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.
I haven't been to Osaka in many, many moons so my remembrance of the streets there is woefully lacking compared to my knowledge of some of the thoroughfares in Tokyo. However, Midosuji seems to pop up a fair bit especially when it comes to kayo kyoku. In fact, I'm wondering if I ought to provide an Author's Picks list of songs that pay tribute to what has been called Osaka's Champs-Elysees. But I'll leave that for further thought. Off the top of my head, though, there is Feifei Ouyang's（欧陽菲菲）"Ame no Midosuji"（雨の御堂筋）from the early 1970s. Anyways, the above video is provided by Japan Walking Tours on YouTube.
Well, yesterday, we were watching the weekend "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌...Songs of Japanese Spirit）as usual, and The Cool Five's Kiyoshi Maekawa（前川清）appeared to provide one of his old group's classics "Saikai Blues"（西海ブルース）from 1977. Since his Cool Five members have basically retired or passed away, some of the other male guest singers provided the backup chorus. I figured that I must have already written on "Saikai Blues", and sure enough, I had done so back in December 2023.
But I wasn't going to be deterred by that, and it didn't take me long to track down another Hiroshi Uchiyamada & Cool Five（内山田洋とクールファイブ）Mood Kayo song. That was their 26th single from December 1975, "Futari no Midosuji"(A Couple in Midosuji), and it fits the typical Cool Five Mood Kayo feeling of love gained and lost in a famous part of a Japanese city. Of course, there's plenty of rain and mournful chorus to emphasize the bittersweetness of romance. Written by Shinichi Ishihara（石原信一）and composed by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, it did OK by hitting No. 44 on Oricon.
I haven't covered a Mood Kayo in many weeks on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so I decided to pluck one out. Usually when I think of an old kayo kyoku covering the drinking beat, my mind unearths Tokyo neighbourhoods such as Akasaka and Ginza, the areas filled with expensive bars and nightclubs.
Harajuku? Not so much. For one thing, this particular area of Tokyo is known for its cutting-edge fashion and fashionistas tending toward the younger Tokyoites...not salaried types in sober suits and dresses looking to wet their whistles with whiskey and gin. And when it comes to Harajuku, the only food I think about is crepes.
That's why I had a few question marks revolving around my head when I saw that famed Mood Kayo group Los Indios & Silvia（ロス･インディオス&シルヴィア）recorded a 1980 song titled "Sorezore no Harajuku"(To Each Their Own Harajuku) as one of their trademark tunes. I certainly couldn't see these guys buying strawberry-and-cream filled crepes and hitting the nearest McDonalds.
However, as written by Yoko Nakahara（中原葉子）and composed by the late Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, "Sorezore no Harajuku" is indeed a Mood Kayo fortified with even more upscale refinement. It did get me to thinking that Harajuku, especially Takeshita Street, may have begun catering to the teens from the 1980s but there probably were lots of expensive bars in that area, too. Plus Los Indios & Silvia take it even further out from Harajuku, extending through the tony street of Omotesando to the truly ritzy neighbourhood of Aoyama with Aoyama Avenue being the border. The whole area is milling with past and present and future lovers and just like a soup of chemicals, it's interesting to see what catalyzes, socially speaking.
Of course, Los Indios & Silvia would have an even bigger hit the following year with "Uso yo Konya mo"（うそよ今夜も）.
Dang! This song really gets funky considering that it has nothing to do with the cops or any street-level shenanigans in Shinjuku. "Hana no Joshikou Kazoe Uta" (Flower Girls' High School Counting Song) is the first single for late-70saidoru Chieko Tani（谷ちえ子）which was released in June 1977. It's all about a teenaged girl who's grumbling in envy about specific classmates and then entire grades getting to enjoy the metropolitan life out there while she herself has to be the good girl stuck in the library. With that funky melody by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）which was then massaged by arranger Shunichi Makaino（馬飼野俊一）, I'd probably think that the heroine was also thinking about hitting the mean streets herself. Shinichi Ishihara（石原信一）took care of the lyrics.
