Hidari Tonpei's Hey You Blues

Some songs just sound TOUGH.

And when I say tough, I mean you can envision someone who demands respect—or maybe even a little reverence—having that song as their personal theme, whether they're just walking down the street or kicking some serious ass.

50 Cent has "Many Men (Wish Death)." Warren G and Nate Dogg have "Regulate." Curtis Mayfield has "Pusherman." Hell, even Boz Scaggs' "Lowdown" comes to mind.

There are very few Japanese songs that I would personally classify as "tough." But if there's one that makes the cut, it's "Tonpei's Hey You Blues."

Damn, that bassline stanks!

Somebody come get their Uncle!

Look at this guy! Look at his fit! Look at him gangster-leaning against that pipe. Look at him pointing at me like a JoJo character. Whoever this man is, he means business.

Obviously, that's the titular Tonpei Hidari (左とん平), a Japanese actor and singer known for his comedic touch and appearances in productions such as Monkey (1978), The Ballad of Narayama (1983), and Yakuza Wolf: I Perform Murder (1972).

Hidari often portrayed a sort of "regular working man" character—someone who could be funny, irritable, streetwise, and unexpectedly sympathetic. That archetype definitely shines through in "Tonpei's Hey You Blues."

Produced by Mickey Curtis and arranged by jazz-fusion keyboardist Jun, the song feels like somebody accidentally recorded something years ahead of its time.

Although it isn't "rap" in the modern sense, Hidari's forceful spoken-word cadence sounds remarkably similar to the work of Gil Scott-Heron, who is often regarded as one of the important precursors to conscious rap and hip-hop. Songs such as "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", or "Whitey on the Moon" immediately come to mind when listening to the way Hidari talks like he's standing on a street corner telling you exactly what's on his mind. Reminiscing about how life had worn him down like a lonely pestle.

Funny enough, the record would later be rediscovered by Japan's hip-hop community thanks in part to a sample featured in Scha Dara Parr's 1990 track "Scha Dara Parr no Theme Pt. 2." That track also samples a few other Shōwa-era classics, including Godiego's "Monkey Magic."

Linda Ronstadt -- Just One Look

 

Not only did I hear "Just One Look" on the radio but I also heard plenty of it as a commercial jingle for cars. I just forgot it was for the Mazda. By the way, the actor speaking in the ad ended up becoming a doctor at "General Hospital". In any case, "Just One Look" renditions by different singers and bands were used in other commercials; that title was just perfect for selling.

But the first time was on radio. Didn't know at the time that this wasn't even an original by Linda Ronstadt but a cover version done by her, but it has been the one that I will always remember. Released as a January 1979 single, it's a tune that starts off country congenially but then becomes progressively buzzier with the rock edge. I also didn't realize that the main chorus is only heard once and at the end of this fairly short song at just a little over three minutes. Ronstadt's cover did modestly well on the Canadian and American charts by  posting somewhere in the 40s but in the former's Adult Contemporary chart, "Just One Look" placed in at No. 4 while on the latter's East Listening chart, it had a No. 5 ranking.

The original "Just One Look" was recorded by singer-songwriter Doris Troy for release in May 1963 with Troy and Gregory Carroll creating the song. It's an even shorter tune with the main chorus basically acting as a fadeout coda. 

We have here the Top 3 singles of Oricon for January 22nd 1979, a day before Ronstadt's cover was released.

1. Pink Lady -- Chameleon Army (カメレオン・アーミー）

2. Alice -- Champion （チャンピオン）

3. Godiego -- Gandhara （ガンダーラ）

Galaxy Songs

 

Recently, when I posted my article on a Candies'（キャンディーズ）tune, commenter AL noted that there were a lot of kayo kyoku with "ginga"（銀河...galaxy） in the title. I agreed and wondered whether I should put up an Author's Picks about those galactic songs. Well, I'm no longer wondering. Here are some of them.

(1978) Isao Sasaki with the Suginami Junior Chorus -- Ginga Tetsudo 999（銀河鉄道999）

(1979) Godiego -- The Galaxy Express 999 (銀河鉄道９９９）

(1988) Hikaru Genji -- Paradise Ginga (パラダイス銀河）

(1977) Candies -- Gingakei made Tonde Ike!（銀河系まで飛んで行け!）

(1980) Hiromi Iwasaki -- Ginga Densetsu（銀河伝説）

Vapour Trails -- Don't Worry Baby

 

Maybe for this one, it isn't so much a Reminiscings of MY Youth as it is a Reminiscings of Youth for a lot of Japanese people my age back in the 1980s. As was the case with last week's ROY entry involving the "William Tell Overture", this was also a Western song that adorned a Japanese TV program of that magical decade but the fact is that I didn't personally know about the show or its theme song until many years later through retrospective programming.

