Yujiro Ishihara -- Gas Tou（ガス燈）

 

I would think that someone as legendary as The Tough Guy, the late actor and singer Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）, was a shoo-in for multiple appearances on the year-end Kohaku Utagassen. After all, he was the charismatic young rebel of the 1950s and early 1960s and then the sage figure of law enforcement authority in the 1970s and 1980s along with the fact that he was a well-established crooner of Mood Kayo for many years. Plus, he was the head of Japan's own Rat Pack, the Ishihara Gundan（石原軍団）.

But I couldn't find any mention of him ever being in the annual music special and usually singers of his popularity and longevity get their own history of Kohaku appearances on J-Wiki, but there wasn't anything. Checking through Yahoo Japan, there was the usual Q&A where I discovered that though he had made an appearance on the 1957 8th edition as a guest and not as an active participant, there was no other edition where he showed up again. Apparently, he turned down the invitation from NHK time and time again since the theory went that he didn't need the Kohaku to maintain or gain popularity which turned out to be right.

Anyways, that was my trivia hunt for today. I was actually doing my usual maintenance last night when I came upon the B-side for Ishihara's "Omokage no Hito"（おもかげの女）from February 1985. The A-side was a song that I posted about back in 2017, and for the record, "Gas Tou" (Gaslight) has nothing to do with Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子）jazz torch song of the same name. In fact, as written by Norihiko Sugi（杉紀彦）and composed by Kensuke Kishimoto（岸本健介）, this is another tenderhearted Mood Kayo croon by The Tough Guy about reminiscing on that past romance as he looks at the line of gaslight lamps on the street. There is a sudden veering in the instrumental bridge where things go pop (music) but it doesn't stay there long enough for "Gas Tou" to become a New Adult Music sort of song.

Not sure if this is a thing but maybe there are certain common landmarks in Japan that become popular as parts of kayo kyoku titles. Gas lights could be one of them since I've already mentioned two songs with that title. There are also those stone lanterns by venerable houses and restaurants and maybe even large bells.

Anli Sugano -- Akujo Street（悪女ストリート）

(from 10:44)

I have to confess that the cover for jazz singer Anli Sugano's（アンリ菅野）1978 debut album "Anli ~ Ichi"（アンリ～いち...One） is terrifying, Try to imagine purchasing that, placing it on the bedroom floor, and then having it stare at you while you go to sleep (or try to).

"Akujo Street" (Wicked Woman Street) is one of the tracks and it isn't even a jazz number. It's actually more of a rock-infused City Pop tune as it describes the story of a woman in the metropolis who has been given the titular label and has probably become so infamous that even the street she works/lives on is named after her. And she likes the notoriety. I do like the beat of "Akujo Street" because it perhaps illustrates the strut the akujo possesses as she holds court on her turf while other folks give her a lot of leeway. I can only think the tough streets of Kabukicho in Tokyo when it comes to this song. Norihiko Sugi and Toshiyuki Kimori（杉紀彦・木森敏之）were behind words and music respectively.

I did find a lovely video with Sugano performing a jazz number, "Take the A Train". Born in 1948 in Tokyo, she was born into a musical family with her father being a jazz vocalist and her mother a pianist. Attending Musashino Art University, Sugano was learning oil painting when she also entered a study circle on modern jazz and ended up starting a career in jazz singing. After studying languages and dancing among other subjects in the United States, she made her professional debut in 1978 and released a number of jazz albums and performed in a number of venues including New York City's Blue Note. She even had a stint as a co-host of an NHK program "That's Music" for a couple of years in the late 1980s. Sadly, though, Sugano would pass away in 2000 from cancer at the age of 51.

Masako Mori/Nobue Matsubara -- Namida no Sanbashi（なみだの桟橋）

Masako Mori（森昌子）retiring? Now, where did I hear that before? Actually, the veteran singer did retire once before in 1986 after entertaining people for about 14 years when she got married to enka singer Shinichi Mori（森進一）. I remember the 1986 Kohaku Utagassen when Masako crumpled into tears at the end of the program while a bombastic chorus heralded the supposed end of a career.

What I hadn't realized was that the former aidoru-turned-enka singer stayed away from the microphone for 20 years while she raised a family but when she got divorced from Shinichi in 2006, she made her return to show business. Now, this morning, I got the news that she will be retiring once more at the end of this year.

