band of the genre while studying in the Faculty of Law. His first work for the public came out in 1966 for a record featuring singer/actor Yuzo Kayama（加山雄三）.

Sometime in the early 1970s, Ohno opted to take a break from piano playing and focus on composition. His first album "Sound Adventure Act.1" came out in 1975 and the above video has the whole album with the first track being the propulsive "Too High".

Ohno would create his brand of exciting music which took in disco, City Pop and jazz among other genres, and in the same year as "Sound Adventure Act. 1", he was also responsible for making most of the tracks on Hatsumi Shibata's（しばたはつみ）2nd album, "Singer Lady", including the title track whose lyrics were created by Takahiro or Masahiro Takeda（武田全弘）. Evidently, Shibata wanted some sort of melodic calling card for herself and Ohno provided one that pretty much bashed down the door.

The J-Wiki article for Ohno features a long list of clients who he whipped up songs for, ranging from Hi-Fi Set（ハイファイセット）and Circus（サーカス）to SMAP and Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）. He was also in the business of making music for not only singers but also for commercials, TV soundtracks and anime. For example, the aforementioned Hi-Fi Set got to record one of his compositions "America Monogatari"（あめりか物語）in 1978 which was used for a Japan Air Lines campaign.

One of his TV works was the opening theme for "Daigekito Mad Police '80"（大激闘マッドポリス'80）under the collaborative name of You & Explosion Band. It's a kickass tune to match a kickass special police squad. All I can say is that the horns should have been paid time-and-a-half for their work here.

For all of his swaggering and staggering jazz, Ohno probably surprised quite a few people including myself when he composed the tenderhearted "Chiisana Tabi"  (小さな旅）for NHK's long-running documentary travelogue series. Here, Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）provided a sung version of the song for her album "Wa Ga Ma Ma" in 1986.

As for one more entry here, I only found out about this in the last few minutes, but apparently Ohno also provided his own tribute to the American cop series "CHiPs" through a 1981 album which included a really disco take on the original theme by John Parker (in fact, I'd probably say it sounds closer to Alan Silvestri's handling of the theme from Season 2 onwards). I didn't watch too much of the series compared to other cop shows but I recall the theme being pretty darn cool.

We lost one of the big guns in Japanese pop composition today. My condolences go to Ohno's family, friends and many fans out there. Play your "Lupin III" theme today if you've got it.

Emiko Nakayama -- News Sokuhou（ニュース速報）

 

A lot of us have half-jokingly remarked that whenever we hear soundtrack maestro John Williams' "Special Report" theme for NBC that it's not only the most epic music for a potential crisis but it makes us all go into Pavlovian-induced ("Oh, my word. It's John Williams! Activate the Panic Room, honey!) states of fear.

Well, Emiko Nakayama's（中山恵美子）"News Sokuhou" (Newsflash), which is the B-side to her 6th single from December 1975, "Yuu Gohan wa Curry ni Shimashou"（夕ごはんはカレーにしましょう）, is about as far away from Williams' bulletin song as Coruscant is from Tatooine. It's also quite different from the happily perky A-side which basically acted as a commercial jingle for Bon Curry Gold. 

Lyricist Fumiko Okada（岡田冨美子）and composer Ken Sato（佐藤健）, who had taken care of "Yuu Gohan wa Curry ni Shimashou", also created "News Sokuhou". I don't know where the newsflash aspect of this kayo kyoku comes in, but it is still a curious ballad in that it begins with what sounds like a 1970s breaking news alert before it suddenly transitions into a languid Motown soul love song (with electric sitar) containing some sappy love talk about comparing the songwriting boyfriend to Takuro Yoshida（吉田拓郎）himself. It's got plenty of atmosphere, too, with some stormy sounds busting in. Hopefully, the newsflash is that the pair is getting married instead of breaking up which a lot of lyrics and sound effects of storms tend to hint at.