I'm talking about "Best Hit USA", a TV Asahi late-night show that ran between April 1981 and September 1989. It was hosted by the very amiable and English-fluent Katsuya Kobayashi（小林克也）and it struck me as being a Japanese counterpart to Casey Kasem's "America's Top 10" as both featured the popular charting songs in the United States. The friendly theme song for "Best Hit USA" that played every time right from the start was only known for its intro and maybe some of that first verse.

Strangely enough, I got to hear the whole song finally many years after "Best Hit USA" had finished its run and it was the first full track on "BRIO AOR: Off-Shore", one of a two-CD set of all those groovy and laidback AOR tunes that populated the 1970s and 1980s. This is the 1979 "Don't Worry Baby" by Vapour Trails consisting of John McBurnie, Andy Dalby, and Phil Curtis, a British band that specialized in those West Coast soft rock songs, and it was known as "Surfside Freeway" in Japan. The song was also part of Vapour Trails' one and only album from that same year, "Vapour Trails".

That's pretty much all I could find out about this band. Apparently, there is a current Scottish band known as The Vapour Trails which provides jangle pop and indies. Of course, when I hear or read "vapour trails", I usually think of Yumi Arai's（荒井由実）famous "Hikoki Gumo"（ひこうき雲）. 

As for "Best Hit USA", it returned to TV Asahi's broadcast satellite service in 2003 where it has continued talking about the popular stuff in America for over twenty years.

Now, since I couldn't get more specific than 1979 as the origin for "Don't Worry Baby", I've opted to show what was at the top of the album charts for that year in Japan. Here are Nos. 1, 4 and 6. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to cover the albums so the links below will take you to their representative tracks.

1. Godiego -- Saiyuki（西遊記）

4. Satoshi Kishida -- Morning （モーニング）

6.  Alice -- ALICE VII

Maureen McGovern -- Different Worlds

 

Happy Good Friday to everyone! Hopefully, you are all taking things easy on this statutory holiday. Of course, being a national holiday, I'm doing a special Reminiscings of Youth article today for Urban Contemporary Friday, and you might consider this a sequel or a follow-up to yesterday's ROY posting on that soundtrack from the hilarious "Airplane!" (1980).

Commenter Brian Mitchell and I were exchanging comments for that one earlier today and I realized one big interesting pop culture connection between one of the funniest movies ever made and a short-lived American sitcom that was out at about the same time. In fact, I'll lift a good chunk of my comment to explain things.

Speaking about coincidences regarding planes, I realized that "Airplane!" also had a fairly surprising connection with an American sitcom "Angie" which had a short run from 1979. Robert Hays (Ted Striker) had a co-starring role in that one next to the title character played by Donna Pescow who just happened to dance with John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever". Of course, there was the famous disco scene in "Airplane!" which was accompanied by "Stayin' Alive", the official or unofficial theme for "SNF". And to top it all off, Maureen McGovern who played the nun on "Airplane!" sang the theme song for "Angie".

Indeed, that is indeed McGovern's nun above trying to solace a couple of passengers and failing utterly. That may have been her first foray into acting after starting out in 1967 and being primarily known as a recording artist. She first hit the bright lights when her recording of "The Morning After", the theme song for another serious disaster movie, "The Poseidon Adventure" from 1972, had won her an Oscar. Ironically enough, and to extend the coincidence chain, Leslie Nielsen from "Airplane!" had played the captain of the doomed cruise liner.

According to her bio on Wikipedia, McGovern had still hit some lean times between then and the late 1970s. However, things started looking up with not only the "Airplane!" gig, but also with her recording of "Can You Read My Mind?", the love theme from Richard Donner's "Superman" earlier and then as I mentioned in the comment to Brian, her recording of the theme song for the sitcom "Angie" on ABC.

I did watch a lot of "Angie" during its time between early 1979 and late 1980 because I have to admit  that I had a bit of a crush on Pescow, not knowing for many years that she had that pivotal role in "Saturday Night Fever". I also remember that McGovern had another hit in "Different Worlds", the theme song for "Angie" and it was quite popular on the radio as well as each time that an episode aired on the telly. And listening to it again after so long, those happy-go-lucky disco vibes had me swooning a lot. Strangely enough, I started getting memories of Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）"Sunshower" and "Mignonne" albums as well.

A single was released in June 1979 which hit No. 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart while it reached No. 18 on the same organization's Top 100. Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox were the songwriters behind "Different Worlds". Considering the title, I would have thought the song could have been great for "Superman" but maybe it was a little too disco for the Man of Steel. 😁

Anyways, I'm not sure on which day "Different Worlds" was released but to see what was hitting the top of the charts at around that time, let's go with June 4th 1979.

