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.
Back in September, I posted up that All-Points Bulletin for Neff regarding some Chinese covers of songs that he couldn't quite identify. I believe that he was able to resolve most of the mystery songs thankfully. But I also remember while trying to help him out that I came across a few songs that may have been connected to the mystery ones but ended up nothing of the sort. Of course, I was disappointed but in the process, I was able to find some new kayo kyoku with their common denominator being a common title.
"Ryoujou" on Jisho.org talks about "the mood when traveling". And of course, travel is a big theme in kayo kyoku, notably as the action one takes when there's a need to get away from a problem, usually post-romantic in nature. The protagonists take trains and planes (not sure about automobiles, though) to some faraway place in Japan, away from Tokyo or Osaka (Tsugaru Strait is especially popular) or even overseas to mourn and/or reset those feelings.
Through Google, I even discovered some very specific terminology for that particular mood. Wanderlust was one word that I had already known but here are some of the others:
Wanderlust: A strong desire to travel and explore the world.
Eudaimonia: A state of intense happiness and contentment while traveling, when everything feels right.
Resfeber: The restless, anxious excitement that comes before a journey begins.
Strikhedonia: The joy of being able to say, "to hell with it!" and go on an adventure.
Fernweh: The opposite of homesickness; an ache or longing for places you have never seen before.
Sehnsucht: A wistful yearning for something far-off and indefinable, or for travels past and future.
Where enka and kayo kyoku are concerned, I think perhaps Fernweh and Sehnsucht might be the traveling moods that match the feelings there, although the words themselves sound like alien crewmembers on the Enterprise on "Star Trek".
Anyways, let's begin with the first "Ryoujou" that was recorded by Mari Sono（園まり）for release as a single in June 1972 to commemorate her 10th anniversary in the music business. Quite the poignant kayo kyoku, this was written by Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）as the lyrics describe a woman who has either broken up or is on the verge of breaking up with her beau by flying off to Paris. It's the strings and what sounds like a harpsichord that give me the heavy sense of the melancholy here but I also have to note the deep horns that pop up as if the lady is about to take one major leap of faith.
Less than a couple of years later, enka veteran Shinichi Mori（森進一）released an album "Ryoujou" in March 1974. The title track was written by Kohan Kawauchi（川内康範）and composed by Kosho Inomata（猪俣公章）as a song of longing by a fellow who's looking upon a woman he's had feelings for. She hasn't reciprocated them and maybe she isn't even aware of them especially since she's probably just broken it off with another guy. It's a got a bit more brass and heart-on-a-sleeve emotion so I can put it between kayo kyoku and enka.
Then, we come to Hiroshi Itsuki's（五木ひろし）"Ryoujou" which was released much later in 1998. With lyrics by Reiji Mizuki（水木れいじ）, the singer himself came up with the melody. If there were such a thing as Itsuki Song, then his "Ryoujou" would be the class example with the haunting chorus, the seemingly tear-choked vocals and the wistful arrangement.
It was probably one of the few times that "Uta Con"（うたコン）showed an episode tonight which didn't have a particular theme for the first fifteen minutes or so. However, one highlight was seeing 60s aidoru Yukari Ito（伊東ゆかり）and Mie Nakao（中尾ミエ）appear. Those two and Mari Sono（園まり）had formed one of the earliest kayo kyoku Gosanke（御三家）,the Spark Sannin Musume（スパーク3人娘）, in that decade. And unfortunately, the reason that Sono herself didn't show up with her former comrades is that the singer had passed away on July 26th this year at the age of 80 from heart failure.
The Spark Sannin Musume were scheduled to do a medley of their hits. However, a clumsy scene cut and the one performance of "Aitakute, Aitakute"（逢いたくて逢いたくて）by the remaining members tonight and Sono herself via vintage footage made it pretty clear that Jme had to cut out the rest of the medley in the high likelihood that those songs were Japanese covers of American hit tunes (due to the usual copyright issues). A lot of pop singers back then were doing those as much as they were doing original Japanese kayo.