John Bahler -- Wonder Woman/Kaoru Yumi -- Ai no Boukensha（愛の冒険者）

 

I believe I mentioned that I finally caught Zack Snyder's very long take on "Justice League" recently, and I was a lot more satisfied with that than with the version that I had caught some years previously at the theatre. Most notably, I was really happy with the scene involving Wonder Woman as played by Gal Gadot taking on those psychos in London early in the movie. Once I heard that warrior theme by Rupert Gregson-Williams, I knew I was going to witness some massive ass-kicking by Diana of Themyscira. 

One day, the Snyderverse take showed up on the local sci-fi channel and that same scene popped up when I turned on the channel. My mother who has never understood or liked any form of superhero media surprised me when she verbally identified Wonder Woman. But then again, she had seen Diana many moons ago.

That's right. There was a time in the mid-1970s when my brother and I saw the weekly TV series "Wonder Woman" with Lynda Carter. So, we got to see the indestructible bracelets, the Lasso of Truth and the spinning around each episode. 

Yes, I still remember when a pre-"An Officer and a Gentleman" Debra Winger guested as Diana's little sister, aka Wonder Girl. In fact, I think I prefer the first season when the show had been set during World War II instead of the more contemporary setting for the last couple of seasons. 

At the time, I was also confused when I was watching the opening credits which paid homage to the original comic book from decades ago, and yet, the theme song was decidedly cheesy disco boogie.  I mean, nowadays it all comes to me as very nostalgic but at the time, I thought it was pretty progressive to hear a superhero theme song that sounded like something one would dance to in the clubs.

I never knew who was behind the theme song for "Wonder Woman" the 1975 series. As it turns out, it was John Bahler of the Ron Hicklin Singers on the main vocals, Marti McCall, Carolyn Willis of the R&B group Honey Cone, and Julia Waters of the R&B group The Waters according to Wikipedia. Charles Fox and Normal Gimbel made up the songwriting team.

November 7th 1975 was the date when "Wonder Woman" premiered. Well, what was hitting the Oricon charts a few days earlier on the 3rd? We have Nos. 3 and 6.

3. Kenji Sawada -- Toki no Sugi Yuku Mama ni （時の過ぎゆくままに）

6. Hiromi Iwasaki -- Romance （ロマンス）

But as the informercial announcer says...Wait! There's more!

"Wonder Woman" did make its way to Japan sometime down the line and though the Bahler theme song was played for that first season, the subsequent seasons had actress/singer Kaoru Yumi（由美かおる）provide a Japanese theme tune in the form of "Ai no Boukensha" (Adventurer of Love) which was specifically for the series; Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）lyrics give a blatant shoutout to Wonder Woman. Meanwhile, the melody by Ken Sato（佐藤健）and arrangement by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）also follow a disco line but more on the AOR side of things.

This is Yumi's first time on the blog. From what I remember of her, she had a recurring role in the legendary jidaigeki series "Mito Komon"（水戸黄門）as quite a warrior herself. She was also famous in that show for her bathing scenes which you can see being parodied in the commercial below.

Isao Sasaki & Koorogi '73 -- Himitsu Sentai Gorenger（秘密戦隊ゴレンジャー）

 

It was about a decade ago when I posted an article on the first opening theme song for the 1970s tokusatsu hero show "Himitsu Sentai Gorenger"（秘密戦隊ゴレンジャー...Secret Task Force Five Rangers）. Quaint is how I would put it considering I began the article with my assessment of the superhero movies coming out in 2016 at that point. My opinions on those MCEU and DCEU movies haven't changed, and the first "Dr. Strange" flick did turn out to be a solid if not incredible addition to the Marvel franchise. Well since then, let's say that Phase 5 of the master plan behind the MCEU hasn't been all that impressive to me although I'm hoping for great things for the new "Spider-Man" and "Avengers" entries later this year.