1. Judy Ongg -- Miserarete （魅せられて）

2. Southern All Stars -- Itoshi no Ellie （いとしのエリー）

3. Godiego -- Beautiful Name

Rickie Lee Jones -- Chuck E.'s in Love

 

First off, I will have to apologize to all of those Rickie Lee Jones fans out there. When it comes to the Chicago-born singer, songwriter and musician, there are only two things that I remember about her. One is the "SCTV" parody of that K-Tel album containing all of the cover versions of "Stairway to Heaven" in which Catherine O'Hara was emulating Jones' scatting jazz style for her take at around 1:07 above.

The other thing that I remember about Rickie Lee is "Chuck E.'s in Love", and if I have to remember anything about her, it should be this song. And I was surprised to find out that this song that had been created around a friend's (songwriter Charles E. Weiss) sudden telephone declaration of love as transmitted via her then-boyfriend Tom Waits was her first single from April 1979. I had assumed that Jones had been around for some years before that since that saucy drawl of a delivery was something that could only have come about through years of singing and playing and experience-building, but the rookie apparently hit it out of the ballpark like Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani.

It occasionally got onto the radio and what I remember along with Jones' singing is the slow playful strut of an arrangement as if the music were representing a pixie-ish Jones herself shuffling happily in her most comfortable neighbourhood one afternoon, greeting all of the neighbours and smiling to herself in some satisfaction after Chuck E. finally made that confession. In a way, I think "Chuck E.'s in Love" is a bit of a cousin to Billy Joel's earlier "Rosalinda's Eyes" in that with both I get that friendly and family-like atmosphere within an American inner-city community. Everyone knows each other and no secret stays secret for long...and she's perfectly fine with that.

Both in America and Canada, "Chuck E.'s in Love" did very well with it hitting No. 4 and No. 5 respectively on their countries' music charts. At the 1980 Grammys, Jones won Best New Artist and was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for the song. 

"Chuck E.'s in Love" was released on April 28th  1979. I could find the April 30th Oricon rankings, so let's see what the Top 3 songs were that day.

1. Judy Ongg -- Miserarete（魅せられて）

2. Jiro Atsumi -- Yume Oi Zake（夢追い酒）

3. Godiego -- Beautiful Name

A Song Vacation (mostly) by "Uta Con" April 23rd 2024

 

NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）had their final broadcast before going on a multi-week hiatus during Golden Week. Now, the annual spate of holidays ranging from the last days of April into the first days of May doesn't begin for a few more days yet, but I figured that I can still provide a few of the songs that got into their "Uta no Tabi"（歌の旅...Song Vacation） theme segment yesterday along with throwing in one of my own choices.

As it stands right now, though, with the Japanese currency plummeting down to 155 yen to the dollar, perhaps there won't be as much tourism from Japan to overseas destinations this Golden Week although Americans, Canadians and other people will be more than happy to fly over to Japan for the next little while. Maybe that's why some of the songs from "Uta no Tabi" were most definitely domestic. In any case, here are the selections.

Rimi Natsukawa -- Nada Soso (涙そうそう)

Hiroshi Miyama -- Oiwaki Yama (お岩木山)

Mayo Shouno -- Tonde Istanbul （飛んでイスタンブール）

Godiego -- Gandhara （ガンダーラ）

Kome Kome Club -- Roman Hiko (浪漫飛行）

David Bowie -- Boys Keep Swinging

YouTube
(Ziggy terrified me, too)

On this week's Reminiscings of Youth, I remember music legend, the late David Bowie. When I first saw him, he absolutely terrified the heck out of me.

And where I first saw him was as the musical guest on an episode of "Saturday Night Live" hosted by thespian Martin Sheen. I don't remember much of Sheen's stint on the venerable NBC late-night comedy-variety show aside from one skit featuring him and a disgusting hair spray commercial, but the musical segment certainly made an impression on me. And even the musical segments usually never left anything in my memories aside from Billy Joel's performance of "Just The Way You Are" and that notorious Sinead O'Connor appearance.

But there was the tall, gaunt and angular Bowie in the weirdest Art Deco getup on stage with a couple of fellows that I didn't know at the time who turned out to be performance artist Joey Arias and the late singer Klaus Nomi. What I remember was just staring at the screen and feeling "What the heck?!". It was kinda like watching a handsome nightmare in a very underground cabaret.

I must have been able to sneak-watch all of the episode past my bedtime since I saw Bowie make that second or third performance on it, and it was that third performance where I saw him bizarrely act out as a real head on a puppet. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhkay! By the way, the above video has been reversed since the uploader must have really enjoyed the movie "Tenet", but you can still get the gist of what everyone saw that night. 

