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.
For anyone who grew up in the 60s and 70s and was at least able to catch a little bit of the prime-time police procedurals or detective shows on television (usually it was just the opening credits since my brother and I were told in no uncertain terms to head to bed at the time they began), the name Quinn Martin was a familiar one.
At first, I'd thought that there was a Mr. Quinn and a Mr. Martin producing these cop shows but no, it was really one person named Quinn Martin. And although he didn't apply it to every one of his programs, there was a certain formula to the opening credits. A cool dramatic theme and graphic design intro sequence would start up with the gravitas-laden narrator stating the title of the show and the aforementioned quote at the top. Then, he would continue by introducing the main cast, the guest actors and finally the name of the episode title emblazoned on the screen. This was nicely parodied for the brief comedy series "Police Squad!".
The late great Jerry Goldsmith already has a lengthening file on KKP which includes his majestic theme for "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". And for all of the exciting intros for Quinn Martin shows, my favourite theme song was his contribution to the series "Barnaby Jones". For a detective series regarding an elderly but wise ol' gumshoe played by Buddy Ebsen, this was a pretty kickass theme with the stomping brass and a calm and calculating flute sequence. Ever since I decided to write about this one for Reminiscings of Youth, the theme has been stuck in my head.
The audience must have gone crazy when they were watching the 1993 cinematic redux of "The Beverly Hillbillies" when Barnaby Jones showed up in a cameo. Ebsen was the star of the original TV sitcom which lasted even longer than "Barnaby Jones".
In any case, the detective series premiered on January 28th 1973. Now, what was hitting the top of the Oricon charts the next day afterwards?
1. Shiro Miya & The Pinkara Trio -- Onna no Michi (女のみち）
Well, it wasn't quite Snowmageddon, thankfully, but there was still enough snow falling yesterday and today to snarl up a lot of traffic. So, a lot earlier than usual in Toronto these days, we got our first major snowfall of the season. Does that mean a White Christmas? Not at all...after all, this is the city whose weather is predictably unpredictable.
I gather then that it was kismet that I encountered this song by the luminous Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）last night on the latest episode of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）. It took a bit of doing but I believe I was able to track down the year of this ballad as 1988. "Fuyudonari" is a fair mouthful which literally translates as "Next to Winter" while Jisho.org gave me the definition of "late autumn that makes it seem like winter is coming". I will be happy to go with "Snowy Late Autumn" for conciseness.
Regardless, "Fuyudonari", which was written by Ou Yoshida（吉田旺）and composed by Masato Sugimoto（杉本眞人）, has some melodic connections with Chiaki's most recognized hit, "Kassai"（喝采）. I would say that it approaches enka through a pop ballad filter, as if David Foster had opted to give his skills a try on a traditional Japanese song. Under the circumstances, I'd be happy to apply New Adult Music here.
NHK's long-running music program "Uta Con"（うたコン）is provided through three viewings on Jme, the first live show at around 7 amTuesday morning Toronto time and then two reruns later in the day. I have breakfast in the dining area around the corner from the TV so I can only listen to what's being performed for the first several minutes of "Uta Con".
Mom noted that the show this week was being broadcast in a Japanese house setup which was rather unusual. Usually it's held on the grand stage at NHK's Shibuya studio in Tokyo or at the Osaka equivalent in front of a live audience, but it looks like for some reason, it was one of those rare bottle shows with just a few guests and a lot of old VTR clips. Maybe NHK Shibuya was undergoing major cleaning or something and the Osaka studio was booked for some other event.
The themes of today's show was a glance back at the 1974 Kohaku Utagassen and a tribute to the wonderful singer Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）. She's been away from the limelight for over 30 years now, but when she was active for that time starting from the 1960s, she cut quite the figure: smoky voice, sad brown eyes and that full head of hair.
One new song that I discovered during the NHK tribute was "Watashi to Iu Onna" (A Woman Like Me) which was her 8th single from June 1971. Written by Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）and composed by Jun Suzuki（鈴木淳）, who had been her composer for all of her singles up to this one, it's a fairly lighthearted, perhaps even a bit flippant, kayo kyoku about a lady who may have seen another one of the good guys slip through her fingers while hinting through the title itself that she's one of those women who has seen this situation all too often.
I really like this live version below because the arranger really amped up the brass. But even with the original, there is the appealingly skippy rhythm and those shimmery strings. By the way, "Watashi to Iu Onna" was her ticket to perform on the Kohaku Utagassen in that year of 1971. Of course, the following year would have her perform her most famous song on that New Year's Eve special.
Heard this one last night on NHK's"Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）. Of course, my mother was asking about whatever happened to Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）. Well, she called it a day to her long career in 1992 shortly after the passing of her husband, Eiji Gō（郷鍈治）.
Chiaki's 17th single from March 1974, "Waltz", fits the template for her songs...a mix of melancholy and cheerful with those velvety vocals, just like her most famous hit "Kassai"（喝采）a couple of years previously.
I've placed "Waltz" as a kayo kyoku although Makoto Kawaguchi's（川口真）melody and arrangement has also included some of that enka and country. The legendary Yu Aku（阿久悠）provided the lyrics about a woman who is thinking of other couples dancing a loving waltz while she no longer has a dance partner as she is sitting all by her lonesome in a seaside hotel. "Waltz" reached No. 29 on Oricon and was included as the title track of a May 1974 album.
Nice touch of adding that furigana of "Waltz" overlaying the kanji since the original pronunciation is the more unwieldy enbukyoku. Apparently, the title was inspired by a 1949 Kousaburo Yoshimura（吉村公三郎）film titled "Manatsu no Waltz"（真夏の円舞曲...Midsummer Waltz） which did the same thing with its kanji.