I was talking about the conventional comic book movies back then when I wrote about "Susume! Gorenger"（進め! ゴレンジャー）. A few years later came the televised adaptation of "The Boys" which has managed to attract, entrance and shock the heck out of the pop culture fandom, and it's coming to a close with this final season that's on right now, and the video above is what I'm thumbnailing this article with. I don't subscribe to Amazon Prime Video but there has already been a ton of video evidence on the first few episodes shown along with reaction videos, and yep, the producers and the cast have managed to continue to pop viewers' eyeballs. 

Let's go back to the 1970s then and Japan in particular when these hero programs had no shades of gray or hidden agendas at least not on the heroic side. Good was good and evil was evil, and so go the team members of the Five Rangers. 

Usually when I saw and heard these tokusatsu programs, the opening theme was peppy, brassy and appropriately courageous while the closing them was more ballad-like and introspective. However, the first ending theme for "Himitsu Sentai Gorenger", the simply titled "Himitsu Sentai Gorenger", just keeps up the upbeat times of being a superhero of punching and sweep-kicking the henchmen (plus the kids must have loved emulating the onomatopoeia!). As was the case with the "Susume! Gorenger", the legendary Isao Sasaki（ささきいさお）manned the microphone but this time he was backed up by Koorogi '73（こおろぎ'73）instead of the Columbia Yurikago Kai (コロムビアゆりかご会), I guess, for a bit more gravitas in the delivery. Master tokusatsu composer Chumei Watanabe（渡辺宙明）was behind the music while at least one of the originating Toei Company producers wrote the lyrics under the collective pseudonym of Saburo Yatsude（八手三郎）. "Himitsu Sentai Gorenger" was the B-side to the original "Susume! Gorenger" single released in April 1975.

Hiroshi Uchiyamada & Cool Five -- Futari no Midosuji（二人の御堂筋）

 

I haven't been to Osaka in many, many moons so my remembrance of the streets there is woefully lacking compared to my knowledge of some of the thoroughfares in Tokyo. However, Midosuji seems to pop up a fair bit especially when it comes to kayo kyoku. In fact, I'm wondering if I ought to provide an Author's Picks list of songs that pay tribute to what has been called Osaka's Champs-Elysees. But I'll leave that for further thought. Off the top of my head, though, there is Feifei Ouyang's（欧陽菲菲）"Ame no Midosuji"（雨の御堂筋）from the early 1970s. Anyways, the above video is provided by Japan Walking Tours on YouTube.

Well, yesterday, we were watching the weekend "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌...Songs of Japanese Spirit）as usual, and The Cool Five's Kiyoshi Maekawa（前川清）appeared to provide one of his old group's classics "Saikai Blues"（西海ブルース）from 1977. Since his Cool Five members have basically retired or passed away, some of the other male guest singers provided the backup chorus. I figured that I must have already written on "Saikai Blues", and sure enough, I had done so back in December 2023.

But I wasn't going to be deterred by that, and it didn't take me long to track down another Hiroshi Uchiyamada & Cool Five（内山田洋とクールファイブ）Mood Kayo song. That was their 26th single from December 1975, "Futari no Midosuji" (A Couple in Midosuji), and it fits the typical Cool Five Mood Kayo feeling of love gained and lost in a famous part of a Japanese city. Of course, there's plenty of rain and mournful chorus to emphasize the bittersweetness of romance. Written by Shinichi Ishihara（石原信一）and composed by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, it did OK by hitting No. 44 on Oricon.

Two-Letter Abbreviations

From Dank via Wikimedia Commons

Look at all those abbreviations in the United States. Makes things rather compact, don't they? Well, it's time for a bit of whimsy here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" today as this thought came to my mind for the latest Author's Picks. I think they're rare enough but there are some Japanese songs that have two-letter abbreviations in their titles, so why not give a few out?

(1975) Eikichi Yazawa -- I Love You, OK（アイ・ラヴ・ユー、OK）

(1981) Yellow Magic Orchestra -- U.T.

(1990) Denki Groove -- N.O.