That last performance was for the April 1979 single "Boys Keep Swinging", a New Wave rock song which more than forty years later still resonates. I think back when the song and music video were first released, it probably had folks dropping their jaws and expanding their eyeballs like nothing else. But that was the showmanship magic of Bowie whether he was Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Insane or The Thin White Duke. I remember even in the years since when he went more chart-pleasing pop in the early 1980s, he still cut a compelling figure in the light suit and tousle of blond hair. In fact, there was one photo of him in the 1983 "Let's Dance" album which convinced me that he could have been a great Doctor from "Doctor Who" fame if he had wanted the role.

That opinion was further enhanced when I saw Bowie for the only time on the big screen as Nikola Tesla in "The Prestige". I was no longer terrified of him; I envied him. 

I was going to start the David Bowie file with "Ashes to Ashes" (which I will do next for him in the near future), but then I felt that on remembering that SNL performance, I had to begin with the song that first had me laser-focused on the truly weird and wonderful British icon.

In any case, what else was coming out in April 1979?

Godiego -- Beautiful Name

Tatsuro Yamashita -- Let's Kiss The Sun

Yutaka Mizutani -- California Connection （カリフォルニア・コネクション）

As I talk about this British icon here today, I am also sadly aware that another British icon passed away in the last few hours. I was never a monarchist and I knew that the day would come soon, but it still hit me with shock on the news that Queen Elizabeth II has now left this mortal coil. Up to now, she was the only British monarch that I'd known and now I have to get used to a new king. It feels really odd. Regardless, my condolences to the Royal Family, the citizens of the United Kingdom and all those who admired The Queen.

Yoshito Machida with Godiego -- Ame wa Knife no You sa（雨はナイフのようさ）

 

The first time that I wrote about Kochi Prefecture-born singer Yoshito Machida（町田義人）back in 2017, it was for his "Senshi no Kyuusoku"（戦士の休息）, a mellow and reflective ballad from August 1978. The song was used for the movie "Yasei no Shomei"（野性の証明...Never Give Up） starring the late Ken Takakura（高倉健）. Although I never watched it myself, I could imagine "Senshi no Kyuusoku" being the ideal number for a battle-hardened and world-weary person, whether a spy, soldier or office worker, taking a respite while also taking a long drag from a cigarette on a balcony overlooking the landscape as the sun is going down.

However, the previous month, Machida had released another single, "Akai Karyudo"（赤い狩人...Red Hunter） but it's the B-side to that July 1978 single that we're focused on here. "Ame wa Knife no You sa" (The Rain Cuts Like a Knife, Man) is quite different from the relaxing "Senshi no Kyuusoku" since it sounds like it's meant to accompany that person from the above paragraph in the middle of the battle itself. It's got the downtown funk thanks to the band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）helping out in the music, and what better group to help out since that band's vocalist and songwriter Yukihide Takekawa（タケカワユキヒデ）was responsible for the cool melody.

As for the lyrics, they were provided by movie director and producer Junichi Mimura（三村順一）, who was behind the 1978 documentary "Kita Kitsune Monogatari"（キタキツネ物語...The Story of the Ezo Red Fox） whose theme song was "Akai Karyudo", and lyricist Yoko Narahashi（奈良橋陽子）. They seem to establish a setting for any hard-bitten lone wolf ranging from police detective Baretta to "Cowboy Be-Bop" bounty hunter Spike Spiegel knee-deep in the middle of a case and all of the existential sludge that comes with it. Cold rain hurts much harder when folks are in a bad mood, after all. What adds to the tension is the wah-wah guitar, Machida's seemingly hushed and rushed vocals and that rollicking piano.

Naomi Chiaki -- Amagumo (song)（あまぐも）

 

Commenter Justin, a few days ago, referred me to Xerf Xpec's recent upload, smoky singer Naomi Chiaki's（ちあきなおみ）January 1978 studio album "Amagumo" (Rain Clouds) . She recorded quite the conversation piece since it brings together three musical acts that I hadn't expected would work together. For one thing, Chiaki, someone that I've usually associated with Mood Kayo and regular Japanese pop, has the backup of the band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）, and for another, all of Side A of the original record was written and composed by the late singer-songwriter Eigo Kawashima（河島英五）, the man behind the introspective folk classic and karaoke favourite, "Sake to Namida to Otoko to Onna" （酒と泪と男と女）.

I've heard the first couple of tracks including the title track from "Amagumo", and I think that all involved including Chiaki were going for something different from their own worlds. At this point, I'd say that the album was perhaps going into a more City Pop direction but without having heard the other tracks thus far, I will go with 1970s New Music for now.

