Georgia On My Mind - George Yanagi & Ray Charles

Some songs are so perfect they feel timeless, “Georgia on My Mind” is one of those songs.

Originally composed by Hoagy Carmichael, the song became truly definitive through Ray Charles’ legendary rendition. There’s absolutely no way to improve on it. That hasn’t stopped countless artists from trying their hand at their own renditions, although one that stood out to me was the cover by George Yanagi (柳ジョージ).

George Yanagi was a Yokohama-born rock artist whose music clearly drew inspiration from old-school rhythm and blues, so it makes sense that he would eventually take on a classic like “Georgia on My Mind.” His version appeared on his 1989 album Good Times 3. It’s a decent cover, but its also very clearly modeled after Michael Bolton’s version from that same year.

What really caught me off guard, though, was discovering that seven years earlier, George had already performed the song live at his 1982 concert at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo—alongside Ray Charles himself.

Now that's much better.

And I’m not just saying that because Ray is there. I genuinely enjoy George’s raspy vocals, and I think he gives a stronger performance in this live duet than he does on the later studio recording. Plus I prefer the more orchestral arrangement here over the more pop sounding one. What’s funny is that, in the comments of the video, people who had the privilege to actually attended the concert mentioned that George seemed visibly nervous onstage.

I mean… yeah. He was standing next to Ray Charles, singing one of the greatest songs of all time. I’d be nervous too.

But honestly, I think he pulled it off. And from the sound of it, Ray seemed to enjoy singing with him as well. 

Let me know which version you prefer, and in the mean time check out George Yanagi's original music as well. If you're a fan of Blues Rock and Heartland music, his 1991 album, Raw,  is pretty good for that. And if you need something from his 70s output, You cant go wrong with his Rainy Wood classic, Weeping in the Rain

George Yanagi -- Araburu Tenshi-tachi（荒らぶる天使たち）

 

It was just a little over fourteen years ago that musician and singer George Yanagi（柳ジョージ）left this mortal coil at the untimely age of 63. He's probably one of those guys who fit that Japanese fashion meme of slightly rascally middle-aged men that was making some headlines on TV twenty or so years ago. 

Yup, he's still looking very kakkoii on the cover of that April 1993 album "Yokohama AREA 2" in which I serve you a track "Araburu Tenshi-tachi" (Scarface Angel). Just from the title of that song, I'm guessing some well-meaning guy is taking the hits and rolling with the punches as he tries to clean up his area of town. There's almost something Batman-like about this.

But Batman gets orchestral soundtracks. Over here, it's Yanagi backed up by a chugging and churning bluesy-rock horn section as the singer is growling out his lyrics but not in an overly raspy way. Listening to "Araburu Tenshi-tachi", I also feel some similarity to Tomoyasu Hotei（布袋寅泰）, although Yanagi's stuff has a bit more soul in there. Toshi Sumikawa（トシ・スミカワ）took care of the lyrics while the melody was handled by Toshiro Masuda（増田俊郎）. "Yokohama AREA 2" reached No. 45 on the yearly Oricon rankings.

George Yanagi & Rainy Wood -- Nemuri no nai Machi（眠りのない街）

 

As I noted in the Yokohama musician's 2016 article for his "Burning", George Yanagi（柳ジョージ）passed away in October 2011 at the age of 63. Had he lived, he would have been 74 on January 30th. So to start off the final January 2022 Thursday for "Kayo Kyoku Plus", allow me to give a little tribute through one of his tunes.

To be accurate, though, it should be the tune of George Yanagi & Rainy Wood（柳ジョージ&レイニーウッド）, his old band which had their initial run from 1975 to 1981. Yanagi's group specialized in rock, blues rock and R&B according to their J-Wiki profile, and "Nemuri no nai Machi" (The Town That Never Sleeps) was the leadoff track for their November 1979 4th album "Rainy Wood Avenue".

Written by Toshi Sumikawa（トシ・スミカワ）and composed by Rainy Wood's co-vocalist and guitarist Kiyoto Ishii（石井清登）, the title might suggest that Yanagi's town in question is an exploding hub of partying and all sorts of action. But Ishii's melody and Sumikawa's lyrics are more about the sweet boozy and bluesy and relaxing haze of someone with their head on the counter of their favourite hole-in-the-wall in the overnight hours. Meanwhile, a couple of other buddies are just nursing their tumblers of constantly refilled whiskey at the table nearby as the sky takes on that dark blue turning into light peach.

Yep, "Nemuri no nai Machi" has got that blues in there but I also hear some country and even a pinch of City Pop. All in all, it can act like a mature lullaby or a cheerful wake-up (last) call. Somewhere, there's a Japanese whiskey brand kicking itself for not using the song in its commercials. By the way, "Rainy Wood Avenue" was the band's first Oricon No. 1 album.

Takayuki Inoue/George Yanagi & Rainy Wood/Dave Hirao -- Hitori ~ I Stand Alone（一人）

Was logging into Mixi this morning when I read the headline that singer, guitarist and songwriter Takayuki Inoue（井上堯之）had passed away a few days ago on May 2nd at the age of 77. He was a member of the famous Group Sounds band The Spiders（ザ・スパイダース）and the New Rock band PYG before striking out on his own and creating his own group Takayuki Inoue Band（井上堯之バンド）. 

