I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Showing posts with label Kuranosuke Hamaguchi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kuranosuke Hamaguchi. Show all posts
One of my favourite dishes has been potato croquettes. They were easy to get in Japan because they are very popular there and my mother used to make them but they are rather labour-intensive and time-intensive to make so it's no longer that practical to get them from scratch anymore, although I wouldn't mind taking a crack at making them myself.
The croquette is another dish that was warmly welcomed into Japanese cuisine back in the late 19th century in the Meiji era, and another variety of the dish that has been another popular item in restaurants is the cream croquette. This one took a little more time for me to warm up to since the filling isn't potato but béchamel sauce with other ingredients including corn and crab meat. But once I did, they also became another popular item in my stomach.
Well, I've come up with another food-based kayo kyoku and it's known as "Korokke no Uta"(The Croquette Song). According to one Japanese-language blog, the song was first recorded in 1917 during the Taisho era with Taro Masuda（益田太郎）behind the lyrics while the composer remains unknown. Basically, it describes one man's loving but rueful admission that his wife gets nothing but croquettes for dinner. Yeah, I can understand...I do like my croquettes but variety is the spice of life, after all.
The above version is probably one that was recorded much later with singers Yasushi Suzuki and Mitsuharu Minamichi（鈴木やすし・南地みつ春）although I couldn't specify the year. Also, I'm not 100% sure of the proper pronunciation of the second person's family name and for that matter, for a person with a male first name, he sure sounds like a woman. Maybe someone better in the know than me can explain, although maybe the above version was performed by a different pair.
In October 1962, enka singer Midori Satsuki（五月みどり）released a single with the same title but it is actually a different song under the words and music by Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）. The arrangement is similarly whimsical but it goes a little more into an enka direction. The lyrics, though different, still talk about a couple and their oft-chosen meal of croquettes. However, the couple is definitely stated to be a newlywed pair so the new husband is more than accepting of his beloved's obsession with the dish.
There have been a couple of articles featuring the late actor and singer Hiroshi Moriya（守屋浩）who had passed away in September 2020, including "Boku wa Naichicchi"（僕は泣いちっち）, an enka ballad by songwriter Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）which may have been the first of his songs to get recorded.
However, I have neglected to provide some background information on Moriya who was born in Chiba Prefecture in 1938 as Kunihiko Moriya（守屋邦彦）. In his late teens, he got his first taste of showbiz when he joined the rockabilly band Swing West（スイングウェスト）as a roadie in 1957 and then got involved with the Nichigeki Western Carnival（日劇ウエスタンカーニバル）the following year at the Nihon Gekijo Theatre in Tokyo.
At around the same time, Takeo Hori（堀威夫）, the founder of Hori Productions, later to become the talent agency Horipro tacked on the stage name of Hiroshi Moriya to young Kunihiko so that he could be promoted along a couple of other Hiroshi-tagged actor/singers, Hiroshi Inoue（井上ひろし）and Hiroshi Mizuhara（水原弘）to become known as Sannin Hiroshi（三人ひろし）, aka The Three Hiroshis, during the late 1950s going into the early 1960s. With the rockabilly boom in full swing (no pun intended), Moriya began to grow his fame.
Still, the song that I have here by Moriya tonight doesn't sound anything like a rockabilly tune. In fact, I'd say that "Arigata ya Bushi" (The Thank You Tune),his hit single from November 1960 is definitely in the traditional Japanese vein, although with a mix of festival-loving minyo, a bit of Latin even, and an arrangement that also feels like it could easily be played by an old-fashioned chindon'ya band. The interesting thing, though, is that the composer is unknown, although according to the J-Wiki article for "Arigata ya Bushi", it may have originated from a song devoted to the Buddha on the island of Shikoku, although it's been also said that it had been sung as a folk tune all the way over in Nagoya.
Whatever the origin legend may say, "Arigata ya Bushi" was written by the aforementioned Hamaguchi basically as someone's somewhat snarky theory of life (yeah, yeah, thank ya, thank ya, whatever!) as unnecessary hustle and bustle while the fellow himself is more than happy to go or lay about at his own sweet pace. Considering the times, the famed lyricist even installs a note about a woman he likes spending her time attending university demonstrations. "Arigata ya Bushi" may have been about the joy of fecklessness, but it really hustled in the sales department, selling around 140,000 records a few months after its November debut.
(I'm sorry but the video has been taken down.)
The J-Wiki article also mentions that "Arigata ya Bushi" had its cover versions including one by Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）via one of his movies in 1963. Speaking of that, the success of the song also led to a movie based on it, "Arigata ya Bushi Aah Arigata ya Arigata ya"（有難や節 あゝ有難や有難や...Doing What I Please） that was released in May 1961 with one of the stars being Moriya himself. In the above video, lyricist Hamaguchi himself gives his own song a go.
Another rollicking cover was provided by reggae singer KAJA as the ending theme song for the fourth season of the TV Asahi assassin series "The Hangman"（ザ・ハングマン）in 1984. Incidentally, KAJA shouldn't be confused with the obscure band Kaja that I'd already written about a couple of years ago. As such, I'll keep the reggae singer listed in Labels with "(reggae)" next to it. The pronunciation is also different in that the band Kaja sounds like "ka-ya".