Tani, whose real name is Chieko Sasaya（笹谷智恵子）, hails from Hokkaido and made her appearance on the NTV audition show "Star wa Tanjo!"（スター誕生!）. Including "Hana no Joshikou Kazoe Uta", she released four singles and one album up to the middle of 1978. She basically retired after that, but in 2012, when she held a reunion concert, she started up her singing career again with four more singles up to 2020. The singer also has experience in Japanese dance and min'yo, and her favourite singers are Shinichi Mori（森進一）, Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）and Tanya Tucker.
The above photo is one that I've posted only once and that was back in the late summer of 2021 when I wrote up the article for aidoru Masumi Hoshi's（星ますみ）"Nagisa Douri no Disco House"（渚通りのディスコハウス）, her debut single from July 1976. As the title hints, it is indeed a boppy slab of disco kayo.
I also mentioned in that article that Masumi-san would undergo a few name changes including the next name of Masumi Okada（岡田ますみ）in the following decade. In fact, under the Okada name, she would release her April 1983 2nd single,"Tomadoi"(Wonderment) which was written by Okada herself and composed by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, who would become her husband almost ten years later, and arranged by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）. I can say that it's quite the gryphon of a song since it has an intro and verse of a City Pop tune, a pre-chorus of a 50s pop tune and then the main chorus containing something jazzier. It does keep my ears on their toes (as weird as that may read).
I only read it on the Yahoo Japan news blotter last night just as I was about to call it a night, but unfortunately singer and actor Mitsuo Sagawa（佐川満男）passed away on April 12th at the age of 84 due to a disease called cholecystitis.
Sagawa's career as a singer began in 1960 with his debut single"Futari no Namikimichi"（二人の並木道...A Boulevard for Us） but perhaps his most defining song came several years later with "Ima wa Shiawase kai"（今は幸せかい）from 1968. Songwriter Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, who passed away in 2020, had provided words and music for Sagawa's big hit, and he also composed this October 1970 single, "Wakare no Toki ga Kita" (The Time Has Come to Say Goodbye) with Yu Aku（阿久悠）as the lyricist.
Beginning with this near-Bacharach pop melody, "Wakare no Toki ga Kita" then blends into a languid and satisfied soul kayo. I couldn't find the lyrics online but I'm hoping that the song itself is about the ending of a happy date and not a permanent end to a relationship. Of course, with last night's news, the song title will now take on an even more poignant presence. My condolences to Sagawa's family, friends and fans and especially to singer Yukari Ito（伊東ゆかり）who had once been married to him.
A little over a couple of years ago, I posted up an article about a song by actress/singer and seiyuu Keiko Toda（戸田恵子）when she had first began her career as a 1970s aidoru under the name of Akemi Ayu（あゆ朱美）. "Hitori Uranai"（ひとり占い）was her 4th and final single as Ayu, released in November 1976. It was a pretty melancholy song about a relationship that was about to smash itself on the rocks.
Well, I'm heading back to Ayu's beginning and that means her first single released in February 1974 and it's another sad tune titled "Guitar wo Hiite yo"(Strum That Guitar) about a woman who's requested a guitar player to play something to help assuage her down feelings. I've yet to hear the remainder of her discography but maybe Toda back then was known as the Melancholy Aidoru? Listening to it a few times, I had assumed that the folk group Grape（グレープ）led by Masashi Sada（さだまさし）created the song especially with those strings in there. However, it was actually Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）behind the lyrics while Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）came up with the melody. I have to say that the singer's vocals are very affecting. On Oricon though, "Guitar wo Hiite yo" did only modestly by peaking at No. 85 and selling approximately 5000 records.
And it doesn't just start and stop with the title "Yukue Fuumei" (Whereabouts Unknown) which I would usually hear in urgent police reports. To dive further, this was the 1977 debut single of Keiko Ishihara（石原圭子）, a singer that I could barely find anything about except for a mention on a couple of Japanese blogs that she was once known as The Queen of Showa Apathetic (Nonchalant?) Kayo Kyoku! So, does that mean she was the progenitor for all of those Fashion Music singers? Does she sing from a chaise lounge? No idea.