Allow me then to pay appropriate tribute to Mori with her 23rd single from August 1977, "Namida no Sanbashi" (Wharf of Tears). From the title, it's pretty obvious that the lyrics by Norihiko Sugi（杉紀彦）will not be the happiest as the singer relates the loss of romance through the typical kayo setting of a pier. Shosuke Ichikawa（市川昭介）provides the dramatic and nostalgic music of strings, guitar and light crystal keyboard. This sounds like the perfect karaoke song.

In performed versions, that wailing guitar seems to have been replaced by a trumpet in fanfare mode. "Namida no Sanbashi" got as high as No. 28 on Oricon, and earned her an invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen that year for her 5th appearance in as many years.

Around the time that Mori was retiring the first time in the mid-1980s, enka chanteuse Nobue Matsubara（松原のぶえ）practically begged the singer to allow her to cover "Namida no Sanbashi", and both Mori and composer Ichikawa were more than happy to give their approval. Matsubara's version was released in May 1987 and has a more elegant and regal arrangement. There is no mention about how it did on Oricon, but Matsubara did get her own 3rd invitation to the Kohaku to sing this very song.

Yujiro Ishihara -- Omokage no Hito （おもかげの女）

Writing this article past midnight Sunday morning since I was out for most of the day helping an old friend celebrate his half-century of life. Plus of course, I did have that latest "Doctor Who" episode to catch (liked the premise but the ending was a little too pat...kinda like some of the old "Star Trek: The Next Generation" eps).

Because I am writing this in the wee hours on a weekend, I thought maybe a nice Mood Kayo was in order. One of the things I enjoy about going to a party is not only meeting up with old friends and making new ones but also watching the overall flow of things as the party continues. Basically I enjoy seeing the different talking groups form in different corners of the home and then morph over the course of the party. Of course, the food is great as well!

It would be rather nice if I could apply this ability to a typical nomiya or cuddly old bar somewhere in Tokyo. While nursing that sake or beer, I could surreptitiously observe the various goings-on at the counter and the tables...the company section carousing over beers or shochu in one corner while a couple are flirting over drinks just a metre down the counter.

Strangely enough, I could imagine the ghost of The Tough Guy, Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）, coming down to one of those thousands of watering holes in the megalopolis to monitor what the mortals are up to. As usual, he's got another crooning song up his sleeve, his 1985 "Omokage no Hito" (Traces of a Woman).

I was surprised that the ballad was actually made in 1985 since listening to the arrangement took my memories back to the 1970s when he was crooning such classics as "Brandy Glass"（ブランデーグラス）. There were those sibilant plucks of the guitar along with the haunting chorus in the background...and of course, the comforting tones of Ishihara himself during those final decades.

(karaoke version)

Written by Norihiko Sugi（杉紀彦）and composed by Yukihiko Ito（伊藤雪彦）, The Tough Guy is showing his more tender side in relating the hero's melancholy over losing his love. It almost sounds as if he didn't lose her to death but other sad circumstances such as work. She could be that Ginza hostess who has gone onto another client at another table in that swanky nightclub while her former love is looking forlornly from afar.

One of the things I've wondered when it comes to enka or Mood Kayo tunes is the reading of the kanji for woman, which is officially onna（女）. Often, though, titles carrying that same kanji have had it read as hito（人）, or person. There is even the furigana above the kanji to ensure that listeners and karaoke singers know that it is to be read as hito. I'm not sure what this de-genderizing has been about all these decades but is it some method to put some thematic distance between the man and the woman? Unfortunately, I simply don't know.

Yujiro Ishihara -- Showa Tazune Bito (昭和たずねびと)

I just got myself some CDs online not too long ago - Kiyoshi Maekawa's newest single, Yuzo Kayama's 2012 compilation album, and volume 14 of the "Towa no Utagoe Yujiro Ishihara no Subete" (永遠の歌声 石原裕次郎のすべて) series. The last one was slightly more troublesome to get than the first two as CDJapan doesn't sell it as one of their products, but through their special order service, they were able to locate and get it for me. It cost me an arm and a leg though, and I even had to forgo my Teruo Ikeda CDs to keep within my budget - including shipping fees of course.