It's the Thanksgiving long weekend in Canada, and it's a pity that with the second wave of COVID-19 striking us like a bowling ball on pins, the big turkey dinner gatherings will have to be cancelled this year. However, we can still be thankful and hopeful for healthy families and trying to keep things in check. One nice thing for today is that the daily infection rates in my province of Ontario have dipped quite a bit from the peak near 1000 cases a few days ago. I'm not optimistic about any double-digit miracles right now but I'm at least wishing that the rates stabilize somewhat and even slowly decrease over the remainder of October now that we've backtracked to Stage 2.
I was looking for another kayo kyoku that had a thankful theme or at the very least had the word "arigatou" in the title, and I did find one in the song "Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigatou" (Thanks for the Night Fog Tonight) by Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）. Actually, our enka/Mood Kayo enthusiast Noelle Tham first wrote about this classic by The Tough Guy a little over 6 years ago so my take is a follow-up.
As I mentioned in my comment to Noelle's article, "Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigatou" is an Ishihara number that I've heard before since I was a kid (it was released back in 1967) and it's got plenty of that Mood Kayo spice all balled up in Kuranosuke Hamaguchi's（浜口庫之助）words and music. It's the type of song that you just need to have those two fingers of Old Parr in the tumbler with slowly melting ice cubes, preferably served in an Akasaka bar. One can get plenty contemplative about one's life choices while listening to the song in that environment...that and how much the tab will be there.
The thing is, though, that as Noelle had also stated, "Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigatou" was the theme song for the 1967 movie starring Ishihara and Ruriko Asaoka（浅丘ルリ子）. What I hadn't been aware of is that the film was (perhaps loosely) adapted from the "Casablanca" starring Humphrey Bogart according to the J-Wiki writeup but reading about the plot on the Wikipedia version of the movie, Cary Grant's "An Affair to Remember" actually coalesced in my brain. Also, the above video has the opening and ending scenes from the movie so if you are thinking about watching it, you may want to stop halfway due to obvious spoilers.
So I gather that "Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigatou" could be the "As Time Goes By" for Ishihara's flick, and perhaps as one of Ishihara's most memorable tunes, maybe it's been better remembered than the actual movie itself.
Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）did a really striking cover of "Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigatou" for a 2008 album titled "Chiaki Naomi Mood Kayo wo Utau"（ちあきなおみ ムード歌謡を唄う...Naomi Chiaki Sings Mood Kayo）. The song has been given this really contemporary bluesy jazz sheen and naturally Chiaki has the vocal chops to really give this cover some heft.
Y'know...we in Toronto may finally be getting a proper spring...and just in time, since we've got the Victoria Day long weekend coming up, which is strangely enough seen by many as the unofficial start to summer. I think it's gonna be a long while before we can think of the hot season, though.
Anyways, allow me to start your "Kayo Kyoku Plus" broadcasting day with something nice and pleasant from the year of 1969...March 1969, to be exact. I came across this tune by Kyoto-born Kyoko Takada（高田恭子）titled "Minna Yume no Naka" (Everybody's In A Dream), and as the title may suggest, it feels like something dreamy and soft and comfy.
Written and composed by Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）, this was Takada's solo debut after a stint as a vocalist with Mike Maki（マイク眞木）in his Group Sounds band The Mikes（ザ・マイクス）. "Minna Yume no Naka" has such a reassuring lilt to the melody that I wondered whether this had been meant as a kids' song on NHK's "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）. Plus, Takada sounds like a mother taking care of her children when she sings this.
Reaching a peak of No. 17 on the Oricon weeklies, "Minna Yume no Naka" earned Takada a Best New Artist prize along with Mood Kayo legends Hiroshi Uchiyamada & Cool Five（内山田洋とクール・ファイブ）at the Japan Record Awards for that year. Furthermore, the singer was able to go on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen for that one time.
For those who are into the old kayo, whenever the name Akira Nishikino（錦野旦）pops up, the usual song that appears in memories is his zesty 3rd single"Sora ni Taiyo ga Aru Kagiri"（空に太陽がある限り）, written and composed by the late songwriter Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）.
Of course, when Nishikino does appear on various programs (he doesn't show up as much as he used to) such as NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）, "Sora ni Taiyo ga Aru Kagiri" would be the go-to performance. However, on the "Uta Con" episode back on July 10th, which was devoted to the works of his old master, Nishikino not only sang his most famous hit but also his debut single from May 1970, "Mou Koi Nanoka" (Is This Love?).
It's always a treat when a veteran singer who seems to always go with his biggest hit on music shows finally decides to dig into his/her discography vaults and performs something that I had yet to hear. That was indeed the case with "Mou Koi Nanoka".
As was the case with "Sora ni Taiyo ga Aru Kagiri", "Mou Koi Nanoka" was also a HamaKura creation for his padawan (whose name at the time was written down in hiragana: にしきのあきら), and the song struck me for its innocent and questioning melody which matched the young Nishikino's words of figuring out this strange emotion roiling inside him. An interesting thing was that when the native of Oita Prefecture was given his promotion to the public, his catchphrase was "The Sony Enka Knight"（ソニー演歌の騎士）.