Those blogs also state what I had suspected when I first heard "Yukue Fuumei". The main chorus sounds a whole lot like Linda Ronstadt's September 1977 cover version of "It's So Easy!" originally by The Crickets in 1958. One of the bloggers even wondered whether composer Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）really put his foot in it when he came up with the song. Well regardless, Konosuke Fuji（藤公之介）came up with the lyrics for this kayo kyoku that has that country twang. Also, for a singer who has been called The Queen of Showa Apathetic Kayo Kyoku, Ishihara seems to have a pretty solid and crisp delivery here.
According to Discogs, Ishihara released one album and six singles up until 1984.
In the most recent ROY article that I've written, I noted that I didn't bother profiling the Top 3 songs on the August 3rd 1970 Oricon chart (yep, exactly 53 years ago) because I had yet to write about any of them. Well, that's now down to two songs.
That is correct since I'm now covering the kayo kyoku that hit No. 1 on that day, Hide & Rosanna's（ヒデとロザンナ） May 1970 5th single"Ai wa Kizutsukiyasuku" (Love is Fragile). Despite the direct translation that I've provided, the record cover has the official English title as "Love is Free".
It's a little surprising that it's taken this long to cover "Ai wa Kizutsukiyasuku" since I did write about their "Ai no Kiseki"（愛の奇跡）here several years ago and the melody is familiar to me as one that has probably been performed on music shows such as "Uta Con"（うたコン）. Written by Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）and composed by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, the opening verses show a vocal give-and-take between Hide and Rosanna about their love along with an uncertainty in the melody before it gives way to a key shift into something happier and more hopeful with the two singing together.
I love the triumphant trumpet, by the way. The song not only hit No. 1 on August 3rd 1970 but it stayed there for the rest of the month. "Ai wa Kizutsukiyasuku" eventually ended up as the No. 7 single of the year, and it became a million-seller with it also leading to Hide & Rosanna getting invited onto the Kohaku Utagassen for the very first time that year. They would make one more appearance on the annual NHK special the following year.
Ah, Kamiya Bar（神谷バー）...literally around the corner from the NOVA that I used to teach at in Asakusa. Despite its reputation, I only went there once and tried their famous Denki Bran cocktail. The following 12 hours were then excised from my memory forever.
This is the second article regarding 80s aidoru Ryoko Yano（矢野良子）. Earlier this year, I wrote about her and her 2nd single"Harahara Summer Time"（はらはらサマータイム）from June 1981. It was interesting for its near-City Pop arrangement approaching the disco genre. And so I'm wondering if there had been some plan in place for Yano to be this teenage singer exploring the urban contemporary some years before Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）.
I come to that thought because her 3rd single which was released later in September is "Downtown de Tsukamaete" (Catch Me Downtown), and I think that this time, the song really takes her and us into City Pop. Mind you, the direction here is more into the stylish and sophisticated (almost downright cabaret) of Aoyama rather than the disco of Roppongi. In fact, I think that the arrangement here is more along the lines for Fashion Music singers such as Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）, and interestingly enough, it's the same lyricist and composer from "Harahara Summer Time" behind "Downtown de Tsukamaete": Yu Aku（阿久悠）and Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）.
As mentioned in that first article, Yano only had four singles and no albums, but it would be fascinating to hear those remaining six songs from her 45s to check whether they also had a similar tone.
I'd like to acknowledge and once again give my thanks for this lovely keychain with a younger Takashi Hosokawa's（細川たかし）handsome visage sent by our KKP co-administrator and enka/Mood Kayo expert Noelle Tham. It has made for a good conversational piece all these years.
