Mitsuko Baisho/Teruhiko Aoi (Johnnys)-- Tokei wo Tomete（時計をとめて）

 

Chieko and Mitsuko Baisho（倍賞千恵子・倍賞美津子）are sisters who have been veterans in the acting and music industries for decades. The former is someone that I've known better primarily because she was acting as Sakura, the kind and dutiful sister to the legendary comical traveling salesman Torajiro Kuruma（車寅次郎）in the very long-running movie series "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" (It's Tough Being a Man) that my family used to watch for years. However, the younger Mitsuko Baisho is someone that I've also gotten to know through television dramas and commercials, and she has quite a different air about her. She has had more of the sexier and more voluptuous side.

(I'm sorry but the video has been taken down.)

But what I hadn't known about her until recently is that like her elder sister Chieko, Mitsuko Baisho has also had her time behind the recording microphone. In fact, she has released 23 singles and 2 albums up to 1985. Her 10th single was "Tokei wo Tomete" (Stop the Clock) which came out in 1967. The title might sound like the name of an American game show but Rei Nakanishi's（なかにし礼）lyrics put that rumour to rest by describing a lady's ardent request for time to be stopped so that she can spend as much remaining time as possible with the love of her life. Mitsuko seems to have her sister's singing ability with an operatic voice.

Now, actually "Tokei wo Tomete" is a cover of a bolero song titled "El reloj" which was created by Mexican singer-songwriter Roberto Cantoral when he was a member of the music trio Los Tres Caballeros and released as a single in 1957. According to Wikipedia, Cantoral had a tryst with one of the women participating in a tour by the trio through America and was inspired to write the song based on the brevity of time Cantoral had with the lass before they had to part in their different directions.

Along with Baisho's version, there were other covers of "El reloj" (The Clock) including an even earlier one by Teruhiko Aoi（青井輝彦）as a solo when he was still a member of the very first Johnny's Entertainment aidoru group, Johnnys（ジャニーズ）. Released in 1966, the Japanese lyrics were handled by another person, Masaru Kamo（かもまさる）. His rendition has a less strident feeling and more of a lullaby approach to the song, partly thanks to Aoi's creamy vocals. I can imagine the lad's fans simply fainting in the aisles now.

Johnnys & Jackey Yoshikawa and his Blue Comets -- Batman

 

"Kayo Kyoku Plus" friend and collaborator JTM kindly sent me a rather large book called "The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films ~ Mutated Edition" as a birthday present some months ago. It's all about the monster movies of past decades that for whatever reason never got as far as the celluloid stage. The one aborted project that really got my attention was "Batman vs. Godzilla"!

Yes, there had been thoughts and fantasies about the Dark Knight of Gotham going up against the Big Green One of Monster Island. And what better actor to battle the rubbery monster than the late great Adam West himself? I'll have that ham on ham right now ("Quick, old chum! Hand me that can of Bat-Oxygen Destroyer!" "Holy Atomic Breath of Death, Batman!")! I mean, could anyone have expected Christian Bale or Ben Affleck signing off on that one?

Indeed, the 1966 TV series of camp was my very first exposure to the Caped Crusader. Back then, it wasn't about the angst of Bruce Wayne in terms of morality and filial tragedy along with the horrible decay of Gotham City. It was all about the onomatopoeia-friendly fights, the Batmobile, the goofy villains and all those other devices with the Bat prefix. Of course, there was also the super-catchy, go-go boot-friendly, and lyrically economical (aside from the "nanananananana", it was just the title being chanted) theme song by Neal Hefti.

Well, I actually rolled the dice here and searched via Wiki/J-Wiki on whether there was a Japanese theme song for the original show (1966-1968) since I assumed that "Batman" the series also got its time in Japan as did many American shows. Guess what? I rolled a 7!

Yup, the opening had the original version but the ending theme consisted of the cover version thanks to a collaboration between the prime Johnny's Entertainment group, Johnnys（ジャニーズ）, and the Group Sounds band Jackey Yoshikawa and his Blue Comets（ジャッキー吉川とブルーコメッツ）. And this one had Japanese lyrics although I haven't been able to track down who took care of the words. Furthermore, there was some more of the beatnik music thrown in with a bevy of finger snaps and bluesy sax. Fun for the whole family!

Couldn't resist...just had to include the fight scenes! Plus, if you wish, you can take a look at Johnnys' take on an old standard.

Johnnys -- Wakai Namida（若い涙）/Boku no Tebukuro Yabureteru（僕の手袋破れてる）

Just caught the annual summer "Omoide no Melody"（思い出のメロディー）on NHK and it was a tight show presenting some of those old chestnuts from decades past. I thought co-host Noriyuki Higashiyama（東山紀之）, actor and one-third of 80s Johnny's group Shonentai（少年隊）was a pretty good emcee for the proceedings, and at the end of the show, he showed that he still had moves in him when he performed a couple of the old tunes from his aidoru days.