(1990) Pink Sapphire -- P.S. I Love You

(2018) Kirinji -- AI no Touhikou（AIの逃避行）

Bay City Rollers -- Saturday Night

 

Let's start off this Thursday with a regular Reminiscings of Youth article. I remember back in the sixth grade when our teacher was one of those really ambitious types who had some of us creating a mini-greenhouse in the classroom along with macrame owls to boot. One of my classmates was a huge Bay City Rollers fan and she couldn't stop jabbering away about "Saturday Night", one of their big hits.

Methinks that if she had ever met the guys from Scotland, she would have been jabbering in tongues for the rest of her childhood. But "Saturday Night" is indeed a catchy anthem ("S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!") of a power pop song and it was one of the hits that I remember hearing on telly and radio in the mid-1970s. From what I've read, there was an original version released in 1973 in the UK, but it didn't do much on the charts back then. However, it was re-recorded with new lyrics and re-released in the United States sometime in August 1975 and that was all she wrote. It hit No. 1 in both Canada and America.

I've mentioned "The Hockey Theme", the legendary former theme song for the CBC's iconic "Hockey Night in Canada" show. In that article, I also let folks know that "The Hockey Theme" and HNIC parted company years ago due to some failed negotiations between the original composer and the network. But since then, a cover version of "Saturday Night" by the band Monster Truck has been used to get the audience all revved up just before the games begin since HNIC always appears on Saturday night.

Since Wikipedia didn't bother to give an exact date of release for "Saturday Night" (simply August 1975) in the US, I'll just go with what was at the top of the Oricon chart for August 4th 1975. Here are Nos. 1, 4 and 5.

1. Takashi Hosokawa -- Kokoro Nokori（心のこり）

4. Downtown Boogie-Woogie Band -- Minato no Yoko, Yokohama Yokosuka （港のヨーコ・ヨコハマ・ヨコスカ）

5. Akira Fuse -- Cyclamen no Kaori （シクラメンのかほり）

Personal Pronouns

Vi.gomez via Wikimedia Commons

 

It is a whimsical Wednesday here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so to alleviate the usual things about Hump Day, the windmills of my mind rotated rather furiously. As a result, in addition to the internal hemorrhaging, I was able to realize that a fair number of the songs of note in our humble little blog often have titles containing variations of personal pronouns whether in English or Japanese or other languages. Here are just a few of them.

(1973)  Akiko Kosaka -- Anata （あなた）

(1975) Hiromi Iwasaki -- Watashi Tachi （私たち）

(1980) Kenji Sawada -- I am I

(1986) 1986 Omega Tribe -- Kimi wa 1000% （君は1000％）

(1993) Keizo Nakanishi -- You And I

Hiromi Ohta -- Yureru Aijou（揺れる愛情）

Asturio Cantabrio via Wikimedia Commons

 

Because we've been writing "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for fourteen years now, I've been getting interested in seeing some of those B-sides for those famous singles by various kayo performers. To think that it's taken this long just to start plumbing the depths of "the other side" is somewhat astonishing although we have managed to take a look at some of them even before last week's anniversary.

One of the earliest posts that I put up on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" was for Hiromi Ohta's（太田裕美）classic "Momen no Handkerchief" (木綿のハンカチーフ）which was released back in December 1975 as the Tokyo-born singer's 4th single.  The cheery kayo kyoku has stuck with Ohta all these decades so that basically whenever she shows up nowadays on some TV show, it's to sing either "Momen no Handkerchief" or "Saraba Siberia Tetsudo" (さらばシベリア鉄道）.

The plot of the A-side involved the relationship between a couple of smalltown lovers in which the guy is now working in the big city while the gal is still in the hometown. Well, the somewhat more melancholy "Yureru Aijou" (Wavering Love), the B-side, seems to be a sequel of sorts for "Momen no Handkerchief". I've only listened to it a few times but the impression I'm getting is that the couple have met up again during the boyfriend's semi-regular visits back home, and maybe, just maybe, things are a little unsteady on the romance front, at least according to what I've gleaned from the title. Perhaps the guy is worried that his girlfriend is losing interest due to the distance and passage of time but she keeps reassuring him that she doesn't need to see a ring or that small house built for her and him...just that occasional but regular "I love you" is fine enough for now.