As I mentioned in my previous article regarding Junko Yagami（八神純子）, tonight's episode of NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）had the theme of successful kayo in other countries such as America and South Korea. Of course, Japanese City Pop has been one major factor in this flourishing and appreciation of kayo kyoku beyond the nation's shores. However, even before Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Plastic Love" exploded on YouTube a few years ago, there was also the phenomena of Vaporwave and Future Funk which often kneaded and manipulated some of those urban contemporary tunes in Japan. So names such as Jung Baeand Saint Pepsi as some of the driving forces also became familiar to me while we were all working on our articles on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" in the 2010s.
One other name I've seen is Night Tempo who, according to Everybody Wiki, has been around since 2015 making his brand of Future Funk in his native South Korea. The above is one of his earlier creations, "Moonlight Tokyo Bay". Night Tempo also made his appearance on "Uta Con" tonight as part of the episode's theme on kayo getting its due overseas, and much to my surprise, it hasn't just been the Japanese urban contemporary stuff of the 1980s that has been his paint and canvas.
In fact, the lad has come up with his "Showa Groove" series of overall kayo kyoku given some beats and twists. And the example that he showed tonight on "Uta Con" was his take on Takashi Hosokawa's big hit "Kita Sakaba". I was especially happy with this one because "Kita Sakaba" just happens to be one of the first kayo kyoku that slid me into my mania for the Showa Era music in the first place starting from the 1980s, and it became one of my go-to songs at karaoke.
Hosokawa appeared with Night Tempo to perform this newer version of "Kita Sakaba" along with a group of Bubble Era dancers in what looked to be a cabaret club in Tokyo. Just the place for it! If you like, you can take a gander at some of his other creations on YouTube.
I've got quite a few summertime kayo in the backlog that I am saving for beyond June 21st, but literally feeling that the hot season has been creeping into my room all day today, I have decided to put one up on the blog as an early sign that summer is around the corner. Following a long cold winter, though, I'm not one to complain much, but I do have to dust off the fan.
To start off the more summery stuff, I have here "Harahara Summer Time"(Thrilling Summer Time) by an aidoru who didn't have too much time in the spotlight. The song is Ryoko Yano's（矢野良子）2nd single from June 1981, and it has a brief elegant intro before it not only maintains that elegance but the arrangement gets mixed in with some near-City Pop influences and an upbeat aidoru refrain. It's quite an interesting tune made for an aidoru by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, the same composer who had come up with the classic elegiac "Kassai"（喝采）for Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）about a decade before, and the lyrics about a teen girl potentially experiencing that first intoxicating summer romance were written by none other than Yu Aku（阿久悠）, one of the legendary kayo lyricists. That is some pedigree backing Yano up.
According to her J-Wiki profile, the Kyoto-born Yano herself has some pretty nice vocals to apply to those words and music, so it's too bad that she only released four singles up to February 1982 and no albums, although her songs did get included onto various aidoru compilations. There had been little hope that she was even going to get any spotlight in showbiz although as a high school student, she had applied to the NTV audition program "Star Tanjo!"（スター誕生!...A Star is Born!）. Just when Yano had begun working at a fabrics shop, a notice finally came in the mail from the program to try out for an audition.
Assuming that she would be dropped anyways due to her "advanced" age, Yano was surprised to find out that she passed the audition, and at the age of 21, she made her debut in March 1981 with "Chotto Koukishin"（ちょっと好奇心...A Little Curious） as an aidoru. Her label promoted her under the catchphrase of "Neatest Girl of 1981".
Approximately a week or so ago, commenter Owl Chick let me know about an actress and a tarento by the name of Chieko Matsumoto（松本ちえこ）who also had a stint as an aidoru in her early years.
Matsumoto, born in 1959, hailed from Tokyo and one day when she and a friend were attending a music TV show, she was scouted and was even invited to sing a Junko Sakurada（桜田淳子）song just for a lark. Well, that ended up beginning her career in show business.