"Mou Koi Nanoka" does evoke images of cherry blossom petals and romantic walks near temples and ancient arched bridges, but at this point, I can't really say that the arrangement here places it as an enka tune. It just sounds like a romantic kayo ballad. And quite a successful one, to boot. It didn't break the Top 10 on Oricon but peaked at a respectable No. 24, selling a tad over 150,000 records. He also won Best New Artist honours at the Japan Record Awards and his first of 6 invitations to the Kohaku Utagassen during the 1970s.
The theme for "Uta Con"（うたコン）back on Tuesday night was the world of the late songwriter Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）. Of course, a lot of his works are famous songs in the kayo kyoku sphere of influence which include the tender and folksy "Bara ga Saita"（バラが咲いた）by Mike Maki（マイク眞木）, the Group Sounds classic "Yuuhi ga Naiteiru"（夕陽が泣いている）by The Spiders and the Mood Kayo"Koukotsu no Blues"（恍惚のブルース）by husky-voiced Mina Aoe（青江三奈）.
One insight that I got about Hamaguchi from the broadcast was that he often picked musical influences from all over the world. Looking at my own list in "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I realized that he could come up with songs for singers all throughout the kayo spectrum.
One of the songs that was featured in the tribute was "Boku wa Naichicchi" (I am C-C-Crying), a kayo that had been written and composed by Hamaguchi for singer Hiroshi Kamiya（守屋浩）in 1959. According to the J-Wiki article for the songwriter, "Boku wa Naichicchi" may have been the first creation of his to get recorded.
It's a light and slightly melancholy enka about a man who's lamenting the loss of his girlfriend to the bright lights and big city of Tokyo. I could imagine the big lug trying to keep a brave face on the platform as she waves goodbye from the train, only for him to start crumbling into a pool of brine. There were quite a number of these exodus enka back in the day to reflect the mass migration of young people to the metropolis to find work and a new life.
Not sure how well "Boku wa Naichicchi" did but it was popular enough that Moriya got his invitation to the 1960 Kohaku Utagassen to perform it.
Caught my first "Uta Kon"（うたコン）in a few weeks. The theme was one that has popped up on the program a number of times in the past including when the NHK kayo show was titled "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）...all about ardent love. The show even had an actress give a reading of some messages of love from some famous folks such as novelist Soseki Natsume（夏目漱石）and songwriter Rokusuke Ei（永六輔）.
Most of the songs that were featured have already shown up on this blog so the one new tune that stood out to me was Chiyoko Shimakura's（島倉千代子）"Ai no Sazanami" (Ripples of Love) that first saw the light of day back in July 1968 as the single commemorating her 15th anniversary in show business. What was interesting about the song was that despite its categorization on the J-Wiki article as an enka song (and all the singers in this article dressed in kimono), I really don't think it sounds like an enka tune...or a Mood Kayo song, for that matter. I don't hear any Japanese instruments; it's a gently rolling piano and guitar anchoring the ballad. In fact, I think there is almost something downright Carpenters about it. According to that article, the backing chorus was actually recorded in Los Angeles at the composer's suggestion but I'm not sure if that meant that an American group of backup singers was hired or whether Japanese backup singers were brought into LA.
"Ai no Sazanami" was written by Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）and composed by Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）. Nakanishi definitely leaves the love out there for Shimakura to sing. The first verse is as follows:
If there is truly a god on this Earth I want to die in your arms Gently, gently kiss me In that lone boat on the lake Over and over, just like ripples
I think it was a good choice for the song to be presented, and it was a good opportunity to find out about this fascinating pop song of the times performed by an already well-regarded enka singer. "Ai no Sazanami" was a huge hit for the late Shimakura, becoming a million-seller. And if I'm not mistaken, with Oricon just starting out, it was the singer's first entry into those charts, topping off at No. 20 for 2 straight weeks. December 1968 was also a busy one for her since she won a special prize at the Japan Record Awards as well as gaining her 12th straight appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen.
Of course for such a lovely song, covers are inevitable and I found this really wonderful version re-arranged as an R&Bballad and performed by none other than Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）, Kyoko Koizumi（小泉今日子）and Ann Lewis（アン・ルイス）back in the late 1980s.
Plus, there is Fuyumi Sakamoto（坂本冬美）providing her own version in 2006. But strangely enough, when I first heard the Shimakura original, I thought that "Ai no Sazanami" would also be an ideal choice for Kiyoshi Maekawa and The Cool Five（前川清とクール・ファイブ）to tackle.
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 aidoruMari 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. :)
Introducing me to "Iki na Wakare" was Hiroshi Tachi (舘ひろし) through his cover album of Yujiro Ishihara's (石原裕次郎) past hits. I like this soft and comfortable tune by Tough Guy quite a bit, so I'm glad it was in the album as I don't think I would've found out about it otherwise - before I knew what the title meant, the combination of kanji and hiragana didn't make me gravitate to it.