I gather that along with the airport, the restaurant or café has been another setting for a kayo kyoku's romantic drama or aftermath. Well, when I mean aftermath, it usually involves a now-partnerless individual sitting at a table where there was once a happy couple.
That is the melancholy situation with "Sorezore no Table"(Separate Tables), the title track from Naomi Chiaki's（ちあきなおみ）October 1981 album. Written by Jean Claude Jouhaud and Arlette Tabart and composed by Alice Donadel, I couldn't help but place this in the Fashion Music genre (along with pop) because of the absolute elegance of that piano and Chiaki's smoky vocals. The Japanese lyrics were provided by Miki Masaki（真咲美岐）with arrangement by Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）, which is a surprise since I've been accustomed to the bassist's funky City Pop approaches. But "Sorezore no Table", a ballad of remembrance as a woman sees her old flame with a young new lady in his life come into their old place and presumably sit at a distant table, is about as far away from an urban contemporary romp as one can get.
"Sorezore no Table" is a cover of the original 1977 song "Tables séparées" by French singer and actress Dalida from her album "Femme est la nuit". For both versions, I can hear a bit of that "My Way" in there.
It was only in the last half-hour that I wrote up "Ai no Toubousha"（愛の逃亡者）by the late singer Yoko Nagisa（渚ようこ）. And I figured that considering her singing abilities to bring back some of the genres of yesteryear, she could have easily covered any of the material by balladeer Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）.
Case in point: Chiaki's 18th single from September 1974, "Kanashimi Moyou" (Patterns of Sadness). First hearing this on one of the NHK music shows recently and then listening to the original, there's definitely a nostalgic feeling of the American pop ballads of those late 1960s and early 1970s. In fact, I was reminded of "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" by The Hollies from 1969.
With lyrics by Yu Aku（阿久悠）and music by Makoto Kawaguchi（川口真）, Chiaki gives one of her splendid smoky deliveries and though the words describe a woman trying to grapple with life after a romantic breakup, Kawaguchi's melody sounds very hopeful so there's a big hint that despite the lass' regrets, recovery is just around the corner. "Kanashimi Moyou" did OK by reaching No. 69 on Oricon but Chiaki was able to perform it during her fifth appearance on NHK's "Kohaku Utagassen" at the end of 1974. She made a total of nine appearances on the New Year's Eve special.
As noted earlier in the first ROY article for today, I was going to put up a second ROY article for the Fourth of July holiday, and if it hadn't been for finding out that Eddie Murphy was back for another round of "Beverly Hills Cop", I would have just focused on this classic ballad instead.
Now, Roberta Flack already has representation on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" through a 1983 duet that she did with Peabo Bryson called "Born to Love", but of course, I just had to include what is arguably her most famous song, "Killing Me Softly with His Song". Released on January 22nd 1973, I used to hear this on AM radio as a kid but there was one time when the classic really hit my soul...as cornball as that may sound.
When we were little, it was frequently the case that my family would visit other families for New Year's Day or simply just to socialize. The visits would go fairly far into the night, and if there were other kids involved, we would be playing with them in the basement while the grownups chattered in the living room. My brother and I would get dragged reluctantly back to the car for the drive home. Not surprisingly, we would be getting drowsy in the back seat and the car radio would be on. The radio was usually on CKEY Toronto which used to play music like any other station before it became multicultural CHKT in the early 1990s. In any case, at that time at night, a lot of the romantic ballads would come on, and guess what, one of those ballads was indeed Flack's "Killing Me Softly with His Song". As I was in that twilight zone between wakefulness and sleep, the song hazily entered my ears while the night sky and lights were speeding by and some of the cool breeze was flying through the slightly ajar window. It made for a perfect environment for a soulful lullaby as the singer's dulcet tones gently lay me down to sleep, bracketed by the mellow tones of the DJ. I don't particularly like to remember much from my childhood but that one memory will always stick with me.
"Killing Me Softly with His Song" went to No. 1 in the United States, Canada and Australia, and according to Wikipedia, the ballad spent five non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 in America which beat every other record that year, although Billboard would ultimately rank it at No. 3 for 1973. Once again, I've been left surprised on finding out that the Roberta Flack single was actually a cover for the original by Lori Lieberman who had provided the lyrics with Norman Gimbel with Charles Fox composing the melody. That original was released in 1972 but wasn't successful.
Just by luck, I was able to find the Top 10 on Oricon for January 22nd 1973. Allow me to show you what came into the top 3 slots.
1. Shiro Miya & The Pinkara Trio -- Onna no Michi (女のみち）
It's been always difficult to explain the concept of "縁(en)" to my fellow American friends. The usual English translation is "connection", "relation", or "bond". To me, it's more like "fate", a certain force in your life that makes certain encounters unavoidable, as if it's written. And so, around 3 weeks ago, on November 18, 2023, while I was traveling in Tokyo, I finally met, in person, Noelle Tham, one of KKP's contributors who's also an enka 演歌 lover. J-Canuck, the owner of KKP, was joking that I've become the official KKP ambassador, traveling around the world meeting fellow KKP members. According to J-Canuck, now that I've met both him and Noelle in person, I hold the record of having met the most KKP contributors around the world! I'm surely honored. And if this is not "縁(en)", I don't know what to call it 😊. In fact, discovering KKP back in 2012 was certainly some kind of fate.
Noelle and I met at a Yakiniku 焼肉 restaurant in Kichijouji 吉祥寺 in Tokyo. Although I've been to Tokyo many times, I've never been to that part of the city. Originally, we tried to go to a restaurant that specializes in Maguro マグロ, or Tuna, but unfortunately it's fully booked that night and so we settled for Yakiniku.