For the general public, he will probably be known best as the person behind the creation of one of the most famous police drama show themes on Japanese TV, if not one of the most famous Japanese TV themes, period, the title song for "Taiyo ni Hoero!"（太陽にほえろ！）from the early 1970s.

My tribute for him will be through the first track of his debut solo album "Water Mind" from 1976, "Hitori ~ I Stand Alone" (One Person). It's a lilting rock ballad composed by Inoue and written by Osami Kishibe（岸部修三）who would later be known as the veteran character actor Ittoku Kishibe（岸部一徳）. "I Stand Alone" sounds like the perfect 1970s theme tune for all of those lone wolves out there as Inoue sings about being left all to himself while he continues to sing his song. My image of the tune has him and his guitar in the loneliest but most beautiful environment, perhaps by the sea as the sun is going down, while singing to no one in particular.

I also have to give props to the creator of the video above. It was actually uploaded in January 2017 by Ryoichi Matsuura but it looks like it was created in notice of Inoue's passing, and the final images of the smiling young Inoue fading into the content appearance of the much older singer make it the perfect goodbye.

(7:01)

In 1978, George Yanagi & Rainy Wood（柳ジョージ＆レイニーウッド）performed a less intimate cover of "I Stand Alone" for their debut album "Time In Changes". The song still has plenty of that bluesy flavour.

However, there was an even earlier recording of the song by Yokohama musician-actor Dave Hirao（デイヴ平尾）as the B-side for his 1972 single "Boku-tachi no Yoake"（僕達の夜明け...Our Dawn）.

George Yanagi -- Burning (バーニング)

Yesterday, I wrote an article about a song by Tessei Miyoshi（三好鉄生）which was also covered by George Yanagi（柳ジョージ）. a musician who was adept at both the guitar and the bass. Now, Yanagi has been a figure in Japanese music that I had heard about for years but never got to know all that well. However, there was one really cool video which got a lot of play on the regional Gunma TV between programs which, I believe, featured him and his blistering guitar in a really good mood. Unfortunately, I have yet to find out what the song is titled although I did see it in through 1990 and 1991 which narrows things down slightly.

But since I still wanted to give him his due, here is his take on his 1996 single "Burning". As you can see, he was quite the kakkoii middle-aged dude on his guitar. Although I would like to say that he reminded me of Eric Clapton, according to the J-Wiki article about him, Yanagi was apparently not a big fan of his; he actually admired Dave Mason from the band Traffic. Anyways, this song has struck me as being the ideal tune to play on the car stereo while bombing down the Kan-Etsu or the Wangan highway in Tokyo....provided that there is no traffic jam. Lots of energy in there. And as the singer himself cries out in the song, there is "burning in your heart".

Yanagi himself started his career with his own band, George Yanagi & Rainy Wood in 1978 with the album "Time In Changes". Since then, his solo career has produced singles from 1982 to 2008 with many albums to boot. Tragically, the musician passed away in October 2011 from renal failure at the age of 63. However, I'm still looking for that elusive song and I've read about some even more representative tunes by him so there will be more articles.

As for "Burning", this was written by Koki Ikenaga（池永康気）and composed by Nobuhiko Kashiwara（樫原伸彦）.

Tessei Miyoshi -- Sugoi Otoko no Uta （すごい男の唄）

If there is one thing that I've learned about Japan, it's that beer is considered to be an all-year drink (just like in Canada). Those thirsty folks in the commercials may bellow out that "AHHHHHHHH!" after swallowing a big gulp of suds during those hot summers, but the golden brew is still much appreciated in the winter months as well.

See?

Of course, there had to be a kayo which involved the joys of drinking beer. And I found it as Tessei Miyoshi's（三好鉄生）"Sugoi Otoko no Uta" (The Song of an Amazing Man), his 7th single from July 1987. Strangely enough, it is a song that I did hear often at my old karaoke haunt of Kuri since I distinctly remember that chorus of "Don, don!" whenever some fellow decided to give it a shot.

Written by copyrighter Takashi Nakahata（仲畑貴志）and composed by Katsuhisa Hattori（服部克久）, Miyoshi has come up with another manly and genki singalong ditty to join his other famous tune, "Namida wo Fuite"（涙をふいて）from 1982. But "Sugoi Otoko no Uta" is not only a melodic excuse to drink beer but also the equivalent of the exaggerated fish tales that the fishermen loved to troll each other with around the campfire. As quickly as anyone says "I caught a fish that was THIS BIG!", Miyoshi happily trills about a man who is so amazing that bears flee from him and alligators beg to become his servants.

Of course, all this is happening while one of Miyoshi's hands is firmly gripping the handle of his dai jokkii of beer while the other is beckoning the server to come over to take another order for a round of brewskis. All those suds are needed to further fuel further rounds of bulls**t, after all. Plus although I cannot remember it exactly, I'm fairly sure that there were indeed more demands for the good stuff once the song was over.

In the same year, the late guitarist George Yanagi（柳ジョージ）also gave his gruffer version of "Sugoi Otoko no Uta" as the commercial jingle for Suntory Draft Beer (which probably explains a copyrighter coming up with the lyrics for the song). Yanagi frankly sounds like that bear who fled from that amazing man.