What I like most about the B-side to Yujiro's classic "Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigato" (夜霧よ今夜も有難う) from 1967 is its music, brought to you by Kuranosuke Hamaguchi (浜口庫之助). Similar to the A-side, "Iki na Wakare" is mellow and jazzy with the occasional trumpet, and the low notes from the strings and the saxophone, except this has a Parisian feel to it. And of course the clincher is Ishihara's delicate and wistful vocals that can calm any bundle of nerves. It is very much a jazz Mood Kayo but I find that there's a very slight hint of enka in there too. Whenever I listen to the original, I get the image of a lone figure walking down a street in Paris with only his thoughts when the sun is casting an orange hue over the city and the chilly autumn breeze whipping up the dried, fallen leaves.
I recently found out what "Iki na Wakare" means: Stylish farewell. It kinda sounds rather odd, or at least to me it does, however, I'm guessing that Hamaguchi is referring to an amicable split between a couple. That allowed me to better understand his lyrics that have our main man telling his flame that they should have clean break, which made me appreciate and made my love for "Iki na Wakare" grow. My favourite lines have to be the two that kick-starts the song, and the two that wraps things up. My translations are based on what I can decipher and may not be entirely right.
Inochi ni owari ga aru Life has an end Koi ni mo owari ga kuru So does love
and
Owanai de owanai de Don't pursue it, don't pursue it Iki na wakare wo shiyoze Let's just have a stylish (amicable?) farewell
Having my train of thought on this topic, it soon reminded of one of Larry's articles where the matter of how one should greet an ex was discussed in the comments, you can check it out here.
Besides Tachi, a number of other singers had done their own rendition of "Iki na Wakare", including the husky-voiced Naomi Chiaki (ちあきなおみ). Her version is rather interesting with it being faster in pace and sounding more bossa nova - very jazz bar-like. And finally, here's manly enka singer, George Yamamoto's (山本譲二) take on it which is closer to Yujiro's.
Over the weekend, a couple of my relatives from abroad came for a visit. The time spent with them was fun, especially since my uncle loves to share little anecdotes, recounts of incidents from way back in the days of yore when he had hippy hair, and an occasional quote from a prominent figure. The quote for this round of visitation happened to be from Chinese philosopher, Confucius, regarding one's age... sort of - we were talking about our ages when he thought of it. I'll share the bits of it that he had been saying to me.
San shi er li (三十而立) At thirty I stood firm
Qi shi er cong xin suo yu, bu yu ju (七十而从心所欲，不逾矩) At seventy I could follow my heart's desire without overstepping the boundaries of what was right
Credits to Wikiquote for the proper translations to the quote. The translations provided by my uncle were simpler; the first sentence being something on the line of finding yourself and knowing who you are, the other one simply being, doing whatever you like. The reason for his constant reiterations of these two lines in particular is because they concern the both of us in one way or another - I have yet to turn 30 and it will be a while till that happens, as for him... well, you can figure it out. "You still have a long way to go," he told me. A long way indeed.
Alright, coming back to today's main topic. Joining me in the "Haven't yet crossed the San shi er li mark club" is enka singer Yuki Tokunaga (徳永ゆうき), and I'm starting to enjoy seeing him on the music shows as he's been able to pull off enka classics really well. In the week before the last on an episode of "Shin Nippon no Uta", he appeared to sing a jaunty tune known as "Koi no Yamanotesen", and since the song features this JR line, Tokunaga was dressed as a train conductor and even made a couple of those train announcements (video got taken down).
It was quite an amusing song as places long the Yamanote line were featured like Shinagawa, Sugamo and Tabata. If my guess is right, the lyrics are about the protagonist either listing out some date suggestions to his lady (probably the cute girl from the office in Ueno) or about the couple hopping from town to town in search of a good time along the Yamanote line.
As the MC mentioned before Tokunaga tackled the song, "Koi no Yamanotesen" was originally sung by a current member of the "Qi shi er cong xin suo yuclub", the husky Akira Kobayashi (小林旭). Definitely sounds like something right up Might Guy's alley. Listening to the playful music and how the stations are being mentioned one after another, it brought to mind another of Kobayashi's latersingle, "Jidosha Show Ka" (自動車ショー歌), which is basically the car version of "Koi no Yamanotesen". Y'know, from that video above with Kobayashi's performance of the song, I can see why many like to do impressions of him.
"Koi no Yamanotesen" was put together by Kuranosuke Hamaguchi (浜口庫之助) and Teiji Kojima (小島貞二), with the former taking care of the music while the latter handled the lyrics. It was released on 20th March 1964 and it was a big hit... or at least that was what the "Shin Nippon no Uta" MC said. But I wouldn't be surprised if it were well recieved since it's quite catchy.
Oh wow, look at that!
muroreco.shop-pro.jp
I took a look at the Yamanote line; it reminds me of the Circle line over here in Singapore.
From one of my favourite genres to another... Besides enka and Mood Kayo, I really enjoy jazz, and I've made that known when I did the article on Duke Aces'cover album filled with ancient jazz tunes. The combination of sounds in such music - the not too boisterous tapping of the drums, the tinkling of the piano, the blare of the trumpets, and the rich notes from the saxophone - brings relaxing thoughts and images to mind. And that was what compelled me to get this album by Hiroshi Tachi (舘ひろし).