Even though we've met online several times, it's a completely different experience when I finally got to meet Noelle in person. Call me old school but I've always preferred face to face meetings. I think it'd be quite sad if we all lived our lives in the so called metaverse. But I digress.
We talked about a lot of things - family, places where we grew up, studying in Japan, life as a foreign student, traveling etc etc. It was my 5th day in Japan (I was there for a week) and Noelle asked me where I've visited. I said I went to Shibamata 柴又 because I remembered watching a Japanese drama named Tokyo Sentimental (東京センチメンタル) some years ago. In one episode, the main character went on a date in Shibamata and said it's famous for its unagi (eel over rice).
Shibamata is definitely not a tourist spot among foreigners. However, it's very famous among local tourists because of an extremely well-known TV drama and movie series called "It's Tough Being a Man 男はつらいよ". According to Wikipedia, it holds the Guinness record of the longest running movie series starring a single actor, Atsumi Kiyoshi 渥美清. From 1969 through 1989, two films were made each year, whereas from 1990 through 1995, one film was made and released each year during New Year. Kiyoshi, who played the role of Tora-san 寅さん in that series, passed away in 1996 at the age of 68.
As soon as I mentioned Shibamata, our conversation immediately shifted to one about music. It turned out that Noelle's mom loves Shibamata because it's associated with her beloved enka song "Yagiri no Watashi 矢切の渡し". In Shibamata, there is a historical site by the same name. It's a tiny little old pier where residents of Tokyo have been using to cross the Edo River 江戸川 by boat since the beginning of the Edo Period 江戸時代 (1603-1868). The boats are still running today from March through November, weather permitting. Furthermore, as I've said above, there're almost no foreign tourists in Shibamata and so Noelle's mom would like to check out this relatively off beaten path.
In 1976, Chiaki Naomi ちあきなおみ released "Yagiri no Watashi 矢切の渡し" as a B-side song in her single Sakabagawa 酒場川. It was written by Funamura Tooru 船村徹 whereas Ishimoto Miyuki 石本美由起 took care of the lyrics. It's a story about two young lovers who decided to run away from their parents. They were secretly trying to cross the Edo river at Yagiri no Watashi amid heavy rain one evening, surrendering to their fate and letting the river carry them to wherever it may be. The song was later covered by a whole bunch of people including Hosokawa Takashi 細川たかし, Misora Hibari 美空ひばり, Fuji Keiko 藤圭子 (Utada Hikaru's 宇多田ヒカル mother), and even Nakamori Akina 中森明菜. Among them, Hosokawa Takashi fetched the highest record sales for the song, according to Wikipedia.
Here's Chiaki Naomi's version.
And here's Hosokawa's version.
Personally, I like Chiaki's version better because she used two different voices, a male and a female one, for the part where the two lovers converse with each other. Her voice also brings out the drama depicted by the story of the song.
It's been a very very enjoyable evening. Thank you, Noelle. If I happen to be in Tokyo, we should do it again.
Around this time in 2017, I wrote about "Ame no Yoru Anata wa Kaeru"（雨の夜あなたは帰る）by singer Kazuhiko Shima（島和彦）which ended up as a hit that earned him a place at the 1966 edition of NHK's Kohaku Utagassen and then it was later covered by smoky-voiced Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）some years later.
However, "Ame no Yoru Anata wa Kaeru" wasn't the first song by Shima. His debut single, "Etsuraku no Blues"(Pleasure Blues), was released in August 1965 but it hit a wave of controversy. Obviously the single was made and sold (and just to warn listeners, the above recording gets a little jumpy near the end), but it was banned from being broadcast on radio and, I'm also assuming, television. According to one Japanese blog, it was given the evil eye by the government for 1) being the theme song for a Nagisa Oshima（大島渚）movie titled "Etsuraku"（悦楽...Pleasure） which was considered an adult flick, and 2) it was considered to give off unwanted images of moral decay, nihilism and pessimism.
The same songwriting duo behind "Ame no Yoru Anata wa Kaeru", lyricist Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composer Toru Funamura（船村徹）, was also responsible for "Etsuraku no Blues". Listening to it now, it comes off as the prototypically languid Mood Kayo with the usual bluesy saxophone and a softly galloping beat. If I've understood Yoshioka's lyrics correctly, the story is of a woman, most likely a hostess, languishing in a bar as she waits for a client that she's fallen for but knows that he'll end up leaving her as her past paramours have.
The above is the trailer for Oshima's "Etsuraku", and the music used certainly seems to take it into psychological horror territory. I notice that one of the cast is a very young Mariko Kaga（加賀まりこ）who would become one of the hosts on Fuji-TV's long-running "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）music program. In any case, having his debut single shot down from the radio and television must have been quite a blow to Shima's prospects but obviously things got much better with his next few recordings.
If anything, Naomi Chiaki's cover of "Etsuraku no Blues" sounds even jauntier with an even deeper-sounding saxophone intro. The arrangement makes the song come across as an ironically cheerful Mood Kayo with its slightly faster tempo. Chiaki's delivery has her protagonist hostess feeling more wistfully resigned to her fate and standing in society as if she's saying "Well, tomorrow is another day". I don't know when her version originally came out but it is included in that 2007 album of hers giving tribute to the late composer Funamura that I mentioned in the article for "Ame no Yoru Anata wa Kaeru".
Well, no, the above isn't Shanghai but Yokohama's Chinatown...just thought it would be nice to add some atmosphere somehow.
A few hours ago, I watched the Tuesday night episode of NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン） and vocal group Junretsu（純烈）was up once more to sing an old kayo from 1951. The year alone caught my attention since I knew that none of us had written anything from that year since my article on Teruko Akatsuki's（暁テル子）"Minnesota no Tamago Uri"（ミネソタの卵売り）back in 2017.
