Mieko Hirota -- Look Chocolate no Uta（ルックチョコレートの歌）/Bob McGrath -- Topsy no Uta（トプシーの歌）

 

Good golly! I remember this oh-so-1970s commercial as if it had been playing yesterday on the old telly. Lowney's Cherry Blossoms were a treat that I had to eat from time to time as they were readily available in supermarkets and convenience stores in Canada. They not only raised my caloric input but most likely decreased my life expectancy without me realizing it. Mind you, we have a box of the Laura Secord version on the coffee table but those blossoms are thankfully far less potent.

Chocolate in their bars and other forms were just as popular in Japan, too. I believe that I actually did buy a few boxes of Look Chocolate at the local 7-11 or am/pm during my time there. Certainly, the shapes look very familiar. I'm also happy that someone on YouTube was enterprising enough to put up an ancient commercial for Look which does have that mild psychedelic appeal. The jingle seems to have come out of some 1960s Italian movie. 

Look is still putting forth chocolates and commercials today as you can see from the fellows of Snow Man making their mark.

I was actually doing a bit of research on the legendary kayo writing team of lyricist Rokusuke Ei and composer Hachidai Nakamura（永六輔・中村八大）. Of course, the two have been immortalized for the "Sukiyaki" song, aka "Ue wo Muite Arukou"（上を向いて歩こう）, but I also saw on their list that they were also responsible for one jingle for Look which was created in 1963, a couple of years following "Sukiyaki".

Titled simply "Look Chocolate no Uta" (The Look Chocolate Song), it was recorded by the late Mieko Hirota（弘田三枝子）. Short and sweet as any chocolate jingle ought to be, it has that catchy twist-friendly arrangement, and maybe the kids were doing their little jig while whining at their parents to take a look at Look. 

Going further down the rabbit hole to find out about "Look Chocolate no Uta", I discovered via Discogs that it had been a B-side for a 1965 45" single of chocolate jingles. The A-side had "Topsy no Uta" (The Topsy Song) for a chocolate of that name which no longer exists. Composer Nakamura was also responsible for this jingle but the lyricist for this one was Tokiko Iwatani（岩谷時子）. And the singer here was none other than Bob McGrath of "Sesame Street" fame who just passed away late last year. It's got quite the dramatic and romantic heft for chocolate, doesn't it? Bob did a pretty bang-up job on the Japanese, too.

Bob McGrath -- Good Morning, Starshine

 

It just seems like in the last several days, I've been sadly reading or hearing of famous people I've known in my childhood and adolescence leaving this mortal coil. And yesterday, I heard that Bob McGrath, who was famous as one of the friendly residents of children's favourite avenue, "Sesame Street", passed away yesterday at the age of 90.

As a very young kid, it was always the thing for me to watch Bob, Gordon, Susan and the Muppets including Kermit the Frog, Oscar the Grouch and Ernie & Bert yuk it up on the screen while also providing lessons in the basics and laughs and music. I knew that everyone sang on "Sesame Street", but if anyone asked me to name a singer on the show, Bob's face would immediately come to mind.

Bob and the rest of the gang were such mainstays that I couldn't quite believe it when I heard from Scott of "Holly Jolly X'masu" that he had been big in Japan in the mid-1960s before "Sesame Street", singing some songs in Japanese including "Jingle Bells". Yup, McGrath already has a presence on KKP.

There are a number of songs that I remember McGrath performing splendidly on "Sesame Street" such as "Sing" and "Who are the People in Your Neighbourhood?". But there was also "Good Morning, Starshine". As would be the case for a "Sesame Street" song, it is a happy and uplifting number but as I look back at it now, it's also just about the most hippiest tune, too. I mean, part of the lyrics is:

Gliddy glub gloopy, nibby nabby noopy la, la, la, lo, lo

Sabba sibby sabba, nooby abba nabba, le, le, lo, lo

Tooby ooby walla, nooby abba naba

Early morning singing song

I couldn't understand hippie then and I still don't now. But as I've mentioned time and time again, I have always been more of a melody guy rather than a lyrics person. And as such, I remember enjoying hearing this at home and in the car.

Even though I did hear the above version on the radio many times, I'd always thought of "Good Morning, Starshine" as Bob's song throughout my life. It was only this morning that I realized that the song had actually come from the famous 1967 musical "Hair" after which it was covered by the singer Oliver as a successful single released in May 1969.

"Good Morning, Starshine" has been covered by numerous other singers in the decades to come with one of the most recent versions being by Serena Ryder in 2006.

All I can finish up here is that I hope that Bob is enjoying meeting his old buddies from Sesame Street right now such as Mr. Hooper, David, Luis and (first) Gordon. Sing, sing a song!

Well, who won the big prizes at the 1969 Japan Record Awards?

Grand Prize: Naomi Sagara -- Ii Janai no Shiawase Naraba（いいじゃないの幸せならば）

Best Performance: Shinichi Mori -- Minato Machi Blues （港町ブルース）

Best New Artist: Hiroshi Uchiyamada and The Cool Five -- Nagasaki wa Kyou mo Ame Datta （長崎は今日も雨だった）

Bob McGrath -- Jingle Bells（ジングルベル）

 

This article was inspired from a talk that I had with commenter Scott earlier this morning, and I found out from him that Bob McGrath of "Sesame Street" fame was perhaps the original "Big in Japan" guy, even before he became a household name for children and parents alike. I started watching the show pretty much from the time that it started up in 1969, and the human faces were always Bob, Susan, Gordon and Mr. Hooper. I also thought that Bob was always the strongest singer and I will always remember his renditions of "Good Morning, Starshine" and "Sing".

When I got the information from Scott this morning, I decided to go down the Muppet hole and found quite a few record covers on YouTube and the other search engines with his familiar face and a lot of katakana. I even found a video of his 1967 appearance on the game show "I've Got a Secret" hosted by Steve Allen in which he divulges his interesting little secret and how he became a regular visitor to Japan.

Considering "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is back in Christmas mode, I thought it would be nice to have Bob's rendition of "Jingle Bells" for all to see. He sings half or most of the song in English but there are some verses that he does render in pretty good Japanese. According to the uploader, the Japanese lyrics were provided by someone named S. Takada with the arranger/conductor being K. Hattori. I'm assuming that this is referring to the composer and arranger Katsuhisa Hattori（服部克久）who passed away earlier this year in June. Hattori was responsible for arranging the very nostalgic version of "Sotsugyo Shashin"（卒業写真）by Hi-Fi Set and he also later helped out a Japanese singer with his own Christmas album in the 1990s.

Ahh...the more you know...😁. Thanks again, Scott!