After hearing his rendition of "Arashi wo Yobu Otoko", which was where I got to see the current-decade-Tachi being as suave or even more so as he was back in the 80's, I was pleased to know that he had done a cover album solely on the hits sung by his senior and former leader of the Ishihara Gundan, Yujiro Ishihara (石原裕次郎). It was released on 26th September 2012, and it peaked at 128th place on the Oricon charts. Through an episode of NHK's "SONGS" online that featured this very album, I was glad to know that his renditions all had the familiar, comforting sounds of jazz, which was probably why I accepted them fairly easily even though I wasn't familiar with or didn't liked the originals.
The tracks for "HIROSHI TACHI sings YUJIRO" are as follows:
1. Prologue (序章)
2. Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigato (夜霧よ今夜も有難う)
3. Arashi wo Yobu Otoko (嵐を呼ぶ男)
4. Akai Handkerchief (赤いハンカチ)
5. Iki na Wakare (粋な別れ)
6. Brandy Glass (ブランデーグラス)
7. Futari no Sekai (二人の世界)
8. Ginza no Koi no Monogatari (銀座の恋の物語)
9. Kurutta Kaijutsu (狂った果実)
10. Mina Dare ka wo Aishiteru (みんな誰かを愛してる)
11. Waga Jinsei ni Kui Nashi (わが人生に悔いなし)
12. Amai Seikatsu (甘い生活) - Bonus track, Tachi's own song.
On a whole, the covers are louder with a fuller arrangement, and the Mood Kayo feel is mostly lost to that of jazz - most sound like tunes you'd hear in jazz bars and Broadway shows rather than a little izakaya tucked away in some back alley in Ginza - but I like them anyway.
Alright, enough with the introduction, let's get on to the songs I enjoy from this album, shall we? For the tracks that I can't find online, I will put down the original instead.
Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigato (1967)
As you probably know by now, I LOVE this song, and I'm actually very particular about who sings this jazzy Mood Kayo hit - besides Tough Guy, of course. In fact, I can get quite ticked off if I don't think the singer has the right vocal delivery for it. Lucky for Tachi, I think his voice has some similar qualities to Yujiro's, those being low, smooth and gentle; he isn't able to reach the higher notes as easily though. If I were to use food as an analogy, Yujiro's voice would be something like a smooth and light hot chocolate, while Tachi's a thicker, heavier caramel.
Unfortunately, I'm unable to find Tachi's cover of "Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigato", but it is a lot louder than the original with the trumpets blaring away rather than just the lonely sax. It's nice, but frankly, I prefer the music to the original as it represents the loneliness of the song better.
Arashi wo Yobu Otoko (1958)
I enjoy both versions of "Arashi wo Yobu Otoko", but I think I prefer Tachi's by a slim margin. The original is more on the refined side if you take out the boisterous crashing of the drums and cymbals. The cover on the other hand is aggressive and combatant and very Tachi in its arrangement, and I think that it blends with the boxing-related taunt mid-way through the song.
Iki na Wakare (1967)
This one came across as slightly enka to me when I heard the sample of it on CD Japan, and I took a liking to it immediately. The laid back vibe of "Iki na Wakare" made by the horns and sax had me thinking of someone taking a leisurely stroll in a park with brown leaf litter crunching underfoot and the trees painted gold, red and orange by autumn. The original is softer and more deconstructed but it gives off a similar feeling, though instead of a park I envision the person strolling down a Parisian street at sundown. "Iki na Wakare" was the B-side to "Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigato", and Kuranosuke Hamaguchi (浜口庫之助) had also put this song together.
Ginza no Koi no Monogatari (1961)
"Ginza no Koi no Monogatari" was one of Tough Guy's songs that I never paid attention to even after hearing it a couple of times on "Kayo Concert", and for a while I was wondering why this duet was one of his most successful hits. And then Tachi's version, sung with jazz singer Karen Aoki (青木カレン), staved off the doubts I had. I think it has got to do with the arrangement of the song again, with the former being quieter and more subdued, while the latter being more Broadway-like and exciting. But either way, "Ginza no Koi no Monogatari" has found its way into my brain and it has no intention of leaving - it's been stuck in my noggin for a few days now... it's getting quite annoying. You can find the cover in the video above which shows that episode of "SONGS" I was talking about earlier. "Ginza no Koi no Monogatari" comes in at the 9:47 mark.
Waga Jinsei ni Kui Nashi (1987)
To end off the article, I'll talk about the last song in the album (not counting the bonus track). I think "Waga Jinsei ni Kui Nashi" translates to "I have no regrets in my life", and taking into account that this was Ishihara's last single released while he was still in the world of the living just makes it one poignant tune... It's one that would put a sad smile on your face. The music that Tokiko Kato (加藤登紀子) had composed starts of soft at first, and while Tachi/Yujiro sings during that bit, it sounds as if our protagonist is staring into the mirror and talking to himself, reviewing what had been happening in his life thus far. Then it picks up at the chorus where he then proclaims sort of triumphantly that he has no regrets in his life. Rei Nakanishi (なかにし礼) had written the lyrics. "Waga Jinsei ni Kui Nashi" did quite well on the charts in 1987, peaking at 12th place and selling about 840 000 copies. Ah yes, and you can find Tachi's cover in the "SONGS" video above at the 25:52 mark.