But at the same time, listening to Junretsu's rendition of "Shanghai Gaeri no Lil" (Shanghai Lil), it was nice to hear that old sing-song melody from way back so I decided to track it down on YouTube and J-Wiki, if possible. And sure enough, it was possible. The original was first recorded in June 1951 by singer Ken Tsumura（津村謙）who had debuted in 1943 under his birth name of Tadashi Matsubara（松原正）for Teichiku Records but was soon drafted into the war.
In 1946, he made another debut under his new stage name of Ken Tsumura but didn't register any hits until "Shanghai Gaeri no Lil" which was released for sale a month after its recording. A kayo about searching for a lost love, it became a huge hit written by Juzaburo Tojo（東條寿三郎）, (partially) composed by Masanobu Tokuchi（渡久地政信）and arranged by Isao Hayashi（林伊佐緒）as a tune with a tango twist.
According to the J-Wiki article for "Shanghai Gaeri no Lil", the title, the lyrical content and the intro for the kayo were straight from the theme song "Shanghai Lil" for the 1933 American movie "Footlight Parade"starring James Cagney and Joan Blondell. The original song was written by Al Dubin and composed by Harry Warren.
With the success of "Shanghai Gaeri no Lil" (by 1954, it would sell over 300,000 records), Tsumura was given his invitation to join the 2nd Kohaku Utagassen which was broadcast on radio on January 3rd 1952 followed by a movie based on the song that was released in April. There would even be successful sequels to "Shanghai Gaeri no Lil" with the same singer and songwriters providing listeners with "Lil wo Sagashite kurenai ka"（リルを探してくれないか...Won't You Find My Lil?）in that same year and then "Kokoro no Lil yo Naze Tooi"（心のリルよなぜ遠い...Lil of My Heart, Why So Far Away?）in 1953. Apparently for a little while, there were quite a few different songs involving a very busy Lil including the debut of actress/singer Miki Sanjo（三条美紀）with "Watashi ga Lil yo"（私がリルよ...Hey, I'm Lil!）in 1952. And no, I'm not joking about this.
"Shanghai Gaeri no Lil" has been covered by a number of artists over the decades including actress/singer Chieko Baisho（倍賞千恵子）. She gives an even more tangoesque take on the number although I couldn't find out when she recorded her version.
However, I did find this contemporary 1985 bossa nova cover by Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）from her album "Minato ga Mieru Oka"（港が見える丘...The Hill Overlooking the Harbor）. It still brings in the tango, though.
As for Tsumura, he would appear on the Kohaku a grand total of eight times between 1952 and 1958. He would continue to come up with the hits for the duration of the 1950s but in November 1961, he was coming home late one night from a round of mah jongg and not wanting to wake up his family, he decided to sleep it off in his car while in the garage. The strange thing to me was that he had left the engine running and although he was rushed to the hospital, he died of carbon monoxide poisoning at the age of 37.
Commenter Justin, a few days ago, referred me to Xerf Xpec's recent upload, smoky singer Naomi Chiaki's（ちあきなおみ）January 1978 studio album"Amagumo"(Rain Clouds) . She recorded quite the conversation piece since it brings together three musical acts that I hadn't expected would work together. For one thing, Chiaki, someone that I've usually associated with Mood Kayo and regular Japanese pop, has the backup of the band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）, and for another, all of Side A of the original record was written and composed by the late singer-songwriter Eigo Kawashima（河島英五）, the man behind the introspective folk classic and karaoke favourite, "Sake to Namida to Otoko to Onna"（酒と泪と男と女）.
I've heard the first couple of tracks including the title track from "Amagumo", and I think that all involved including Chiaki were going for something different from their own worlds. At this point, I'd say that the album was perhaps going into a more City Pop direction but without having heard the other tracks thus far, I will go with 1970s New Music for now.
However with the first track, "Amagumo", there is something very sensual and sultry which matches the smokiness of Chiaki's voice. In the first several seconds of the song, there is a feeling of early morning hours but when all of the instruments come into literal play, I realize that it is most likely a case of a setting sometime during a rainy day as the title hints at, with Chiaki or her avatar being in a very hip coffee house somewhere in Shinjuku or Roppongi while she stares through the window with spatters of raindrops.
Kawashima's melody weaves among City Pop, jazz and the more urbane corner of New Music so it's not particularly easy to categorize "Amagumo" into one particular genre. But there are obviously no complaints from me about it as this song also reminds me of how another wonderfully cool chanteuse, Mai Yamane（山根麻衣）, started out a few years later. One last observation about the album itself is how similar the silhouette of Chiaki is to the one given on the cover of Bill Evans' famous "Waltz for Debby". Was this some sort of homage to the amazing jazz pianist?
For me, the genre of Mood Kayo with its Latin, Hawaiian or bluesy influences sends me images of swanky bars or nightclubs, hidden or overtly famous with the backup choruses intoning their "wa-wa-wa-wa". Enka is even more traditional with the themes of love and challenges in the countryside. However, there is that certain corner of enka which does take place in the city usually with that guitar-toting balladeer poking into the more modest and smaller drinking establishments within the older quarters of Tokyo and then playing a sweet love song.
That's how I think of "Shinjuku Jouwa"(Shinjuku Love Story) which was written by Ryo Inomata（猪又良）and composed by the late and great Toru Funamura（船村徹）. Inomata created a story of a barfly in a tiny watering hole in Shinjuku...perhaps somewhere on the famous bar street known as Golden Gai...when he sees a woman crying softly along the bar. He knows her as Hiroko and apparently she's had another heartbreak or some bad fate befall her for which he offers her a shoulder to cry upon and perhaps his rickety apartment to sleep it off at. He may be a comrade-at-arms just helping a buddy out or he may have some deeper feelings for her which is why the really cynical part of me wants to say "Watch out, Hiroko!".