My main priority for going through all that trouble rather than to just get the regular Yujiro Ishihara (石原裕次郎) compilation albums was to be able to listen to "Kimagure Dori wa Tasogare te" (きまぐれ通りはたそがれて), a song that I could only find in this one album (that's not as expensive on its own), without having to go online. However, with that quickly fulfilled, I've noticed that in the entire "Towa no Utagoe" album, I was familiar with that one tune and had to do some "exploring" with the other 19 tracks. As Maria sung in "The Sound of Music", "Let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start." And so I did with "Showa Tazune Bito". A very good place to start indeed.

"Showa Tazune Bito" has got a very soothing and jazzy score to it with the elegant strings and the lonely blare of the saxophone brought to you by Takashi Miki (三木たかし), and to a certain extent there's also a feeling of nostalgia in it. It reminds me of this one show that had the hosts taking old tram rides in the old part of Tokyo, and then alighting at the various stops to check things out - little stores that have been open since the beginning of time, residential districts, etc. - at different times of the day. Late afternoon and its orange sun shining down on to the said residential districts seems to fit "Showa Tazune Bito" best. The lyrics to this tune were written by Norihiko Sugi (杉紀彦), who happened to be the same guy who penned "Kimagure Dori wa Tasogare te".

"Showa Tazune Bito" was released in January 1978. From what I've seen in Tough Guy's extensive discography, it seems that most if not all of the tracks from Vol. 14 of "Towa no Utagoe" are from 1978 as well.

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One more thing that I must note is that the way in which Ishihara sang some parts of the song like "Kaze mo kieru mo ii darou" and "Tooi jidai no mama de yuku", he actually sounded a little like Kiyoshi Maekawa, which made me wonder about the possibility of Mae-Kiyo doing a cover of "Showa Tazune Bito".

Yujiro Ishihara -- Kimagure Dori wa Tasogare te (きまぐれ通りはたそがれて)

To me, songs by Yujiro Ishihara (石原裕次郎) have this very soothing and mellow quality to them, and his deep, silky vocals are welcoming. Imagine being greeted by such a voice on a rainy night as you step into one of those softly lit jazz bars for a drink after a day at work... It would just melt all that stress away, and "Kimagure Dori wa Tasogare te" would be a nice tune to listen to after you've settled down and have your drink in hand.

I managed to find "Kimagure Dori wa Tasogare te" while in the mood for something from Tough Guy's repertoire. So I just randomly picked out a couple of them, the first being his rendition of "One rainy night in Tokyo" (ワン・レイニー・ナイト・イン・トーキョ), a Mood Kayo classic that's been sung by Fubuki Koshiji (越路吹雪), Hiroshi Wada and Mahina Stars (和田弘とマヒナスターズ) and Sachiko Nishida (西田佐知子). Next came "Kimagure Dori wa Tasogare te", and I expected to have the same feel as the former, slow in pace, jazzy, something I've associated Ishihara's songs with. So it surprised me for being quite jaunty, in fact, it sounded slightly cabaret with the background singers chiming in during the musical interludes. There was still a Mood Kayo touch to it with the blare of the trumpets though. Both songs didn't disappoint me, however, I currently find myself preferring the latter.

"Kimagure Dori wa Tasogare te" didn't seem to be one of Ishihara's hits so searching for its release date wasn't as easy as I'd thought it'd be. For one, I had to make sure that it wasn't a cover since Tough Guy was known to do so... in total he had covered 200 songs. With that done, it was time to check out the list of original tracks he had sung over his 31 year career... 350, includes both singles and those released in albums. Eventually, after sifting through about 20 years of his works, I found it. "Kimagure Dori wa Tasogare te" was released in September 1978, and according to the J-Wiki, it wasn't an official single, so I think it only came out in one of his albums back then. It can also be found some of his postmortem compilation albums, like "Towa no utagoe Ishihara Yujiro no Subete Vol.14" (永遠の歌声 石原裕次郎のすべて Vol.14) that was released in 2004.

The song was written by Norihiko Sugi (杉紀彦), who had also penned the lyrics for most of Tough Guy's tracks from 1978, and its music was done by renowned composer Masaaki Hirao (平尾昌晃).

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