He looks really good in a tux... especially with
the bow tie undone... like that.
Last night on "Kayo Concert", I heard Shoji Koganezawa and Natsumi Kawano（小金沢 昇司＆川野 夏美）perform an old Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）tune, "Koi no Machi Sapporo" (Town of Love Sapporo), and just thought that it was definitely vintage Ishihara of the 70s. I heard the original version via the YouTube video above, and yep, there was that intimate music that automatically evoked images of cigarette smoke and whiskey tumblers punctuated with the saxophone (it seems like an Ishihara ballad has either a sax or a trumpet leading the way). And of course, Ishihara's vocals had that wistful and slightly boozy edge as if The Big Man had knocked back some of that Suntory before hitting the mike.
"Koi no Machi Sapporo" was released in 1972 and both music & lyrics were taken care of by Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）who had also composed "Koukotsu Blues"（恍惚のブルース）for the late Mina Aoe（青江三奈）in 1966 and then wrote and composed "Yuuhi ga Naiteiru"（夕陽が泣いている）for the Group Sounds band The Spiders in the same year. Hamaguchi must have known the Ishihara style right down to the last note...or perhaps he was the one who came up with it.
I think this is probably best done as a duet since "Koi no Machi Sapporo" is about a couple showing their love for each other and for Sapporo perhaps...although the Clock Tower is the only landmark that is mentioned in the lyrics.
I don't know if I've mentioned it in any of the other articles I've written, but I did have my own little trip to Sapporo up in Hokkaido several years ago (maybe a decade ago). I do remember it was a June, and landing at Shin-Chitose Airport, and heading into the big city, I also remember it was a lot more cooler and drier than Tokyo which was already heading into humid territory. It was very refreshing walking along the grid pattern streets and visiting the Clock Tower among other sites.
Of course, the food was also the attraction. I had my ramen with pork slabs so plentiful and big that they completely covered the top of the bowl. Unfortunately, I was by myself so it was unrealistic for me to partake in a Jinghis Khan, but I did bring home the requisite omiyage of Rokkatei Marusei Butter Sandwiches (with raisins). They are wholly unhealthy but oh so good. Right now in Toronto, the big sweets craze is for Japanese cheesecake at Uncle Tetsu's but I can guarantee if Rokkatei ever set up shop here, I would line up for 2 hours to get my hands on a package.
Earlier tonight, I caught my usual Tuesday-night regular "Kayo Concert" and it was their occasional barn burning medley of the ol' kayo hits with the guests which included a still hot Yoko Oginome（荻野目洋子）! One of the songs that was in the medley was "Kiiroi Sakuranbo"(Yellow Cherry), a 3-minute song of flirtation with the various sighs and moans built into the lyrics. Those vocal antics triggered something in my mind that said that I had heard the song before but could not remember the source.
Well, I was able to find out that the original version had been recorded by a trio of young ladies under the name of Three Cats. There is very little information about the group...certainly nothing on J-Wiki. What I could find out was through an Ameba blog entry which stated that the lineup for Three Cats changed a fair bit since the original recording of "Kiiroi Sakuranbo" in 1959 (I currently don't know when the trio was formed or how long it lasted); the original lineup consisted of Keiko Ozawa, Kayo Umeda and Yurie Uehara（小沢桂子、梅田和代、上原由里江）.
The song certainly became a hit and it was the breakthrough for lyricist Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composer Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）who hadn't had a hit previously. In fact, its popularity gave rise to a movie with the same title, and it has been remembered thoroughly enough over the decades that it has risen to Standard status. But Three Cats wasn't where I first heard the song.
It was actually the above three girls. Last week, I wrote an article about Junko Sakurada（桜田淳子）that included her membership in The Hana no Chuusan Trio. Well, there she is above me along with her two compatriots, Masako Mori（森昌子）and Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）, doing their version of "Kiiroi Sakuranbo" as cutely as they could. I guess I must have caught the footage on some old retrospective while I was still living in Japan. Plus, there's a good chance that it was used in some sort of commercial.
The take-away here is that whenever a music program in Japan needs to have a cute/silly novelty tune between some serious enka epics, "Kiiroi Sakuranbo" is the go-to song.
It's Hump Day...otherwise known as Wednesday; a couple of days away from Blue Monday and a couple of days away from TGIF. Not quite as depressing but not quite as exciting as well. So, most likely if I were a salaryman in Japan, I'd probably hit the nearby izakaya with some buddies to drink some of those mid-week blues.