However with the first track, "Amagumo", there is something very sensual and sultry which matches the smokiness of Chiaki's voice. In the first several seconds of the song, there is a feeling of early morning hours but when all of the instruments come into literal play, I realize that it is most likely a case of a setting sometime during a rainy day as the title hints at, with Chiaki or her avatar being in a very hip coffee house somewhere in Shinjuku or Roppongi while she stares through the window with spatters of raindrops.

Kawashima's melody weaves among City Pop, jazz and the more urbane corner of New Music so it's not particularly easy to categorize "Amagumo" into one particular genre. But there are obviously no complaints from me about it as this song also reminds me of how another wonderfully cool chanteuse, Mai Yamane（山根麻衣）, started out a few years later. One last observation about the album itself is how similar the silhouette of Chiaki is to the one given on the cover of Bill Evans' famous "Waltz for Debby". Was this some sort of homage to the amazing jazz pianist?

From Wikipedia

Godiego -- Holy and Bright（ホーリー＆ブライト）

It's been a tad over 6 years since I put up a Godiego（ゴダイゴ）single onto "Kayo Kyoku Plus" so I will have to correct that oversight. The last one was for "Taking Off", one of the group's contributions to "Galaxy Express 999" back in 1979.

Many of Godiego's hits have imprinted themselves onto my memory such as "Taking Off" and "Gandhara"（ガンダーラ）, another classic of theirs that became the ending theme for the TV fantasy-adventure "Saiyuki"（西遊記）. However, I had never heard of "Holy and Bright" which was actually the ending theme for the second season of the series.

Compared to the dreamier and more introspective "Gandhara", the band's 12th single "Holy and Bright" from October 1979 comes off as being more of that second adjective in the title and just quite a bit bouncier. The original Japanese version was written by Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）with Godiego vocalist Yukihide Takekawa（タケカワユキヒデ）providing the happy-go-lucky music and keyboardist Mickey Yoshino（ミッキー吉野）arranging everything.

The B-side happens to contain the English version of the song with those lyrics being provided by Yoko Narahashi（奈良橋陽子）. Come to think of it, there are parts of both versions that kinda has that Electric Light Orchestra feel to them. The single got as high as No. 17 on Oricon and finished 1979 as the No. 97 single of the year.

I have to say that although "Gandhara" will always be cherished, I'm making some good friends with "Holy and Bright" as well.

The Works of Keisuke Yamakawa （山川啓介）

This may go down as one of the sadder years for Japanese songwriters. In the wake of the passing of Toru Funamura（船村徹）in February and Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）last month, I only heard a couple of nights ago of the death of lyricist Keisuke Yamakawa. He passed away on July 24th 2017 at the age of 72 from lung cancer, just three days after Hirao's departure and only five days after I had written an article for a song that he wrote for Hiromi Ohta（太田裕美）, "City Lights".

I'm uncertain whether the announcement of Yamakawa's passing made the major newscasts that night, and I could only find something like the above "homemade" announcement on YouTube, although there was a very short news story about it on TV Asahi without any footage shown.

So, for the second time this year, along with Funamura, I'm writing this Creator article also as a eulogy of sorts to a departed songwriter. Going over the songs created by the Nagano Prefecture-born Yamakawa, I found that there were a number of tunes that I have yet to cover on the blog that I feel deserve their own articles. Therefore the songs below will be ones that I've already talked about but at least putting them together here, readers may find out how wide his range was when it came to the songs he helped write.

Keisuke Yamakawa was born Takao Ide（井出隆夫）in October 1944 in the city of Saku, Nagano Prefecture. It is a city that I have visited since a couple of my old friends now live there. He graduated from Waseda University's Department of Literature and became active in songwriting, screenwriting and translating from English lyrics. Unfortunately, that was pretty much most of what I could glean from his J-Wiki bio but it does provide a comprehensive list of the singers and songs that he was involved with, so perhaps those will do more of the talking. Of course, I can only give a thin sliver of his output.

In the couple of news reports I saw regarding Yamakawa's death, the one song that got mentioned was "Madonna Tachi no Lullaby"（聖母たちのララバイ）which he wrote for Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）in 1982. It turned out to be Iwasaki's greatest hit and probably his crowning achievement.

Unfortunately the J-Wiki article didn't give a chronological order about his output. However, I think one of his earliest creations was the flashy "Taiyo ga Kureta Kisetsu"（太陽がくれた季節）for the folk-pop group Aoi Sankaku Jougi（青い三角定規）in 1972.