Scrolling down Funamura's long list of creations for singers in his J-Wiki file, it seems that "Shinjuku Jouwa" was first recorded by baritone/bass-voiced Moody Matsushima（ムーディー松島）in 1968. With a name like that, Matsushima probably has done Mood Kayo but here, it's more of that mournful enka. His real name is Takashi Matsushima（松島孝）and hailing from Tochigi Prefecture, he started his singing career in 1967 and "Shinjuku Jouwa" was his 3rd single. According to the Showa Pop Encyclopedia, he released at least four singles in the late 1960s and then perhaps two singles in the 1980s but his discography is a tad sporadic.
Judging from seeing some of the videos on YouTube, "Shinjuku Jouwa" has been covered a lot, and it's no surprise since the ballad is definitely one to let out the emotions through a genre that is supposed to allow for a lot of emotional release. Unfortunately, I couldn't find out which year singer Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）had recorded her version of the song although it's available on her 1994 "Chiaki Naomi Vol. 3 ~ Shinjuku Jouwa", a couple of years after she had retired from the geinokai.
The arrangement for Chiaki's cover is not all that much different from the original by Matsushima, but there are the additions of a crying violin and some form of accordion to enhance the melancholy qualities of "Shinjuku Jouwa". Of course, the Latin guitar of the balladeer has to be there, too.
Here is another enka singer that I hadn't heard of but he also gives a wonderful take on "Shinjuku Jouwa", although his vocals are more in the tenor range. Eiji Miyoshi（三善英史）released his take on the song back in 1979 through his album "Enka"（演歌）, his final original album, although he has continued to release singles up to 2017 according to his own J-Wiki article. His version of "Shinjuku Jouwa" has a slightly more languid tempo and he has a bigger string unit backing him up.
Miyoshi hails from Tokyo's Shibuya Ward and made his debut in 1972. He's even appeared on the Kohaku Utagassen a total of three times between 1973 and 1975.
I couldn't finish this article without having the master Funamura himself perform "Shinjuku Jouwa". Again, I haven't been able to track down when he covered the song but according to Tsutaya, it's not on the album portrayed in the thumbnail above, "Kitai no Mei Kashu ~ Funamura Toru"（希代の名歌手 船村徹...The Extraordinary Singer: Toru Funamura）. Funamura gives an especially heartrending version since his vocals feel as if he's looking at poor Hiroko as his own daughter or granddaughter.
"So sensual and evocative that it was probably one of the most replayed records of the era and may be responsible for the most pregnancies from a record during the mid-'70s."
The above quote was by AllMusic reviewer Matthew Greenwald via the Wikipedia article for "Midnight at the Oasis", a song that had first seen the light of day through singer Maria Muldaur's self-titled debut album from August 1973. As a kid of course, I used to hear it all the time on AM radio at home and in the car, and I just thought it was a really nice song to listen to instead of it being considered to be the aural equivalent of oysters, ginseng and other vaunted aphrodisiacs. Of course, as a wee kid, I shouldn't have been privy to that sort of information back then in any case. Then again, I didn't know the truth behind guitarist David Nicthern's words until just a few years ago since I've never been a huge lyrics person.
So here I had thought that "Midnight at the Oasis" was referring to a lovely romp at a nightclub called The Oasis instead of a lovely romp on the oasis. Well, we all learn something every day, don't we? It was released as a single the following year in February, and it did very well on the US Billboard chart by placing in at No. 6 but it did even better in Canada where it hit No. 1 on RPM. On the yearly charts, there was a switch in results in that it placed in at No. 13 on Billboard while finishing at No. 45 on RPM.
All in all, though, I think "Midnight at the Oasis" is just the tonic while heading home late at night or very early in the morning in the car. Good times on the radio!
In terms of what was being released in Japan at the time that people first heard "Midnight at the Oasis" on Muldaur's album back in August 1973, I found these three songs that may actually have been re-releases rather than original releases, according to Showa Pops.
2020 has been a rough year for many reasons, a lot of them due to COVID-19 but it's also been a sad year in that a number of famous songwriters have passed away. Kayo kyoku's most prolific composer Kyohei Tsutsumi （筒美京平）died earlier in September and then another famed lyricist Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）left this mortal coil only a few days ago. Then on December 20th, lyricist/composer Taiji Nakamura also passed away from liver cancer at the age of 81.
According to a Sankei Sports article from 2017 via J-Wiki, the songwriter was born in Nara Prefecture in May 1939. He was a junior high school student when he joined the brass band club where he played the trombone. Feeling restricted from performing marching music, Nakamura turned into more of a jazz enthusiast. However, although there was no band club in senior high school, as a sophomore, he became enamored with the rock n' roll of Elvis Presley and Neil Sedaka, and at the height of the rockabilly boom, he even got his own pompadour hairstyle.
At the age of 18, Nakamura joined a band which included actor/musicians Yuya Uchida and Mitsuo Sagawa（内田裕也・佐川満男）called Blue Jean Bops（ブルージーン・バップス）where he took on the stage name of vocalist Taiji Mikawa（美川鯛二）. This is where J-Wiki takes a huge leap forward in time, only then mentioning that Nakamura had actually run for the Nara Prefecture gubernatorial election in 1995, only to finish in second place.
But of course between 1957 and 1995, Nakamura had all those years to create many songs for many singers, some of which have become kayo classics such as the elegiac "Kassai"（喝采）, a huge hit and trademark tune for Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）in 1972. The video at the very top has Nakamura singing the song himself.