Speaking of which, I wanted to bring in some of those Mood Kayo Blues. So I went with Mina Aoe's（青江三奈）"Koukotsu no Blues" (Ecstasy Blues), the lyrically suggestive debut single for the late singer with the breathy voice. Unlike the sensual gasp-punctuated "Isezakicho Blues"（伊勢崎町ブルース）which was arguably Aoe's most famous hit, this June 1966 release was a bit more mild-mannered in melody with the de rigueur laidback sax, guitar and strings by Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）, the same man who also wrote and composed "Yuuhi ga Naiteiru"（夕陽が泣いている）, a hit for the Group Sounds band, The Spiders, in the same year. The lyrics were written by Kohan Kawauchi（川内康範）who also provided the words to the aforementioned "Isezakicho Blues" a couple of years later. Strangely enough, those lyrics struck me as surprisingly unsuggestive, but he had certainly given a lot more charge to the words for "Koukotsu no Blues", as the title would indicate. A few lines from one verse was an innuendo either intimating that the heroine's lover brought her out of her shell and showered her with tons of blue pearls, or that he made her a complete woman.
As for the title itself, it was inspired by a short story serial, "Koukotsu" that had been written by lyricist Kawauchi for the journal "Shuukan Shincho"（週刊新潮）. Aoe, who had been working as a singer in one of those Ginza nightclubs under her real name of Shizuko Ihara（井原静子）, adopted the name of the protagonist (who was also a singer) from the story, Mina Aoe....and the rest, they say, is history.
"Koukotsu no Blues" sold 800,000 records which would have been a sure Oricon No. 1 if that ranking system had already been in place. Aoe merely had to settle for an invitation to the 1966 Kohaku Utagassen.
After observing one third of the Gosanke (御三家), I've come to notice that the final addition to this trio seems to have this strange habit of raising a thick eyebrow while singing. This would be slightly more obvious when he sings songs that have this Latin/Spanish flare to it. Yes, I'm talking about Teruhiko Saigo (西郷輝彦), and one such song would be his most notable hit from 1966 'Hoshi no Flamenco'.
With the blare of the trumpet and the rolling drums at the start, it sounds like it is setting the stage for a dance-off (flamenco, of course) between the flamboyant singer and his rival... huh, that makes for pretty good 60's movie material, just got to add in the female lead to be the dame the two are fighting (dancing) for. Anyway, then we have Saigo himself turning to the side and clapping his hands to the castanets, singing the song in his gentle and mellow voice with a slight cheeky smirk on his face. Oh yeah, add that part to the mentioned movie idea! Hah, now that's what I call smooth! Then the girl would definitely throw herself at him!
Since he did quite a bit of acting back in the day, 'Hoshi no flamenco' was the theme song for one of Saigo's earlier movies from 1966 with a similar name 'Harukanaru no bojo hoshi no flamenco' (遥かなる慕情～星のフラメンコ) staring the singer himself. Come to think of it, the 60's had dozens of films featuring these singer-actors and a particular song of theirs.
Written and composed by Kuranosuke Hamaguchi (浜口庫之助), I can't give the exact figures in terms of the song's sales since there was no write-up whatsoever on the it, but I'm quite sure it did well as he's always singing it in later days. He also sang 'Hoshi no Flamenco' twice on the Kohaku during his 3rd and 10thappearance. Link below is to a recent performance to the song, by the way.
Being the tallest, youngest - not by much really - and most dashing member of this 'group' that comprised of him, Yukio Hashi and Kazuo Funaki (橋幸夫 . 舟木一夫), I don't think I'm far from the mark when I say that Saigo was the most popular out of the 3.
This mellow tune sung by actor-singer Yujiro Ishihara (石原 裕次郎) can really help one to unwind after a stressful day at work/school. With its soft guitar chords, followed by the lonely blare of the saxophone mixed with Mr Tough Guy's smooth vocal delivery, this is a song that sounds like some good background music at some nice drinking establishment while you sit at the bar sipping away at your brandy or whatever. Or one those you'd listen to in the middle of the night when you have trouble sleeping.
Written by the late musician Kuranosuke Hamaguchi (浜口 庫之助) and released in 1967, the bluesy single 'Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigatou' ('Thanks for the night fog tonight' when literally translated) was also the theme song for the movie of the same name that came out in the same year, featuring Ishihara himself as the lead - of course - and actress Ruriko Asaoka (浅丘ルリ子) as the leading lady.
The song itself did well and was another big hit for the big fella (the guy stood at an imposing 183cm!), selling about 2.5 million singles. Not too sure how the movie did though, but I'm sure it was well received since you've got one equivalent to the Wakadaisho being the front man.
Speaking of the Wakadaisho, Yuzo Kayama (加山雄三) did a cover of this song - not too sure when though - and I suppose it is sort of a tribute to Tough Guy as well. His version is faster in pace but still as bluesy as the original with that husky voice of his.
I woke up this morning to view the news on NHK of the passing of enka singer Chiyoko Shimakura（島倉千代子） at the age of 75. Debuting at the age of 16 with "Kono Yo no Hana"（この世の花...A Flower of This World）, she had a career that spanned over half a century with multiple hits, and was also a pillar in terms of her attendance on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen, having come onto the show annually from 1957 to 1986.