Speaking of the Johnny's bands, Higashiyama did a small tribute to the various groups that were born and nurtured under the Johnny's banner since the 1960s in consideration of the recent passing of founder Johnny Kitagawa（ジャニー喜多川）. So, of course, the time machine went all the way back to the very first Johnny's group, Johnnys（ジャニーズ）, with Teruhiko Aoi（あおい輝彦）, Osami Iino（飯野おさみ）, Ryo Nakatani（中谷良）and Hiromi Maie（真家ひろみ）.

My very first article on Johnnys entailed their cover of "Mack the Knife", but this time I was able to find the quartet's debut single from December 1964, "Wakai Namida" (Young Tears) and its B-side "Boku no Tebukuro Yabureteru" (My Gloves are Ripped); both songs are in the video above. Starting off with a rat-a-tat drums and what sounds like a cheerful American battle march, the guys sing a happy tune of encouragement for the youth who may be going through some blues. Johnnys is your best buddy! I actually had to look it up in JASRAC, but the veteran kayo tandem of lyricist Rokusuke Ei（永六輔）and composer Hachidai Nakamura（中村八大）took care of the creation of the first single for a Johnny's outfit.

I actually had to tweak how I typed in "Boku no Tebukuro Yabureteru" into the JASRAC database to find out that although it was Nakamura again who took care of the music, this time the lyrics were provided by Tetsuya Ohkura（大倉徹也）. There's some more doo-wop and harmonizing with this B-side, and though I couldn't quite catch onto the entire meaning of Ohkura's lyrics, I think it's possibly about some target of a boy's ardor maybe accidentally putting a hole into his gloves...much to his quiet surprise and joy. Ahh...the innocence of youth.

Wow! To think that this 45" single from the end of 1964 is the record that started it all for the Johnny's brand and its songs by folks like Masahiko Kondo（近藤真彦）, SMAP and Arashi（嵐）.

Hikaru GENJI -- Waratte yo (笑ってよ)

Hikaru GENJI’s (光GENJI) “Waratte yo” is a song I know since late 2010, when I first watched one of Music Station’s Special episodes (ミュージックステーション), this one from December 1990. In the aforementioned show, the Hikaru GENJI boys, which were the only male performers of the night (if we exclude the fact that B.B.QUEENS was a mixed band) in a vast sea of famous and ‘A game’ 80s female aidoru singers (names like Chisato Moritaka [森高千里], Wink, Seiko Matsuda [松田聖子], Akina Nakamori [中森明菜], Shizuka Kudo [工藤静香] and Miho Nakayama [中山美穂]), performed a medley of hit single “STAR LIGHT” and the newly released “Waratte yo”.

In general, it’s not hard to have a problem with Hikaru GENJI, since they’re pretty cheesy and the vocals really bad, even for Johnny’s standards. We can only think about listening to them nowadays for two reasons: one, of course, is nostalgia, while the other is production value, since their songs were not always that bad in the compositon/arrangement areas. “STAR LIGHT”, for example, is a good late 80s pop song, even if the group itself is lackluster. That said, my favorite from them has always been “Waratte yo”, a somewhat forgotten Latin-tinged gem from the group’s catalogue. I especially like the instrumental breakdown, but also wish it were longer.

To finish, here's the performance from "Music Station" I was talking about before.

Released in November 1990, “Waratte yo” was another hit single for the group, reaching #1 on the Oricon chart. Lyrics were written by Yoshiko Miura (三浦徳子), while music and arrangement were composed by Kouji Makaino (馬飼野康二).

Kyu Sakamoto/Johnny Tillotson/Johnny's/Mahina Stars/Miwa Kawagoe -- Namida-kun Sayonara （涙くんさよなら）

Indeed, spring has come. And if I'm not mistaken, there is a long weekend in Japan because of that fact. Not as lucky over here in Toronto but the weather was pretty decent though not quite spring-like. And true to Toronto weather, we are due for 5 cm of the white stuff on Wednesday. So as I've mentioned before, I will not be ready to declare a true spring until we are all well into April or even May. If you have lived in T.O. (or the Six, as folks are now nicknaming my hometown), you will understand.

The night before, commenter May Lily asked me about a song that I had never heard before under the title of "Namida-kun Sayonara" (Goodbye Mr. Tears) since she heard it while doing some transcription work for the old J-Drama "Hitotsu Yane no Shita 2" (I hope you have been enjoying the job, May). Well, I was able to find quite a bit of information on this tune, fortunately.