In August 1974, Matsumoto released her first single, "Boyfriend", which Owl Chick is quite enamored by. Considering that her birthday was November 12th, she was all of 14 years of age as she sang about the envy of one of her schoolmates gaining that cherished of adolescent objectives: gaining a boyfriend. The song was written by Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）and composed by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, and it's a typically jaunty aidoru song of the 1970s, ready for easy performance and consumption in a TV studio, and Matsumoto's singing is bright and as cute as a button. There's also something about the melody and the arrangement which reminds me of some 60s Brill Building song but I can't recollect which one it was.
Between 1974 and 1978,Matsumoto released 11 singles and 6 albums with a number of BEST compilations. She also appeared on many music show, variety programs and dramas up to the early 2010s. Tragically though, her life was cut short at the age of 60 in 2019 due to an aneurysm.
When I first heard this song, I thought about one fellow especially, and that was Kogoro Mouri（毛利小五郎）from the "Detective Conan"manga and anime franchise. Being the father of the pretty Ran Mouri（毛利蘭）, girlfriend of genius teen sleuth Shinichi Kudo (before he got miniaturized into Conan), I've found him to be a comically boorish braggart with a volcanic temper who may not be the sharpest private eye but will do anything to protect his daughter, although with her judo skills, she can take care of herself and others well enough.
Back in late 2019, I wrote about singer/songwriter and impressionist Mayumi Shinozuka's（しのづかまゆみ）final single"Taiyo no Kakera"（太陽のかけら）from July 1981. Well, here is her first single from May 1974, "Papa wa Mouretsu" (Papa's Fierce), and from listening to that intro with the guitar, I thought the melody was lifting something from an old Blondie song, "Call Me", but of course that hit by Debbie Harry and company wouldn't come out for several more years.
At the same time, there is also something rather disco and Pink Lady with the arrangement but as well, that duo would be a couple of more years away from hitting the limelight. In any case, the booming melody by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）behind Shinozuka reflects Yu Aku's（阿久悠）lyrics about how fiercely strict a young girl's father is. For most of the song, the singer seems to weave a tale of woe regarding how Showa her Showa Era dad is, only for her to concede at the end that she still loves him and that Papa is showing his love, too.
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.
Last night, I had the opportunity to listen to Come Along Radio's latest Summer Mixtape and in what has become a custom, I enjoyed the hour-long session while watching another enjoyable J Utah video, this time a drive through San Francisco. I also had the opportunity to visit the city almost 30 years ago while I was taking a trip with some of my fellow colleagues at the Board of Education for my town on the JET Programme. We were able to visit Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, and the zigzag Lombard Street among other places. My only regret was that we couldn't get to see the Golden Gate Bridge because of another San Francisco phenomenon: the fog.
J Utah in his description for this particular video mentioned that this was filmed during the current pandemic so traffic is lower and I have also noticed that a lot of the shops have been boarded up. This hit home especially on the news that many areas in the United States including California have had to backtrack on any re-openings. And so I'm hoping that my friends in the Golden State, fellow KKP contributor Larry Chan in the SFO area and Come Along Radio's Rocket Brown in LA, are hanging in there, as well as my other friends elsewhere in the country.
One of my most cherished standards happens to be "I Left My Heart in San Francisco", and of course, the ultimate singer for this classic is Tony Bennett. However, having said that, the first time I ever heard "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" wasn't his rendition but one that was performed by The Norman Luboff Choir via that record collection of standards that my father had gotten along with the RCA stereo decades ago.
I love Bennett's version but there was also something very haunting and elegiac about the cover by The Normal Luboff Choir, almost as if their version was meant as a tear-jerking musical requiem for a beloved longtime resident in the City by the Bay. Unfortunately, I couldn't find their take on YouTube or elsewhere.
According to Wikipedia, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" was originally written back in 1953 by George Cory and Douglass Cross with Bennett's first recording his version in 1962. Of course, others have covered it over the decades and that includes Japanese singers according to what I got when I placed the Japanese translation of the title "Omoide no San Francisco" (San Francisco Memories) into the YouTube engine. One such English-language cover was by The Tough Guy himself, Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）. The uploader states that Ishihara's version was recorded in 1974 and it can be found in his 5-CD "Ishihara Yujiro ~ Cover Song Shuu"（石原裕次郎 カバーソング集...Cover Song Collection）. Ishihara is no Bennett but he's got the timbre and gravitas in his vocals to perform a pretty decent cover.