Well, for my own tribute to Sono, I've decided to feature her January 1964 single"Kiichatta! Utacchata! Naichatta!" (I Heard It! I Sang It! I Cried to It!). It's an original Japanese tune done in a doo-wop rock n' roll style with Hiroshi Miyagawa（宮川泰）handling the music while Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）took care of the lyrics. It's pretty darn slick enough so that perhaps even fans of the old American pop from the 50s and 60s might wonder if it had been a cover of something by Connie Francis.
Sono may have had the A-side but both Nakao and Ito also sang the song as B-sides to their own January 1964 singles, "Onna no Ko damon"（おんなのこだもん...Cause I'm a Girl） for Nakao (above) and "Uta wo Oshiete"（歌をおしえて...Teach Me a Song） for Ito (below), with fairly different arrangements.
My belated condolences to Sono's family, friends and fans...and also to her Gosanke mates, Ito and Nakao.
I was mentioning yesterday that I had discovered Harumi Miyako's（都はるみ）1982 single"Tokyo Serenade"（東京セレナーデ）while we were watching an enka compilation video on YouTube. Well, that wasn't the only revelation.
I also came across this kayo kyoku for the first time, too. "Nandemo nai wa" (It's Nothing) was the B-side to Mari Sono's（園まり）23rd single from May 1966"Yasashii Ame"（やさしい雨...A Gentle Rain）. Delivered in an appropriately coquettish fashion by the singer, Kazumi Yasui's（安井かずみ） lyrics illustrate a young lady's unspoken words of love to her boyfriend despite the big lug asking what she's keeping close to the chest. Hiroshi Miyagawa（宮川泰）was the composer and arranger for this happy-go-lucky ditty.
Not sure when this cover version of "Nandemo nai wa" was released by Mood Kayo groupHiroshi Wada & Mahina Stars（和田弘とマヒナスターズ）but judging from the similarity of the arrangement, it probably wasn't too long after the Sono original. Actually, this was the first version that my family saw and heard on YouTube yesterday which led me to the original. Speaking of Yasui, it's been a little over thirty years ago that the Yokohama lyricist passed away in March 1994. Just to indicate her length and breadth of experience, Zuzu was also responsible for the words behind Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Fushigi na Peach Pie"（不思議なピーチ・パイ）and Mari Iijima's（飯島真理）"Ai Oboeteimasuka?"（愛・おぼえていますか）.
Strangely enough, this trio isn't listed at "idol.ne.jp" which has had that page with the long scroll of Gosanke（御三家...The Big Three） and Sannin Musume（三人娘...The Three Girls）. And yet, the Spark Sannin Musume (The 3 Spark Girls) kinda bridged the gap with 1960s female aidoru Yukari Ito（伊東ゆかり）, Mie Nakao（中尾ミエ）and Mari Sono（園まり）between the Ganso Sannin Musume（元祖三人娘）of the 1950s and the Shin Sannin Musume（新三人娘）of the 1970s. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the newspapers and magazines didn't come up with the name but the show that starred the ladies.
For about 18 months between 1962 and 1963, Fuji-TV featured a Sunday afternoon music-variety show called "Morinaga Spark Show"（森永スパーク・ショー）with the Spark referring to the sponsor, confectionary company Morinaga & Company's own brand of cola. Initially, the star was rockabilly singer/actor Takashi Fujiki（藤木孝）but midway through the show's run, he left not only the program but singing altogether which meant that the spotlight was trained onto the other co-stars: Ito, Nakao and Sono who then became known as the Spark Sannin Musume.
A couple of nights ago, I wrote about a kayo titled "Hoho ni Kakaru Namida"（ほほにかかる涙）by Eva（エバ）, a former member of the aidoru group Golden Half（ゴールデン・ハーフ）, back in 1975. I'd forgotten then that when I first discovered this particular song that I also came across another different song with the exact title.