In comparison to Funamura who focused on enka and Hirao who stayed on the traditional side of kayo through aidoru and Mood Kayo, I think Yamakawa tipped a bit more to the other side of Japanese pop including the genres of City Pop and the more far-ranging New Music. I realize that he was a lyricist and not a composer but he did get into a wide range of music.

That also included anison. Perhaps one of his most famous sets of lyrics in this area was for the ending theme song for the first "Galaxy Express 999" （銀河鉄道999）movie in 1979 as performed by Godiego（ゴダイゴ）. He and band vocalist Yukihide Takekawa（タケカワユキヒデ）made it very inviting to hop aboard the most famous train in anime.

One of my personal favourites, though, is Junko Yagami's（八神純子）"Naturally" (1983) which had that sweet/sultry tang.

And even into the 20th century, Yamakawa was even able to provide words to one of the most cheerful and earworm-y commercial jingles for a company, "Hello, Sofmap World" in 2004. Groovy 80s composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）came up with the happy melody so it was quite the atypical creation for both veterans.

Yamakawa has now left this mortal coil but there are still many songs left by him for me to delve into.

Yukihide Takekawa -- Happiness (ハピネス)

It's been a year in which we've received a lot of sad news of famous musicians passing so it's rather nice when I hear good news...and so very close to home. I just found out that one of our former contributors on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", alina, got married today. I sent my congratulations over to her and wish her and her spouse all the best.

As a result, I was rather thinking about what I could do to pay tribute to the occasion.I went over to the Yahoo.jp search engine and punched in for any information on wedding-related kayo. Well, there was actually quite a lot of entries and was thinking about one postwar song but feeling that might be a bit old for alina (she was doing a lot of the 70s and 80s songs), I decided to tighten my search for the appropriate era.

Fortunately, I didn't have to look too far. I came across a lovely and mellow tune by Yukihide Takekawa (タケカワユキヒデ) who was the lead vocal of the folk-pop group Godiego (ゴダイゴ) back in the 1970s. I was surprised to find out that he had actually launched his solo career a year (1974) before his band got started.

His 6th single, "Happiness" was officially released in May 1979 with added English lyrics by Yoko Narahashi（奈良橋陽子）although apparently Takekawa and original lyricist Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）had created the song back in 1975 as a track for his debut album, "Hashirisaru Roman"（走り去るロマン...Passing Pictures） with the Japanese title of "Bokura no Shiawase" (ぼくらのしあわせ...Our Happiness). I'm taking a guess here but I think this one that I've imported is the 1979 edition. And it starts off with a lovely piano before launching into a hopeful melody.

According to the J-Wiki article on "Happiness", although the lyrics contain a message about a couple progressing from the friend stage to walking down the aisle, Takekawa has stated that the song wasn't especially intended to be used for wedding receptions but as a tune telling listeners that they have yet to find true happiness so they have to get on the search. The 1979 edition, by the way, has the other Godiego members participating in the chorus so basically this can be a Godiego song but I will still give credit where it's due and say it is Takekawa's baby.

"Happiness" was also used as a jingle for a Suntory beer commercial in 1979 since of course beer can lead to happiness (at least until the hangover kicks in). Plus, copious amounts are often imbibed at wedding receptions on both sides of the Pacific.

As for that postwar song, I was impressed enough by it that I will talk about it tomorrow. But until then, all the best, alina!

Noriko Sakai -- Yume Boken （夢冒険）/ Noriko Watanabe -- Sora Iro no Pierce （空色のピアス）

Happy Monday! Well, I figure if the the anime world can come up with their programs devoted to Heidi, Anne of Green Gables (yeah, Canada) and even Princess Diana, then The Three Musketeers shouldn't be a problem. And I found out that there was indeed an anime about the adventures of Athos, D'Artagnan and the rest of the gang in the late 80s known as "Anime San Juushi"（アニメ三銃士...The Three Musketeers Anime ）by NHK.

I also discovered that none other than Noriko Nori-P Sakai（酒井法子）took care of the opening theme, "Yume Boken" (Dream Adventure) as her 4th single from November 1987. I mentioned on an article for another late 80s aidoru some time ago that a number of the aidoru tunes from that time were infused with a hint of melody lines from other genres. I think with "Yume Boken", there was something faintly classical thrown in by composer Eiji Nishiki（西木栄二）which fit in with the anime it opened for. Hiromi Mori（森浩美）provided the lyrics.

My memory of how Nori-P sounded back in the early days is somewhat hazy unfortunately but listening to her in the opening credits for "Anime San Juushi" and in the cute little video above, I think she had quite the pure delivery for a lack of a better way to describe her vocals. I once borrowed a videotape of the singer one time and I vaguely remember seeing this particular video.