(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)
As mentioned, though, he had his time behind the mike as Taiji Mikawa but the only song that I could find of him singing is "Kimagure Date"（気まぐれデート...Whimsical Date）, a B-side to his 2nd single in 1962"Akai Yacht wa Shindeita"（赤いヨットは死んでいた...The Red Yacht was Dead） and a cover to Bryan Hyland's"Every Other Night" released the same year. Hyland is more famous for his 1960 novelty hit"Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini". As for "Kimagure Date", listening to the Hyland original with the male chorus, I have to confess some confusion as to why the Mikawa cover had to include a female chorus that's practically shrieking.
Not exactly sure when Nakamura made his foray as a full-time songwriter but perhaps one of his early works was "Ima wa Shiawase kai"（今は幸せかい）for his old bandmate Sagawa in 1968.
Nakamura didn't just focus on the more melancholy aspects of kayo. He also provided a huge number of songs for 70s aidoru Junko Sakurada（桜田淳子） such as her "Watashi no Aoi Tori"（わたしの青い鳥）in 1973.
In 1982, Nakamura also composed the song that would be another big hit for enka singer Takashi Hosokawa (細川たかし）, "Kita Sakaba" (北酒場）. It's a kayo that has been my second choice in the karaoke box all these years.
There are quite a few songs that I've also put into the Nakamura list here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but I also wanted to include a couple of more that I had yet to cover. One example is "Futari wa Hitori"（ふたりはひとり...Two are One）, a song performed by Sachiko Kobayashi（小林幸子）and written by Kotaro Aso（麻生香太郎）. Recorded in 1980, it's a light and cheerful enka thanks to the singer, the strings and the guitar.
One more discovery that I'll include to wrap up is Nakamura's music for Miki Obata's（小畑ミキ）1968 B-side, "Goodnight Andy"（グッドナイト・アンディー）with the A-side being "Kono Hana ni Ai wo Komete"（この花に愛をこめて...These Flowers With Love）. Obata herself provided the lyrics to Nakamura's melody which sounds like his old roots of rock n' roll.
Perhaps Nakamura's output wasn't quite as prolific as those of Tsutsumi but he has also left his generous share of kayo classics to be performed and cherished.
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.
Still can't listen to this song without lumping up in the throat often. "Satokibi Batake" (Sugar Cane Field) has been a classic folk song paying tribute to all those who perished in the Battle of Okinawa at the end of World War II and are now buried under the titular fields. It has been covered many times by a variety of singers, but the one person that I've associated "Satokibi Batake" the most is folk singer Ryoko Moriyama（森山良子）. Any time that she has appeared on a TV show to perform this, I think the studio audience became even more quieter than usual.
Years ago, I bought Volume 4 of the "Good Times Diva" series and decided to play it on my Sony Discman when I went to bed. "Satokibi Batake" was the final track on the CD and saw that it was the one by Moriyama, and so I thought it would be the ideal way to finish up the night before going to sleep since the lyrics and melody by Naohiko Terashima（寺島尚彦）were very soothing like a lullaby.
So when "Satokibi Batake" finally came on, my head was on the pillow and I settled in for Moriyama's lovely voice with the Kleenex at the ready to dab at any tears. Well, as the song progressed, I started noticing as I was getting rather sleepy that the ballad was really going on for a longer time than I had expected. At first, I assumed that it was a figment of my imagination and then I thought that something went wrong on the Discman. Finally when it ended, I turned on the lights and discovered that the song was 9 minutes and 44 seconds!
The crazy thing was that Moriyama's take was still an abbreviated version. The original cut of "Satokibi Batake" actually lasted 11 minutes with each verse taking about a minute long. The original performance of Terashima's creation was done back in 1967 by singer Miyoko Tashiro（田代美代子）at the Niihama Civic Community Hall but it was Moriyama's cover which was the first version recorded via her 6th album"Moriyama Ryoko Garage Folk Album No. 2"（森山良子カレッジ・フォーク・アルバムNo.2）in September 1969.
Smoky-voiced singer Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）covered it as well in 1975 as it became one of the many songs on NHK's "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）. Her version is considerably shorter at 2:15 since she only sings three of the original eleven verses.
As I've said, a lot of singers have covered "Satokibi Batake" ranging from Kazufumi Miyazawa（宮沢和史）of THE BOOM to aidoru Aya Matsuura（松浦亜弥）. However, a few years ago, I saw this one man from Okinawa, tenor Tsutomu Aragaki（新垣勉）, perform the song on a TV show and most likely had the audience clearing out their tear ducts en masse. Aragaki is not only a singer but also a Baptist minister, and his rendition of the song when it was released in 2001 on his first album and then as a single in 2002 brought huge acclaim as it got into the Top 3 of classical CD sales in Japan for that latter year.
In 2012, a memorial to the song was erected at one corner of a sugar cane field in the city of Yomitan in Okinawa.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you folks since as the saying goes, on March 17th, everyone is Irish! And because I'm not a big drinker and I only observe the goings-on of St. Patrick's Day from the comfort of a TV screen, I thought maybe I could pay some tribute to the holiday via the blog. So I searched for a kayo kyoku with the word midori or green in the title.
It didn't take too much effort at all. I punched in the relevant kanji into the Yahoo Japan search engine, and the first few replies all pointed to this song "Midori no Chiheisen" (Green Horizon) which was originally sung by the late singer Shigeo Kusunoki（楠木繁夫）.
Released in October 1935, it's a pretty lively number created by Sonosuke Sato（佐藤惣之助）and Masao Koga（古賀政男）about what I think is the relating of a tearful parting. I envision the man having to leave either a lover or a family via ship heading for places unknown. Considering how jaunty Koga's melody is compared to the sad lyrics by Sato, I can place it as one of those "smiling through the tears" kayo.