Indeed, there was an earlier "Hoho ni Kakaru Namida" but this had nothing to do with the dream kayo songwriting team of lyricist Jun Hashimoto and composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（橋本淳・筒美京平）and certainly the latter guy hadn't even made his debut on the songwriting scene as of yet. Point of fact, this song was actually a cover of "Una lacrima sul viso" by Italian singer and actor Bobby Solo (nee Roberto Satti) that had been first released in February 1964 according to Wikipedia. It was a huge hit for Solo, staying atop the Italian music charts for 9 weeks straight and selling 3 million records all over the world.
The original version had been created by songwriters Lunero and Mogul, but in May of that same year, Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）, under the name Kazumi Minami（みナみカズみ）, provided Japanese lyrics and a single was recorded and released as "Hoho ni Kakaru Namida" by Mari Sono（園まり）. It's an interesting cover since the arrangement by Osamu Shoji（東海林修）makes it sound more like a plaintive Connie Francis love ballad.
A few more cover versions were made including one by duo The Peanuts（ザ・ピーナッツ）in 1964 as well. This "Hoho ni Kakaru Namida" has more of a feeling of a performance by a group such as The Platters with that sharp horn and the backup chorus. Unfortunately, I'm unaware of how well the Sono and Peanuts covers did in the pre-Oricon age.
This is a rare ROY article on a Monday but seeing that I not only got my quota two articles published earlier this afternoon but I have a bit of extra time tonight, I decided why the heck not. Plus, it was something that I did want to get out onto the blog in fairly short order. You might consider this a follow-up of sorts from the April 8th Reminiscings of Youth article that I did on Earth Wind & Fire's classic "After the Love Has Gone" since the first time I heard the ballad was through the American sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati".
"WKRP in Cincinnati", from what I remember as a pre-pubescent kid, was a sitcom that despite its four seasons on the air (1978-1982) never really got the fame or respect that it deserved from the originating network, CBS, for whatever reason. It had funny scenes (including the famous turkey drop scene in the video above), a number of flawed but likeable characters, and being a show based around a radio station, there were some great pop songs played (although legal wrangles apparently stifled at least some of them from being brought back on the DVDs).
One of the other things that I liked about "WKRP" was the theme song. Although I wouldn't realize my love for AOR, soft rock or yacht rock or however people want to describe the genre for some years down the line, the opening theme song remains one of my favourite themes for any of the TV programs that I used to watch. Composer Tom Wells and the lyricist who just happened to be the creator behind "WKRP in Cincinnati" itself, Hugh Wilson, knew what went into a typical harmony-laden radio identification jingle and extended it into a pleasant late 1970s soft rock number with all of the prime instrumental ingredients.
The thing about the vocals was the source of an urban legend that I remember well. One of the actors, Richard Sanders, who played the nebbishy and slightly deranged news reporter Les Nessman, was once assumed to have sung the theme since his voice sounded remarkably similar to the actual singer Steve Carlisle. Apparently, Wilson finally put the legend to rest in a commentary for the DVD set for the first season. But wouldn't it have been something if the nerdy Nessman actually had those smooth and velvety vocals?
Anyways, according to the Wikipedia article for the show, in an example of life imitating art, the theme song actually scored No. 65 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart in 1981 and then No. 29 on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1982 when it was released as a 45' single all the way back in 1979.
So, what got released in September 1978 when "WKRP in Cincinnati" first burst onto the air? Well, two of the three singles supposedly came out in August according to what I had written for them in their own articles but they have shown up for September in "Showa Pops". I think that this will probably be something that will happen now and then, and personally I'm cool with it.
Ah...l'amour. The delicious pain of love and all that mumbo-jumbo. I was never good at expressing romance in writing but the French seem to do it very well. To me, Paris hasn't just been the City of Lights but also the City of Love through the various examples of pop culture that I've witnessed over the past half-century. On the other hand, Japanese society has never struck me as being all that particularly openly affectionate. In fact, I read one news report years ago where a crotchety old man supposedly smacked a young couple with his cane, maybe in Shibuya, and gave a sound reprimand to them for kissing in public.