The same team behind "Momen no Handkerchief" was also taking care of 'Yureru Aijou": lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. Methinks that if a 2026 single based on the fate of the couple were produced, I would think that the couple are celebrating their 45th anniversary, still in that small house in their hometown, with grandchildren.

Substance Kayo

By wilfredor via Wikimedia Commons

 

In high school, I was always more adept in Chemistry than I was in Physics (Biology was my favourite, though). I couldn't make heads nor tails of Physics but give me a test tube and some substances, and I was a happy camper. For one class, we had to go crazy making esters. It was indeed great fun but all those odors infused into us so heading home on the bus that day wasn't the most pleasant for my fellow commuters. 

Anyways, I did bring over a periodic table from Wikimedia Commons. At one point, I was able to memorize the first ten elements. I think I still have the ability but I've noticed in the 40 odd years since my last Chemistry class, the periodic table has grown some more elements. Also, I need to put a shoutout to my old Chemistry teacher, Mr. Phillips. He was a grizzled elderly ex-soldier who definitely held a position of some responsibility (sergeant at the very least) and if he detected any nonsense, he made you feel like the lowest recruit at boot camp. But if you were on his good side, he could be quite cordial.

Yes, I am being quite whimsical (and before a Wednesday, to boot) which means that I've got to get an Author's Picks out of my system. This time, it's all about the substances that I've seen in titles of kayo kyoku over the years. And I'm not just talking about the bare elements either.

(1966) Barb Satake -- Neon Gawa（ネオン川）

(1975) Hiromi Ohta -- Momen no Handkerchief (木綿のハンカチーフ）

(1977) Momoe Yamaguchi -- Imitation Gold （イミテイション・ゴールド）

(1981) Anri -- Cotton Kibun （コットン気分）

(1981) Noriko Miyamoto -- Silver Rain

(1981) Jun Horie -- Memory Glass（メモリーグラス）

One more thing about Mr. Phillips. There was once this cockamamie so-called allowance at high school in which if a teacher didn't show up at class within the first ten minutes, then the students could walk out and have a free hour. One time, our math teacher didn't show up due to traffic issues so of course, a third of the class just stood up and walked out gleefully. A minute later, that whole third walked back in looking dramatically glum...and in walked Mr. Phillips behind them looking very miffed. We then got the drill sergeant's reprimand along with a no-nonsense reminder that no such allowance existed. It turned out that the math teacher had called the office to let the school know that he would be late. Mr. Phillips was there to make sure that the allowance never happened.

Belle -- Denwa（電話）

Wikimedia Commons

 

True to age and the state of my memory, I was on the way to create an article on 1970's folk group Belle's "Coffee Ippai no Shiawase"（コーヒー一杯の幸福）...only to realize that I had already done so way back in 2021. Not sure if I should be increasing or reducing my intake of coffee on that situation.

Anyways, to compensate, I did find an earlier 1975 single by Belle called "Denwa" (Telephone). In terms of arrangement, it has a similar style to that of "Coffee Ippai no Shiawase": quite lush and classical (with that familiar background chorus of the 1970s), although this time, it even has a hint of exotic kayo through the use of one particular instrument that I can't readily identify. Both songs were created by Masami Koizumi（小泉まさみ）. Also, another common point between the two is that it involves a reunion between two former lovers; of course, the phone is the connector here.

Hako Yamasaki/Miyuki Kosaka -- Sayonara no Kane（サヨナラの鐘）

 

From what I've read of folk singer Hako Yamasaki's（山崎ハコ）debut album "Tobimasu"（飛・び・ま・す...I Can Fly） from October 1975 on J-Wiki, she was only 17 years old when she released it and it sold 50,000 copies which was quite the miraculous achievement especially when it came out without any special promotions. It managed to reach No. 51 on Oricon.