Becoming Kusunoki's most successful single, "Midori no Chiheisen" was used as the theme song for a movie of the same name which was also released in October 1935. However, due to wartime damage, the movie itself went permanently missing with only the song as the one surviving memento (aside from some stills) although the story was also adapted into a TV drama in 1962.
The song has continued to survive through covers by some of the most famous enka singers such as Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）.
Naomi Chiaki (ちあきなおみ) performed her version in front of a grand orchestra.
And I would also like to include Eisaku Ohkawa（大川栄策）.
As for Kusunoki, he was born Susumu Kuroda（黒田進）in 1904 in Kochi Prefecture on Shikoku Island. In junior high school, he wanted to become a musician so against his father's opposition, he moved up to Tokyo and entered what is now Tokyo University of the Arts in 1924 and started singing professionally a few years later.
Now this is where things get interesting in that Kuroda would end up using 55 stage names for himself. Apparently, according to the J-Wiki article, it wasn't all that unusual for celebrities to use a variety of stage names but I think Kuroda most likely took the proverbial cake. For those who want to see this amazing list of aliases and perhaps get some practice in reading Japanese names, you can check out the article and look at the right side under the man's photo beside the kanji 「別名」. I think even Jason Bourne would have to bow down in awe.
Under his name of Kusunoki, the singer released about 250 records but including all of his names, that number has been said to approach 800. All of the above information came from an article about the singer in an April 1997 issue of the Kobe Shinbun.
Perhaps even more than enka, the genre of Mood Kayo could be equated with the cry-in-your-beer and love-starved side of country music here in Canada and the United States. When I think of the genre in general, images of standing alone on a fog-swathed pier, walking alone on a side street at midnight and sitting alone at a bar come to mind (although there are of course Mood Kayo that have a couple drunkenly flirting together). I gather that the Japanese are not only sentimental but also really contemplative.
(karaoke version)
I found one typical example of the unhappy-in-love Mood Kayo and it was due to me looking up Toru Funamura（船村徹）on J-Wiki since he passed away last month. Funamura composed this ballad "Ame no Yoru Anata wa Kaeru" (Walking Home On A Rainy Evening) for singer Kazuhiko Shima（島和彦）in 1966. It's definitely one of the more mournful kayo that I have ever heard with Osamu Yoshioka's（吉岡治）lyrics filtering through Shima's languid vocals. I'm not sure what instigated the guy's lonely walk home but it's sung from the point of view of the woman as she envisions his unhappy lot. The only thing he can look forward to is a cup of black coffee according to the words.
For all of those enka/Mood Kayo fans, if the name Kazuhiko Shima doesn't really ring a bell, it's because he didn't last all that long in the music industry...at least not up to the present day. There isn't even much of a J-Wiki entry for him. He was born in 1944 and he became a singer in the 1960s by signing up with Nippon Columbia. It looks like "Ame no Yoru Anata wa Kaeru" was his biggest hit because it was the song that got him his sole invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen of 1966, although he is known for two other songs.
At present, he is operating his own establishment, known as the Supper Club Shima in the tony district of Akasaka in Tokyo. where he sometimes performs his old songs. Apparently, he's also quite well versed in magic.
I had to do a bit of digging but chanteuse Naomi Chiaki (ちあきなおみ) has a cover of "Ame no Yoru Anata wa Kaeru" for a 2007 compilation album titled "Mou Hitori no Watashi ~ Funamura Toru Sakuhinshuu"（もうひとりの私〜船村徹作品集...Another Me--The Works of Toru Funamura）. And I gotta say that I like her version even more than the original by Shima. Starting off with an intro that had me thinking immediately of Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）, those vocals of hers and the lonely Latin guitar took things to another level. That sultry delivery made me wonder whether she was embodying a spirit accompanying the poor guy home.
(Unfortunately the video has been taken down.)
As much as I've known the great Ikuzo Yoshi（吉幾三）for his upbeat material such as "Yukiguni"（雪国）, I also know him for those cry-in-your-beer ballads including "Sake yo"（酒よ）. So I thought it was a natural for him to perform a cover of "Ame no Yoru Anata wa Kaeru".
"Uta Kon" (うたコン) had its theme of broken hearts a few nights ago, and one song came up as performed by former 80s aidoru-turned-actress Yoko 'Nanno' Minamino（南野陽子）titled "Anata nara Dou Suru" (What Would You Do?) as written by longtime lyricist Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）and composed by Kyohei Tsutumi（筒美京平）. In fact, Nakanishi was sitting with the rest of the hosts and guests since his songs were getting their due on the show...no pressure there. But as soon as I heard the plaintive title refrain, I knew that I had heard it before!
And it turned out to be during my Gunma days back in the late 80s and early 90s when the song was used as a commercial jingle for the coffee whitener Brite. Considering that song title and what I know about the chemical composition of things like Coffee Mate now, I would be more than happy to stick with real cream, thank you very much.
If I had known then what I knew now, I would have figured it out almost immediately that "Anata nara Dou Suru" was more than just an especially well-constructed jingle. It was actually Ayumi Ishida's (いしだあゆみ) 2nd-most successful hit released as her 30th single from March 1970, and it was quite the revelation to me since I knew Ishida as the singer behind the legendary "Blue Light Yokohama"(ブルーライト・ヨコハマ) from a couple of years previously.