"Yume Boken" placed at No. 4 on Oricon and was the title track on her 2nd album "Yume Boken/NORIKO SPECIAL" which came out later on New Year's Day in 1988. The song was also adopted as the theme for the opening ceremonies of the 1988 High School Baseball Tournament at Koshien Stadium. And there's nothing better for the record companies than having a tune used in that sports tournament as promotion.

Actually, the first thing that had me noticing the anime was this song which I discovered on YouTube titled "Sora Iro no Pierce" (Sky-Blue Earrings) sung by actress/singer Noriko Watanabe（渡辺典子）. The Oita Prefecture-born Watanabe debuted in 1982 and was placed alongside Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）and Tomoyo Harada（原田知世）to be collectively known as Kadokawa San-nin Musume（角川三人娘...The Three Daughters of Kadokawa） representing Kadokawa Pictures.

"Sora Iro no Pierce" was used as an image song during part of the anime, and it has more of an urban contemporary feel. It was Watanabe's 9th and 2nd-last single from December 1987, and although she didn't vocally hit it out of the park, the music by Godiego's Yukihide Takekawa（タケカワユキヒデ ）helps it out. Masumi Kawamura（川村真澄）provided the words.

JTM's Playlist - Tokusatsu Theme Song Edition

While deviating a little bit from the topic of J-Pop/Kayokyoku music, I wanted to post this entry covering my favorite Tokusatsu TV Show theme songs from the 70s and 80s.  These particular songs are not only very nostalgic but each hold a special place in my heart. Some of the songs/shows on this list may be familiar but others may be new to readers.

Godiego -- Taking Off

I was reminded of "Taking Off" by Godiego （ゴダイゴ）when I was at my friend's house yesterday, and he gave me a trip down anime Memory Lane by showing excerpts of the first and best of the "Galaxy Express 999" （銀河鉄道９９９） movies from 1979. I may have already mentioned this in my other postings concerning the movie such as "Galaxy Express 999" and "Yasashiku Shinaide" （やさしくしないで）, but the songs and the score were just wonderful. I'm glad to say that I was able to get the soundtrack a few years ago.

"Taking Off" was the Side-B song for Godiego's "Galaxy Express 999" when it was released in July 1979, and is a bit lighter in tone than its "big brother". However, it's appropriately titled since the song, written and composed by the same people behind "Galaxy Express 999", has that feeling of expectation as the legendary train takes off on its journey through the stars. The keyboards also reflect that feeling of innocence (or as much innocence as a future street urchin whose mother was slaughtered can have) and regret within young Tetsuro as he looks out the window and mentally waves goodbye to his buddies and his old life. I think just hearing that song for myself brings back memories of Japanese music back then and when I took off for Japan in 1981 with my fellow graduates from Japanese school.

Godiego -- Beautiful Name

"Beautiful Name" (English title: Every Child Has A Beautiful Name) was one of five Godiego（ゴダイゴ）songs that ended up on Oricon's Top 100 of 1979. Beautiful Harvest, I must say. This song is perhaps the most kid-friendly of those five in terms of its happy-go-lucky arrangement, and almost cries for everyone to start swaying and joining hands in mutual harmony.

The song had English and Japanese lyrics. Yoko Narahashi（奈良橋陽子） took care of the English side while Akira Ito（伊藤アキラ） wrote the Japanese words, and lead vocal Yukihide Takekawa（タケカワユキヒデ） composed it. After its release in April 1979, it peaked at No. 2. Only Judy Ongg's "Miserarete"（魅せられて）kept it from the top spot. As I said, for the year, "Beautiful Name" came in 4th out of the Godiego hit sweepstakes, ending up in the 19th position behind "Gandhara"(No. 6), "Galaxy Express 999"(No. 14) and "Monkey Magic"(No. 17). One other song, "Haruka na Tabi e"（はるかな旅へ....On A Distant Trip)finished in the 90th position.

"Beautiful Name" has been covered in a number of Asian languages such as Chinese and Korean. But here's the Nepalese version of it done by the band itself.

Godiego -- Gandhara （ガンダーラ）

The pop/rock band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）had their banner year in 1979, starting with their greatest hit, "Gandhara"（ガンダーラ）,　released in October 1978. The other two hits that I've already profiled by the group, "Monkey Magic" and "Galaxy Express 999" are uptempo numbers, but "Gandhara" is a sway-worthy ballad composed by Godiego main vocalist Yukihide Takekawa（タケカワユキヒデ）. There were two different versions of "Gandhara", one in English which was written by Yoko Narahashi（奈良橋陽子） and the Japanese version by Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）.