(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)
Judy Ongg（ジュディ・オング）also provided her version of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" on a TV show and along with her wonderfully smoky delivery of the tune which I would love to have caress my ears in the minutes before slumber, there are other reasons for my choice. One is that I finally get to see trumpet player Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）for the first time and the other is that Ongg's cover is done in Japanese, thanks to Rei Nakanishi's（なかにし礼）lyrics.
In the "Killing-two-birds-with-one-stone" department, I also found a San Francisco-themed kayo to include here. Titled "San Francisco no Hito" (San Francisco Woman), this was The Peanuts'（ザ・ピーナッツ）33rd single from October 1971 and was the final part of the "Hito"（女）trilogy of songs that Emi and Yumi Ito（伊藤エミ・ユミ）recorded following "Tokyo no Hito"（東京の女）and "Osaka no Hito"（大阪の女）in the previous year.
While "Osaka no Hito" took things into enka territory, "San Francisco no Hito" is more into happy-go-lucky pop kayoalthough the story is more melancholy as a woman gets summarily dumped on one of those San Francisco slopes. The same duo behind "Osaka no Hito", lyricist Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）and composer Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, was also responsible for this one, and "San Francisco no Hito" was performed by The Peanuts at the 1971 Kohaku Utagassen at their 13th out of 16 appearances on the New Year's Eve special.
And no...The Peanuts' voicing of "Cisco, Cisco" wasn't probably not a premonition for a certain multinational technology conglomerate that rose up years later. To be honest, when I first heard those lyrics, my immediate thoughts went to a certain Starfleet captain-turned-religious emissary (yes, I know the spelling is different😒).
Finally to end things off, for those who have never heard of The Norman Luboff Choir, you can have a listen to another standard that coincidentally saw off the show in which that Starfleet captain had starred in. Wow, this was something...I never thought I could incorporate Tony Bennett, The Tough Guy, The Peanuts, "Star Trek" and J Utah into one article.
With the slow retirement of a number of established enka/Mood Kayo personalities over the last several years, I'm still happy to see veteran Takashi Hosokawa（細川たかし）still appearing on television. In fact, he appeared on the final "Uta Kon"（うたコン）of the year last week, and he was as boisterous as ever sporting that kimono that seems to have become more of his regular onscreen garb compared to the sharp suits he wore as a younger man.
It's been a number of years since I've written on a solo Hosokawa article (Noelle has been doing a fine job covering him) although two of my earlier articles on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" involved the most famous tunes by the singer, "Kita Sakaba"（北酒場）, that has become my second-most favourite karaoke song next to Ikuzo Yoshi's（吉幾三）"Yukiguni"（雪国）, and his debut single"Kokoro Nokori"（心のこり）.
So, on that note, going into the Hosokawa time vaults, I've found his second single"Miren Gokoro"(A Heart That Still Has Feelings) which was released in September 1975, exactly 5 months following the release of "Kokoro Nokori". Written by Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）and composed by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, the melody is familiar to me; perhaps Hosokawa sang it on an episode of "Uta Kon" or I've heard it at karaoke somewhere sometime. In any case, I do love that soprano saxophone, the strings and the singer's brisk delivery of a fellow whose heart still has some lingering emotions for an old flame in a northern town.
For some strange reason, in his performance on "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）above, the composer has been listed as Jun Suzuki（鈴木淳）although other kayo kyoku sites have confirmed Nakamura as the man behind the melody, and under Suzuki's J-Wiki bio, there's no mention of any contribution to "Miren Gokoro". In any case, I like the horns replacing the sax in the TV versions....gives that extra urban edge. Couldn't find out how it did on Oricon, but after "Kokoro Nokori", it must have done pretty well. I think it's a pretty boss enka/Mood Kayo and I couldn't imagine it finishing outside of the Top 100 on the weeklies.