Over the last few days, my two active collaborators, Noelle and Marcos, have been talking with me about the angsty charms of the late Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）. And at first thought, I had gone with the opinion that "Anata nara Dou Suru" would have been the ideal cover for her and was surprised initially that according to J-Wiki at least, she never gave her version of this song. As you might guess, Nakanishi's lyrics were not about whether to choose coffee whitener over cream but about how to handle suddenly being dumped by the guy you love. I mean, wouldn't this be Fuji territory?
However after a bit more consideration, perhaps the original "Anata nara Dou Suru" as sung by Ishida was not quite dark enough. There is that tone in Ishida's voice which hints that the crisis is still ongoing with the (faint) hope that something can be salvaged from the relationship. With Fuji, there was always that feeling of "way too late" resignation and it was time to creep on, rather than move on.
Getting back to Ishida, what makes this ballad work is not just the downtrodden lyrics but again that heartfelt refrain of the singer as a woman who has just stumbled through the rain in shock to consult with an old friend at a bar for some liquid healing.
Although Fuji may not have covered it, a lot of other singers dove into the "Anata nara Dou Suru" pool which explains the loaded article title on top. It's quite something about the release of kayo kyoku back in the old days. It would seem that if there were even a faint whiff of hit potential with a certain song, then a good number of singers would record their own takes at the same time. Just imagine, not just Michael Jackson releasing "Beat It" but Hall & Oates, Quincy Jones, James Ingram etc. jumping on the bandwagon in the same year.
(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)
And that is what happened with this particular song. There may have been as many as 6 acts alone who had covered "Anata nara Dou Suru" between 1970 and 1971 along with Ishida herself. All of them were album tracks, though, with one of those singers being Jun Mayuzumi（黛ジュン）. Her clear take on the ballad has a bit more of a bossa nova feeling and is available on her 1970 album"Jiyu no Megami -- Mayuzumi Jun Big Hit wo Utau"（自由の女神 黛ジュン・ビッグ・ヒットを歌う...Goddess of Freedom -- Jun Mayuzumi Sings The Big Hits）.
Then there are the distinct vocal stylings of Naomi Chiaki (ちあきなおみ) who also recorded her version in the same year for her album "Ai wa Kizutsukiyasuku -- Chiaki Naomi Hit Pops wo Utau"（愛は傷つきやすく ちあきなおみ ヒット・ポップスをうたう...Love Hurts -- Naomi Chiaki Sings Hit Pops）. Ishida's plea for help is in there but it's bolstered by some of that ennui and smokiness that Chiaki is famous for.
And here is Nanno providing her take on the song as one of several actresses performing covers of Nakanishi kayo for a 2016 tribute album titled "Nakanishi Rei to 13-nin no Joyu-tachi"（なかにし礼と13人の女優たち...Rei Nakanishi and 13 Actresses）. This is a follow-up album from the previous year which featured 12 thespians.
Of course, we gotta put in the fine synth-vocal stylings of Miku Hatsune（初音ミク）. As for the success of the original "Anata nara Dou Suru", it peaked at No. 2 on Oricon and later became the 21st-ranked single for 1970. Ishida would also appear on the NHK Kohaku Utagassen for the 2nd straight time to sing this one after her inaugural performance on the New Year's Eve special with, of course, "Blue Light Yokohama". In total, she appeared on the show 10 times with her last appearance in 1993.
Besides giving me my first karaoke experience, the karaoke bar in Sugamo had also allowed me to listen to songs I had otherwise not heard or found on my own accord. From the enka-loving trio or quartet of oldies, I got to take in decent attempts of "Hyotan Boogie" (瓢箪ブギ) and "Takeda Bushi" (武田節) - I'd be nuts to pick this work of MichiyaMihashi (三橋美智也). And from two middle-aged kayo fans, it was Naomi Chiaki's "Akai Hana" that caught my attention.
If I remember right, "Akai Hana" was either sung during the second or third round (since we arrived) by the prim-and-proper-looking lady. I was about two or three songs in but I still had yet to fully get over the jitters, plus the pressure of wanting to do good wasn't doing me any favours, so being greeted by the mellow music helped to loosen some knots in my stomach. As "Akai Hana" went on, it became clear to me that this was one tune I had to look into afterwards as I found myself enjoying it more than I thought I would, and it also became apparent that this grandma is one of - or - the best of the lot in terms of vocal prowess.
Sugimoto's version.
From what I had read from the J-Wiki a while after coming back to Singapore, "Akai Hana" was Chiaki's 34th and last single. It was released on 11th October 1991, almost a year before her husband, Eiji Go (郷鍈治), passed away, which makes the song rather poignant, as I will explain in a while. Composing the music was singer-songwriter, Masato Sugimoto (杉本真人...or すぎもとまさと when he's the "singer"), who had done a self-cover, and writing the lyrics was Fumiaki Matsubara (松原史明).
Looking at what Matsubara had written, it looks to me like the main character is reminiscing the times she once had with someone over a glass of sake, and she wishes to for things to be as they were, back to the happy times. Chiaki delivers the heroine's wistfulness very well, something I picked up when listening to the original and why I prefer it to the folkier rendition by Sugimoto. She starts off crooning in a mostly subdued manner, then further into the song, her husky delivery increases in intensity and becomes more pained. I liken this transition to when the character just begins to recall the events, after which she gets more bitter as she knows things ain't going to be as they were before, no matter how much she wills for it to be... I wonder if Chiaki might have become said character when Go was no longer around.
On a lighter note, I could also imagine Chiaki singing this at some smoky nightclub/music bar with Sugimoto in his cool guy shades on the acoustic guitar. Perched on a high stool, spotlight shining down on her, glass of brandy in hand, y'know, like Yujiro Ishihara (石原裕次郎). Speaking of Tough Guy, I would love to hear his boozy vocals lazily tackling "Akai Hana". Too bad it came out a few years too late.