"Monkey Magic" was the rock beginning theme song for the TV fantasy adventure "Saiyuki"（西遊記）, while "Gandhara" was the ending theme. The title referred to a utopia located in India, although the actual area is supposedly in Afghanistan or Pakistan. Just as the band's name originated from exoticism (I explain how the name "Godiego" was derived in the entry for "Monkey Magic"(1979)), Takekawa also wanted the title of the song to reflect this feeling of India and The Silk Road. When he talked about his ideas with other songwriters, they responded by saying that they wanted something as exotic as the art of Gandhara. Takekawa derived the title from that statement.

Godiego's 7th single rose as high as No. 2 on Oricon and became the 6th-ranked song of 1979. The below video is "Gandhara" as it was presented at the end of "Saiyuki" in Japanese. Incidentally, the late 70s were a time for kayo kyoku to melodically explore this idea of a more exotic approach. Along with Godiego, singers like Judy Ongg (Miserarete) and Saki Kubota (Ihojin) were doing just that.

Godiego -- The Galaxy Express 999 (銀河鉄道９９９）

I remember watching the first movie in the "Galaxy Express 999"series on an old VHS video, and was impressed with the overall animation, the various environments, and simply the entire epic feel of this old 19th-century locomotive traveling through the stars. The symphonic score was fabulous, but there were also the two contributions by the band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）.

This song, which appeared at the end of the movie, was composed by vocalist Yukihide Takekawa（タケカワユキヒデ） and written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介） to reflect the 999 taking off on its journey. Initially, though, arranger Mickie Yoshino（ミッキー吉野）, the band's keyboardist, had envisioned a ballad for the movie but with this vision of the train soaring through the galaxy, the song took on a far more uptempo structure.

A version with English lyrics was also created with Yoko Narahashi（奈良橋陽子） as the lyricist. The song was released in July 1979, about a month before the movie's release, and quickly entered the Oricon charts at No. 6. It would eventually peak at No. 2 before finishing off the year as the 14th-ranked song for 1979. As was mentioned in the first entry for Godiego, the year reaped a lot of success for the band since four songs would end up on the high end of the charts.

The Galaxy Express 999 soundtrack

It will never happen, of course, but if there were ever a live-action version, I'd pick Gwyneth Paltrow as Maetel, with a de-aged Shia LaBeouf as Tetsuro. Considering Hollywood's track record of filming anime as live-action, though, I think seeing an actual 19th-century locomotive fly through the sky would enjoy better odds. But seriously, folks, if you want to see a great anime, "The Galaxy Express 999" is definitely one to catch.

Godiego -- Monkey Magic

When I first heard "Monkey Magic", I thought that this was one of the more interesting songs I'd ever heard on either side of the Pacific. And at that time, I didn't know of its use as the opening theme for "Saiyuki"（西遊記....Journey to the West), one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese Literature that has been retold several times in Japan over the decades, the most recent re-telling being broadcast as a Fuji-TV Monday night drama in 2006 starring one of the members of SMAP, Shingo Katori（香取信吾）, as the Monkey King. However, the most famous version was the 6-month 1978 television serial on NTV starring Masaaki Sakai（堺正章） as the Monkey King, the late actress Masako Natsume（夏目雅子） as Buddhist monk Tripitaka, and Toshiyuki Nishida（西田敏行）as the Pig Monk. 

I think "Monkey Magic" was a pretty darn bold musical move for the dramatization of a classic Chinese novel. Starting off with a progressive rock riff, the song goes into a funky disco rendition of the story in a way that would've made the band Wild Cherry proud. It also seems to be one of the first original Japanese pop songs to have been performed totally in English. The single was released on Xmas Day 1978 and peaked at No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies. Godiego's 8th single was the 17th-ranking song for 1979 (entamedata.web.fc2.com/music/music_a1979.html).

The band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）, consisting of Mickie Yoshino, Yukihide Takekawa, Takami Asano, Steve Fox and Tommy Snyder, first started in 1976. But it was 1979 which was the big year for the band as four songs, including "Monkey Magic", ended up in the Top 20 for the year (rankings 6, 14, 17, 19).

As for the name of the band itself, leader Mickie Yoshino derived it from the name of the 96th Emperor of Japan, Emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339). But it was bandmate Steve Fox who suggested that the spelling should be altered to "Godiego". One reason was that dividing the name into its 3 syllables (go, die, go) meant "live-die-rebirth" which referred to the proverbial phoenix. In addition, when the name is split another way, (god, I , ego), the words referred to "the ego of God", otherwise known as "truth".  

The above video contains the album version of the song, officially titled as "The Birth of the Odyssey/Monkey Magic" from the No. 1 album of 1979, "Saiyuki" by Godiego. Below is the band performing the tune. When the TV series was imported to the UK, simply titled "Monkey", the single went as high as No. 56 on the charts there.