For years, I've heard about the very amiable friendship between Japan and France, and perhaps I can only speak from the Japanese side of things, but I speculate that French movies and music (among other aspects), including the genre of chanson, became cherished parts within the Japanese fandom because of that envied openness and elegance in the expression of love. If there are any French viewers of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I could welcome some insights.
Anyways, my preamble (or pre-ramble) here exists because I wanted to introduce the 50th single by Mari Sono（園まり）, "Nagasarete" (Swept Away) which was released in August 1978. Now, Sono has been known to me primarily for her 1960s kayo songs such as "Aitakute, Aitakute"（逢いたくて逢いたくて）, but "Nagasarete" impressed me as a totally different tune for her. It's definitely not the usual kayo and seems to take listeners all the way to France as a witness to a very ardent romance as a couple get swept away into the whirlwind of love. Even the melody feels like a very gusty breeze.
It then doesn't surprise me that "Nagasarete" was composed by singer-songwriter Mieko Nishijima（西島三重子）and written by Kenji Kadoya（門谷憲二）. Nishijima is someone that I've known as weaving these oft-soaring tunes with an exotic feeling that though they never quite hit the heights of Oricon but have always embedded themselves into my own kokoro (awwww....) since the 1980s. Moreover, both she and Kadoya created one of my favourite kayo, the hauntingly lovely "Kamome yori Shiroi Kokoro de"（かもめより白い心で）.
In any case, I've also classified (initially) "Nagasarete" as a chanson just purely on how the song feels to me, although again I'm open to any fans of the genre and/or French readers of KKP agreeing or disagreeing. Mind you, I've just come across the Wikipedia article on "Nouvelle Chanson" which states that there has been considerable debate on what would be considered chanson or who belongs in the genre.
Looking at the cover for this 45 rpm record, I was rather intrigued by this picture of Ako Midorikawa（緑川アコ）, whom I had never seen nor heard of before, with the rose. I definitely did not consider this an enka record. Visions of bars and clinking glasses of whisky started dancing in my head.
"Yume wa Yoru Hiraku" directly translates as "The Dream Opens At Night". At first thought, I was thinking of translating the title as "The Dream Comes Alive At Night" but considering Tetsu Mizushima's（水島哲）lyrics at the back of the cover sheet about what seems to be a night of passion, perhaps the initial translation may be more appropriate if somewhat more salacious.
The original composer was Koumei Sone（曾根幸明）but it looks like there was quite a feeding frenzy starting from the song's birth year of 1966 among lyricists including Mizushima and record companies such as Polydor, Teichiku and Crown Records to release it. For example, in 1966, no less than 6 singers, including Midorikawa, who released "Yume wa Yoru Hiraku" as her debut song at around the age of 19, put out versions of the song: Mari Sono（園まり）,Herb Satake（バーブ佐竹）,Tatsuo Umemiya（梅宮辰夫）, and Isao Fujita & Machiko Ai（藤田功・愛まち子）, with Fujita actually being the pen name for composer Sone.
Listening to "Yume wa Yoru Hiraku", I was first surprised to hear how similar Midorikawa sounded to Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）, who basically cornered the market on down-and-out-in-Shinjuku Mood Kayo. This was a teenager who had the voice of someone much older and much more world-weary. Just for a bit more information on the singer, Midorikawa was born in Tokyo in 1947 and was the daughter of a Japanese mother and a Spanish father. She released a number of singles well into the 1970s after which she retired and managed her own nightclub. Currently, she runs her own clinic although the J-Wiki article doesn't go into any detail.