The name and the figure were very familiar to me as she often appeared on TV as that slightly portly figure with the beaming smile. However, I was never all that familiar with her discography until I heard "Jinsei Iroiro", which was released in April 1987. It was written by Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）and composed by Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）. As for the meaning of the title, it literally means "Various Things In My Life" but I think the feeling would be better conveyed with something like "The Ups and Downs of Life". In any case, it's the song that I will always associate with her. And whenever she sings it, her face takes on that countenance of an older, wiser and sadder woman but still with that wide smile.
And Shimakura and just about everyone familiar with her knew that she sang this one from the heart. Back in 1975, there was an incident in which the singer allowed herself to be the guarantor of an acquaintance who since fled after owing a significant amount of money to a loan shark. When I was watching the NHK elegy this morning, I heard that the collectors went to her home and terrified her so much that she had to seek safety in one of the theatres she performed at for some time. It took her about 7 years to pay back the hundreds of millions of yen owed during which she had to take side jobs working in cabarets and publishing photo books. However, at the same time, she was never ostracized from the Kohaku Utagassen, a fate that befell some other singers, and her popularity was still as high as it ever was, since she also appeared as a tarento on TV.
Ironically, Shimakura first sang "Jinsei Iroiro" in the year that her illustrious record for appearances on the Kohaku was finally broken. For some reason, she wasn't invited onto her musical home-away-from-home in 1987, but amends were made the following year when she was able to perform "Jinsei Iroiro". I guess the song may have been a late bloomer since the accolades came in 1988 with a couple of Japan Record Awards and a peak ranking of No. 16 on the Oricon weeklies. It finished the year as the 54th-ranked song, and spent 86 weekson the charts.
To me, Akira Nishikino（錦野旦）has been one of those middle-aged tarento that often pops up on variety shows to take part in hilarious obstacle courses along with manzai comedians or to sample dishes at restaurants all over Japan with other TV personalities. He cut a somewhat goofily cool figure, often wearing garb from his heyday in the early 70s and sporting an old-style bouffant hairstyle. And occasionally, I heard a few words from a song that seemed to follow him whenever he appeared on those shows:
Aishiteru, totemo (愛してる、とても....I love you so much)
This was Nishikino's big hit, "Sora ni Taiyo ga Aru Kagiri"(As Long As The Sun Is In The Sky), and over 40 years ago, he was an aidoru singer who had female fans ranging from their teens to their thirties (not surprising due to his good looks and his height of 177 cm). His 3rd single, released in March 1971, reached No. 3 on the Oricon weeklies and has since become a theme song of his.
Nishikino originally hailed from Oita Prefecture in Kyushu. Through his dance teacher father, he was able to get a job working at a cabaret club, Napoli, in Beppu City in the same prefecture where he sang and played the trumpet and the bass. And after a couple of more introductions, he ended up working for songwriter Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助） (who wrote hits for the Group Sounds band The Spiders and Mike Maki's"Bara ga Saita") in Tokyo as his driver while taking intensive singing lessons. Eventually, through Hamaguchi's representing agency, Nishikino got his debut in 1970.
In the 50s and 60s, there were the various Mood Kayo bands and their music filling the bars and izakayas as much as the sake and whiskey were filling up the glasses there. On the one side, there were the Latin-based MK groups such as Los Indios and Los Primos, but on the other side, other such groups decided to go Hawaiian. The Mahina Stars were one such band. They started up in 1953 originally under the leadership of Ginji Yamaguchi（山口銀次）until the following year when Yamaguchi retired, leaving steel guitarist Hiroshi Wada（和田弘）as the new man in charge. As usual for such bands, suits were often the sartorial norm.
In June 1965, one of their most popular songs was released, "Aishite, Aishite, Aishichattanoyo"(Love, Love, I've Ended Up Falling In Love). Partnering up with Miyoko Tashiro（田代美代子）, this cute little ditty has become a standard for a number of singers. I used to hear it from time to time on the stereo, and remember watching one of the singalong segments on the 1981 Kohaku Utagassen when a mix of aidoru and enka singers took turns at it, with Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子） being one of them.
The Southern All Stars also had their own version of the song. Keyboardist and Mrs. Keisuke Kuwata, Yuko Hara（原由子）, took the lead singing a dreamier, more laidback cover. Her version could even be considered AOR, it's so relaxing. This cover was included in the "Inamura Jane"（稲村ジェーン）soundtrack released in September 1990. The movie was Keisuke Kuwata's（桑田佳祐）first foray into movie directing.
Just my second Mari Amachi（天地真理） entry since starting "KK Plus". "Chiisana Koi" (A Little Love) was Amachi's second single, released in February 1972, just three months before the biggest hit of her career, "Hitori Janai no"（ひとりじゃないの....You Are Not Alone). It was written by Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ） and composed by Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）.
"Chiisana Koi" was the usual light-hearted aidoru song of the early 1970s....backed up by strings and woodwinds with Amachi giving her trademark light and breathy vocals. What struck me about this song was the slightly rising syncopation in the song....in a way, reminiscent of a European style.
The song hit the No. 1 spot in the middle of March and continued to do so until early April, and ended up as the 9th-ranking song of the year. With "Hitori Janai no" at the No. 6 position, it was a banner year for Amachi, and the beginning of her pop cultural dominance for the next few years.