"Namida-kun Sayonara" is one of those old kayo from the 1960s which suddenly had a bunch of singers climb on the bandwagon when it was written and composed by Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）. First up was the late legendary Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）who tackled it for release in May 1965. It wasn't such a big hit for him but it still has that wonderful Kyu vocal style. Listening to this first version, the intro had me imagining a kayo folk tune but then the singer and the strings soared into a flourish that had me thinking of Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals such as "The King and I". I'm merely wildly speculating here but I wonder whether it was this abrupt change that had listeners initially not too enthused about the song. The lyrics were quite cheerful although on first listen they might seem as if Kyu was saying goodbye to another love. Actually he was giving his farewells (albeit temporarily by his own happy admission) to the tears themselves since he was able to find another young lady to spend time with.

Then, later that year into September, American singer Johnny Tillotson did his take on the Hamaguchi song in both Japanese and English. The style of this "Namida-kun Sayonara" was a more straightforward happy pop melody that proved to be a big hit for Tillotson, at least in Japan. According to his Wikipedia article, the song was never released as an official single in the United States although it may have gotten onto one of his albums.

May Lily was correct in her guess that the first Johnny's group had also covered "Namida-kun Sayonara". Johnny's（ジャニーズ）gave their own version in April 1966 as the B-side to their 7th single which was perhaps a slightly sweeter take than the Tillotson cover.

Hiroshi Wada and Mahina Stars（和田弘とマヒナスターズ）were a little less Hawaiian Mood Kayo and more the happy-go-lucky version of "Namida-kun Sayonara" but there is no mistaking the choral style of the group's approach. Their cover was released in December 1965.

What surprised me was that over the decades, the song has been covered by plenty of other folks ranging from 70s aidoru Mari Amachi（天地真理）to another Johnny's Entertainment group, TOKIO. However, I came across this version by a singer that I have also not heard about until yesterday called Miwa Kawagoe（川越美和）. This former actress and aidoru from Kagoshima Prefecture debuted in 1988, and her version of "Namida-kun Sayonara" was her 7th single from February 1991. It stood out since it had this rather Eurobeat-y touch of the times that had me thinking of Wink, Mi-ke and Chisato Moritaka（森高千里）. I guess for the singer, the song was the gift that kept on giving since later versions were released as her 11th-13th singles. Her version was also used as the theme song for a long-running TBS drama titled "Ten made Todoke"（天までとどけ...Reach for Heaven）.

Well, May, this is probably the longest answer I've given to you on a song here. I hope the information was what you had wanted. :)

Johnnys -- Mack The Knife

My first posting for 2016! Happy New Year!

For the decades that I have been earnestly following Japanese popular music, the various boy bands and solo acts under Johnny & Associates（ジャニーズ事務所）headed by the now-87-year-old Johnny Kitagawa（ジャニー喜多川）have been ever-present. Along with Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）, Toshihiko Tahara（田原俊彦）and Masahiko Kondo（近藤真彦）, there have been the units ranging from Shonentai（少年隊）and Hikaru Genji（光GENJI）in the 80s all the way to the current kings of SMAP and Arashi（嵐）.

But I always wondered who the very first Johnny's act was. Was it Matchy or Shonentai or further back with Hiromi Go? Who created the Big Bang for the Johnny's universe?

Well, I guess I don't have to wonder any longer...

When I was checking out the lineup for the 16th Kohaku Utagassen in 1965 and came across Sachiko Nishida's（西田佐知子）marvelous "Akasaka no Yoru wa Fukete"（赤坂の夜は更けて）, I also saw another entry which was simply called Johnnys（ジャニーズ）and they were responsible for that old jazzy chestnut "Mack The Knife", popularized by the late Bobby Darin.  I started musing "Hmm...could this be...?"

And sure enough it was. This was Johnny Kitagawa's（ジャニー喜多川）first boy group...the Ancestor Zero to Arashi and SMAP. While the future Svengali for all Japanese boy bands was working at the US Embassy in Tokyo, he encountered teenagers Teruhiko Aoi（あおい輝彦）, Osami Iino（飯野おさみ）, Ryo Nakatani（中谷良）and Hiromi Maie（真家ひろみ）playing baseball in the massive Yoyogi Park (thank you, Wikipedia) in the early 1960s, and apparently, he recruited them to become Johnnys, the first boy singing-and-dancing group in Japan. I've got no idea how Kitagawa was inspired to come up with the idea for creating such a unit while working at the Embassy, but perhaps it was a bit like Einstein coming up with the Theory of Relativity while he was puttering away at the patent office (which is probably more story than truth).

In any case, Johnnys was born in early 1962 and had their run until late 1967. And during that time, the unit released 15 singles and 1 album before calling it quits. "Mack The Knife" wasn't an official single but it was covered by the band and it was even performed on the 1965 Kohaku Utagassen on their one and only appearance on the NHK special.

Of the four members of Johnnys, Aoi and Iino parlayed their time and experience into long careers as actors/singers. Also, according to the Wikipedia article on the group,'...the group is often called "First Generation Johnny's" or "Founding Johnnys".'