Mari Sono's version came out in September 1966 with Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）providing the lyrics. Debuting in 1962, she had already released 23 singles by the time of her "Yume wa Yoru Hiraku". Her version was a huge hit for her, and her vocals are a bit more in the delicate range. Although from what I heard from her version above, there still seems to be that feeling of smoldering love, the J-Wiki article for the song has Midorikawa's version hinting at a more love/hate situation than her take. Incidentally, an issue of a TV guide back in that year footnoted in J-Wiki has stated that Sono's "Yume wa Yoru Hiraku" is the original with all others being cover versions.
In January 1967, the song was the seed for a movie starring Sono.
Considering my comparison of Midorikawa to Keiko Fuji earlier, I guess it is no surprise that the latter did indeed cover the song under the official title of "Keiko no Yume wa Hiraku"（圭子の夢は夜ひらく...Keiko's 'The Dream Opens At Night'）with Masao Ishizaka（石坂まさを）providing lyrics. According to the Wikipedia article for the song, Fuji's cover is seen as being the most well-known version and one of her trademark numbers. Ishizaka's lyrics have Fuji singing about a melancholy life of transient flings without any sort of lasting love to anchor her down.
"Keiko no Yume wa Hiraku" was Fuji's 3rd single and a track on her very successful album "Shinjuku no Onna/ 'Enka no Hoshi' Fuji Keiko no Subete"（新宿の女/“演歌の星”藤圭子のすべて... "Woman in Shinjuku/ 'Star of Enka' All of Keiko Fuji"）from March 1970 that stayed at No. 1 on the album charts for 5 straight months and ended up becoming the No. 1 album of the year. The single didn't do too badly either; released in April 1970, it stayed at No. 1 for 10 consecutive weeks.
I went down the list of singers who have officially covered "Yume no Yoru Hiraku" over the decades and counted 54 folks. According to JASRAC records as of 2016, more than 20 lyricists have provided their stories under that same title. Perhaps the song deserves its own category here.
On the Midorikawa 45, there was an inclusion of her 3rd single in 1967, a cover version of Eto Kunieda's（エト邦枝）"Casbah no Onna"（カスバの女）which was a hit for the singer.
Over the past few years, I've covered two-thirds of the Spark Sannin Musume, the three female singers who were the darlings of Japanese variety TV in the 1960s. There were Yukari Ito（伊東ゆかり）and Mie Nakao（中尾ミエ）, and then there was Mari Sono（園まり）. Of the three Musume, Sono is the one that I've known the least about, but to give a brief summary, she was born in Yokohama in 1944 as Mariko Sonobe（薗部毬子）and had her first taste of public performing through participation in children chorus groups in the 1950s before winning a championship on TV in 1960 and then making her professional debut in 1962. It wasn't too long after that she got teamed up with Ito and Nakao to become the Spark Sannin Musume.
In January 1966, her 19th single was released under the title of "Aitakute Aitakute" (I Really Want To See You). A ballad of longing, I could probably see a lot of hardworking salarymen puffing on their cigarettes and sighing wistfully at their local watering holes while listening to this one. As Sono sang about desiring to meet her man at last (with a lot of those guys more than happy to answer her summons), that trumpet was the cherry on top of the sundae. It would also be the same for Sono since it would be a huge hit and one of her trademark songs. In fact, by June of that year, she would find herself playing a singer in a movie with the same title as the hit song. Then later, she would make her 2nd appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen.
The interesting thing is that "Aitakute, Aitakute" also had a previous incarnation as a ballad by The Peanuts back in 1962. Known back then as "Teami no Kutsushita" (Hand Knit Socks), this was the twins' 7th single from December of that year. Hiroshi Miyagawa（宮川泰）was behind the basic melody and his frequent songwriting partner, Tokiko Iwatani（岩谷時子）took care of the lyrics for this ballad and the totally different words for "Aitakute, Aitakute". The original Peanuts version sounded more whimsical than the more tenderhearted take by Sono. Still, both versions are chock-filled with that sepia-coloured nostalgia.