One of the tracks, "Sayonara no Kane" (The Goodbye Bell), which was written and composed by Yamasaki and arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）, must have left quite the impression on listeners. At over five minutes long, it is a bittersweet summary on a romance that has ended with a pealing bell on the hill being used as the symbol of the completion of the relationship. Through the lyrics and Yamasaki's delivery, there is a feeling of weeping over the death of what is perhaps the first love of that person. Maybe as the person grows older and more experienced with all those romantic entanglements, there is not so much drama but that first one which goes awry will always hurt. The melody is an interweaving of blues, folk and pop brought together as a contemplative piece on emotional pain and release.

Quite a few famous musicians were in the recording studio for "Sayonara no Kane": guitarists Char and Chuei Yoshikawa（吉川忠英）with the aforementioned arranger Sato also on keyboards.

A synthpop opening begins the cover version of "Sayonara no Kane" by Miyuki Kosaka（香坂みゆき）. The song was released as her 16th single in April 1984. Sato also arranged this one with those synths coming in. It's more than a minute shorter than the Yamasaki original but the bluesy feeling of melancholy and loss is still there. 

Paul Simon -- 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

 

A few weeks ago, one commenter asked about this one since the song is approaching its 50th anniversary in December. Yup, I am talking about Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" which was released all the way back at the end of the year 1975.

My personal encounter with "50 Ways" happened back in band class in the early 1980s and it wasn't particularly an auspicious one. Our class was given the sheet music for it and we had to practice it. The first impression by us was how we could make a sardonic joke about nicknaming it "50 Ways to Love Your Lever". Aside from that, we didn't do a great job on it, not that many of us were all that interested in it or knew about it or Simon at that time. I knew about the famed New Jersey singer-songwriter mostly through his partnership with Art Garfunkel and for his many hosting appearances on "Saturday Night Live".

I finally got to hear "50 Ways" once I finally decided to drop my clarinet (figuratively speaking) for the last time and put a very happy sealed door on my music-playing career. That's when I said "Ah, so that's how it's supposed to sound!". Not too bad a song either with the key change between verse and chorus, the hip rhyming chorus itself, and the legendary Steve Gadd with his classic drum riff.

In Canada, "50 Ways" reached No. 7 on RPM while in the United States, it hit No. 1. As for what was pretty hot in Japan at the time, I'll go with the final Oricon ranking for 1975...December 29th.

1. Yumi Arai -- Ano Hi ni Kaeritai （あの日にかえりたい）

2. Masatoshi Nakamura -- Ore tachi no Tabi （俺たちの旅）

3. Hiromi Iwasaki -- Sentimental （センチメンタル）

Kimiko Shiba -- Little Jimmy（リトルジミー）

 

Back in 2023, I wrote about a singer that I had no idea about named Kimiko "Kiiko" Shiba（芝紀美子）, and apparently since she was more of a part of the underground Japanese music scene in the 1970s, maybe a lot of people in Japan hadn't been aware of her either. The article for her was on her languid and relaxing song "Nagarete Ikitai"（流れて行きたい）, a track on her 1975 album "Shikomegari"（醜女狩り...Ugly Woman Hunting） which contained kayo kyoku, blues, folk and soul.

Well, another track from "Shikomegari" is "Little Jimmy" which seems to have all of those genres wrapped up unto itself. Written totally in English by Irene or Eileen（アイリーン）...maybe Shiba under a pseudonym?...and composed by Yasuo Inada（稲田保雄）, perhaps all involved were big fans of Ray Charles considering the scotch-soaked arrangement. I was even surprised that Charles had nothing to do with this song at all while I was listening to it. Shiba sings about the title character of Little Jimmy who has long gone; maybe he's left this mortal coil or arrived in a new area somewhere but although his old friend misses him terribly, he/she hopes that wherever he is, he's doing well.

The interesting thing is that there are parts of the song that sound just like "Memory" from "Cats", although the musical wouldn't come out for several more years.