Glenn Miller/The Boston Pops -- Moonlight Serenade

 

I think it's safe to say that people of a certain age and over, even those who aren't into jazz, have heard of "Moonlight Serenade" by Glenn Miller. Even if they don't know the title or the man behind it, they can recognize it. And even before I got into jazz wholeheartedly during my years in Japan, I remember hearing this all the time on radio and seeing performances of it on television. 

Coincidentally enough, I'm writing this ROY article just a couple of days shy of what would have been Miller's 121st birthday. Much has been made about his death, declared in absentia, after his plane had disappeared over the English Channel in December 1944 during World War II. But let's focus on "Moonlight Serenade" which made its premiere in 1939 with the clarinets in front and the horns backing them up. Considering that Miller purportedly wasn't the warmest person on the planet, one of his masterpieces apparently had listeners getting all lumpy in the throat.

As someone who attended his fair share of school dance parties, there was always a song at the end of those soirees which made for a far better way of saying that it was time to go home than having the janitor crankily switch the lights on and off repeatedly. It would always be a ballad of sorts to get lovers up for that final cheek-to-cheek and then everyone would slowly sashay off the floor and out of the building. I think "Moonlight Serenade" may have been the jazz equivalent of the last song of the party. Mind you, I never heard Miller's magnum opus ever played at the end of my own dance parties, but I could imagine it gently delivering folks up into the night sky under the moon before quietly depositing them out the door.

The Boston Pops is a pop orchestra that has been with me ever since I was a baby. Their contributions are included in that 5-LP set of "50 Years Of Hits In Stereo" by RCA that we got with our huge stereo. Led by Arthur Fiedler in my early years, the Pops always struck me as the coolest orchestra because they could handle not only classical music but also provide their own distinct classy touch to modern hits. Perhaps they are the one unit that managed to merge the jazz that had once been disdained as the devil's music and the more acceptable "beautiful music" of a century ago.

And then, in what would become one example of music's equivalent of bringing Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers together, maestro John Williams, the king of the blockbuster soundtrack, became the new conductor for the Boston Pops from 1980 to 1993. PBS used to have the summer weekly shows featuring the Pops which I remember watching quite a bit.

I recently discovered that Williams and the Pops had released an album covering some of the jazz classics titled "Unforgettable" back in 1993, and their take on "Moonlight Serenade" was indeed splendiferous. It still hews to the Miller original but the Pops' touches are there such as those shimmering strings. In a way, their take would be the ideal version to finish off a TV series or movie franchise with the main character walking off into the distance after having confessed to his love for "Moonlight Serenade" years or entries earlier. Not a bad way to go.

Well, when it comes to 1939 and 1993, I was obviously alive in only one of those two years, so let's go with what was winning the Japan Record Awards in the latter year.

Album of the Year: Mariya Takeuchi -- Quiet Life

Best Hit Single: THE TRA-BRYU -- Road

Best New Artist: Mari Kunitake -- Pokeberu ga Naranakute (ポケベルが鳴らなくて)

Mari Kunitake -- Mou Hanararenai（もう離れられない）

Around four years ago, I wrote about this singer named Mari Kunitake（国武万里）that I hadn't ever heard until "Kayo Kyoku Plus" was well under way, but she had this appealing early 90s brand of City Pop hit with the quaintly outdated title, "Pokeberu ga Naranakute" (ポケベルが鳴らなくて).

That was her 2nd single from 1993, but tonight, it's about her debut single "Mou Hanararenai" (I Can Never Leave You) from November 1992. A more conventional pop song compared to "Pokeberu", it nonetheless has a current of rock n' blues running underneath which makes things a bit more interesting. It was created by the same duo for that 2nd single, lyricist Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composer Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）, and I also like the rich piano intro that strangely reminds me of a certain part of the "Goodfellas" soundtrack.

As with "Pokeberu", though, Kunitake's debut also had a TV drama connection. It was an insert song for the 1992 TBS drama "Homework"（ホームワーク）in a couple of episodes, but the show's theme song became much more popular as a seasonal tune. It was none other than Junichi Inagaki's（稲垣潤一）"Christmas Carol no Koro ni wa"（クリスマスキャロルの頃には）.

Mari Kunitake -- Pokeberu ga Naranakute (ポケベルが鳴らなくて)

In a country that is so catchphrase/buzzword-happy like Japan, there is probably a ton of such now-dead catchphrases and buzzwords existentially piled up as a mountain as high as Mt. Fuji. One of those faddy words was certainly pokeberu. A romaji mashup of the English words pocket bell, it was the Japanese translation of "pager" or "beeper". In the age of pre-cellphone Japan, that was the communications thing for the hip set. But personally, it was only something that I merely witnessed on TV; I never saw it being used in person by anyone in the wilds of the Japanese Alps during my Gunma days nor did I know anyone who had pulled one out in the very early years of my stay in the Tokyo bedroom city of Ichikawa.

So when I came across this title of this song "Pokeberu ga Naranakute" (The Pager Doesn't Ring), I automatically went "Natsukashii~!". This was Mari Kunitake's（国武万里）2nd single from July 1993, and it's one of those delightful discoveries since I had never heard of either the singer nor the song before. I enjoy the melody which symbolizes that certain turn-of-the-decade pop sound consisting of the combination of the champagne synths-laden City Pop sound of the late 1980s and the more rock edge that was picked up by acts such as Zard from the early 1990s.

The lyrics were provided by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）with music by Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）. This was probably the lone big hit for Kunitake who hails from Hyogo Prefecture, as she only released 7 singles and 4 albums between 1992 and 1997. "Pokeberu ga Naranakute" reached as high as No. 7 and was also a track on her debut album "Kimi wa Aozora ni Niteiru"（君は青空に似ている...You Look Like the Blue Sky） from August 1993. The single sold over half a million copies and won Kunitake a prize for Best New Singer at that year's Japan Record Awards.

"Pokeberu ga Naranakute" was also the theme song for a Saturday-night NTV drama with the same title. It had the provocative plot of a middle-aged businessman played by the late Ken Ogata (緒形拳...who was the title character in the motion picture biography "Mishima") having an illicit May-December affair with a travel agency staffer 29 years his junior played by Nae Yuuki（裕木奈江）. It didn't particularly score any great ratings but considering the time slot the drama got, I'm not particularly surprised although according to J-Wiki, the actress Yuuki apparently had a whole lot of abuse heaped on her due to her role. I have never seen the drama before, but I can't imagine a happy ending from this.

But hey, why end on such a bittersweet note? I much rather prefer Ogata in the role that I liked him in the best...as the pitchman for Kirin Beer some years previously.