Jerry Goldsmith -- Theme from "Barnaby Jones"

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"A Quinn Martin production!"

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）

2. Naomi Chiaki -- Kassai （喝采）

3. Mari Amachi -- Futari no Nichiyoubi (ふたりの日曜日)

Roberta Flack -- Killing Me Softly with His Song

 

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）

2. Naomi Chiaki -- Kassai （喝采）

3. Mari Amachi -- Futari no Nichiyoubi (ふたりの日曜日)

Gilbert O'Sullivan -- Alone Again (Naturally)

 

For a Reminiscings of Youth article, this one is a bit more loaded than usual although I had been aware of some of the stuff going on in Japan regarding this ballad.

As with so many of the old songs, I used to hear Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)" all the time on the radio but never realized the significance of the lyrics until many, many years later. It wasn't until recently that I discovered that the song hadn't been about a guy moping about not having that love in his life, but someone who really needed help since he was about on the verge of suicide, such was the depths of his loneliness. O'Sullivan's music was just so comforting and whimsical that I couldn't really tell.

Released as a single in the UK in February and then in the United States in May 1972, "Alone Again (Naturally)" was an international hit. On America's Billboard chart, it was at No. 1 for six non-consecutive weeks and ended up as the No. 2 single of the year there while in Canada, it also hit the top of the charts but was "only" No. 6 for 1972.

"Alone Again" was a hit that kept on giving in Japan. For one thing, when it was also released in 1972 there, it was No. 1 for 5 straight weeks on Oricon's Western music chart. But as time passed, the song was used for many projects. For one thing, O'Sullivan's arguably most famous song was used as the theme tune for Episode 24 in the famous "Maison Ikkoku"（めぞん一刻）anime series back in 1986. My first impression was that "Alone Again" was being utilized to signify some major incident within the show but instead, I found out via the Maison Ikkoku Wiki that O'Sullivan had been signed to Kitty Records which was associated with Kitty Films which was behind the anime so that it would be a good way to promote him. However, fans didn't go for the out-of-left-field inclusion and it was back to Yuki Saito's（斉藤由貴）much happier "Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa"（悲しみよこんにちは）from Episode 25 (although "Alone Again" would return as an insert song in Episode 27 and then as the theme for the live-action version of the series in 1986). Watching this one-off opening credit sequence above did leave quite an impression, though, and apparently on a lot of YouTube commenters.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, "Alone Again" attracted attention from at least a couple of products which used it for their commercials, one being JT's brand of cigarettes. A couple of network dramas also used it as their theme song into the 21st century, and I think it was for one of them that I ended up picking up a re-release of the O'Sullivan song at one of the major Tokyo CD shops.

Though I always saw kayo wunderkind Shinji Harada（原田真二）as the Japanese version of Gilbert O'Sullivan, I don't think that he ever did a cover of "Alone Again...Naturally". However, vocally speaking, singer-songwriter Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）is quite similar to O'Sullivan, so I did go naruhodo when I heard his rendition of the ballad. The J-Wiki article for it mentions that he's sung "Alone Again...Naturally" in concert but I'm not sure whether the crooner ever released an official version.

Let's go with the American release date of the song when showing what was being released at that time in Japan. I found two famous hits which got released in May 1972.

Mari Amachi -- Hitori Janaino (ひとりじゃないの）

Shiro Miya & The Pinkara Trio -- Onna no Michi (女のみち）

Shiro Miya & The Pinkara Trio -- Okinawa no Hito（沖縄のひと）

 

Early on in "Kayo Kyoku Plus" history, I wrote about a song that had briefly been the biggest-selling single in Oricon history and still owns the No. 2 spot along with its status as the top-selling enka song. That would be Shiro Miya & The Pinkara Trio's（宮史郎＆ぴんからトリオ）"Onna no Michi"（女のみち）. And yes, it's plenty enka!

Well, the B-side of the May 1972 "Onna no Michi" is not only the physical opposite but also the opposite in terms of genre. "Okinawa no Hito" (A Man In Okinawa) is a straight-up Mood Kayo with all of the boozy sax and shimmering strings that you would ever want accompanying you during a drink in a nomiya. Miya's voice even slows down and drops down noticeably as it describes a fellow down on his luck and drowning his sorrows in lots of alcohol in Japan's southernmost prefecture. I figure if folks can get all mopey and drunk in places like Hokkaido, Tokyo and Osaka, why not Okinawa? Methinks that the libations needed here are stronger than the average can of Orion Beer.

Unlike "Onna no Michi" which was created by group members Miya and Hiroshi Namiki（並木ひろし）, "Okinawa no Hito" was written by Hiroko Ogido*（萩堂祐子）and Hachiro Ono（大野八郎）with Ono also providing the music.

*The lyricist's name has a number of ways to read both the given and family names so once again, if anyone out there can confirm the proper reading, I would be very happy about it...and I'm sure her family would be, too.

Shiro Miya & The Pinkara Trio -- Onna no Michi (女のみち）

Another one of those enka songs that comes from deep in my childhood memories but I had never known who was behind the song nor what the title was.

The late Shiro Miya（宮史郎） (who passed away last year at the age of 69) was born in Hyogo Prefecture, and started his career working in a cabaret in Himeji City as he released his first solo single, "Otoko no Hanamichi"(男の花道...The Passage of a Man) in 1959. A few years later in 1963, he started a group called The Pinkara Trio（ぴんからトリオ） with his older brother, Goro Miya（宮五郎）, and Hiroshi Namiki（並木ひろし）.

But it wouldn't be until May 1972, when The Pinkara Trio would make their official debut under the Columbia label with "Onna no Michi"(The Way of a Woman) that their ship would really come in. Written by the singer himself and composed by Namiki, the song related the typically enka tale of a woman who was devoted to a man until he decided to leave her crying. Of course, at the age I first heard the song, I didn't understand a single hiragana that Miya had crooned, but the song stuck in my mind with the combination of languid guitar, strings and flute backing this strong but aching voice. Every time I've heard it, I could always envisage the Japanese countryside somewhere....and always in the Winter for some reason.

"Onna no Michi" was a mega hit. It not only became the No. 1 song for 1972 (1.3 million records) but it repeated the same feat for 1973 (1.8 million copies). For the next couple of years, it would be the most successful song in the then-short history of Oricon, spending 16 weeks at the No. 1 position and 84 weeks on the chart proper. It would only be superseded by Masato Shimon's "Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun!"（およげ！たいやきくん！）, and it still currently holds its status as the 2nd best-selling song in Japan. It is also the most successful enka song in history.

On New Year's Eve 1973, the song would be performed by The Pinkara Brothers（ぴんから兄弟） instead of The Pinkara Trio at the Kohaku Utagassen. By that time, Namiki had already decided to leave the group.