Well, "Uta Con"（うたコン）isn't on tonight so most likely it'll come back next Tuesday. However, that means another week without my kayo fix.😞
Gotta say that I really like the cover for this single by Hiroshi Uchiyamada & The Cool Five（内山田 洋とクール・ファイブ）from November 1971, "Hiren" (Tragic Love). I'm not a critic for graphic art or photography at all, but there's something quite cool about vocalist Kiyoshi Maekawa（前川清）and his five on the spiral staircase with the white background (not the one above).
Written by Kohan Kawauchi（川内康範）and composed by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, "Hiren" is quite interesting in that I still identify it as an atmospheric Mood Kayo although there isn't anything about it that refers to being in a bar or on a pier or at a nightclub. In fact, I would say that Maekawa sings his heart out about the loss of love in general. Perhaps it would be even more accurate to say that he fairly rips his cardiac organ out in anguish.
That gory scene aside, I think "Hiren" also stands out for having its melody being dramatically driven by some epic strings almost right from the beginning (nice timpani there at the start) although there are horns in there. Those strings seem to take the place of that lone trumpet that often accompanies a Mood Kayo ballad. I can just imagine Maekawa standing on the top of some weather-battered bluff and screaming his lungs out in romantic despair. "Hiren", by the way, peaked at No. 22 on Oricon.
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.
In my last article, I was getting all sepia-toned and nostalgic for Namie Amuro（安室奈美恵）. Can you imagine how I must feel about the 1970s?! All those happy violins and high-toned vocals by the aidoru way back when. But then again, there is a major difference. My nostalgia for the 90s extends to my old life in the Tokyo area but hearing the old music from the 1970s and further back is about my childhood and the RCA stereo and VHS tapes.
As I've said before, Junko Sakurada（桜田淳子）is the one member of that media-formed group Hana no Chuu-san Trio（花の中三トリオ...The Flower Junior High Senior Trio）which also included 70s starsMomoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）and Masako Mori（森昌子）that I know the least in terms of her music. Mind you, all that means is that I have the privilege of exploring more of her discography.
One example is this sweet tune, "Watashi no Aoi Tori" (My Bluebird) by Sakurada which came out as her 3rd single in August 1973. Written by master lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, it's about as innocent as a bluebird or a lamb with the aidoru tweeting her friendship with the bird of note. It's about as 70s kayo as one can get. If music videos actually existed back then, Sakurada would have been Snow White traipsing around with Disney bluebirds flocking all around her.
"Watashi no Aoi Tori" peaked at No. 18 on Oricon becoming one of the singer's trademark tunes and selling about 150,000 records. It also won her Best New Artist honours at the Japan Record Awards for 1973.
I've suddenly got this urge to head outside and catch butterflies with a net while wearing a beanie cap.
I was watching "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）last night. The theme was heartbreak ballads and they didn't fail to deliver with one of the big examples being "Ima wa Shiawase kai"(Are You Happy?). The original artist was Mitsuo Sagawa（佐川満男）who is not only a singer but also a tarento and actor. In fact, I think his acting resume is probably a whole lot longer than his music output.
However, "Ima wa Shiawase kai" is one of his biggies from 1968. Written and composed by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, who would later compose the sad but proud "Kassai"（喝采）for Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）, Sagawa forlornly asks that title question to the girl he let get away from him. Unlike his bearded (!) appearance on that bright stage there, I think he ought to be strumming that guitar somewhere on a lonely street in the dark while wearing a trench coat. It may not have that Latin feeling that often comes through a Mood Kayo, but it's definitely a cry-in-your-sake ballad.
Although I don't have any information on its success in terms of rankings, it apparently was a huge hit according to J-Wiki, and Sagawa ended up on the Kohaku Utagassen for that song and has appeared a total of 4 times. One other piece of trivia is that he married singer Yukari Ito（伊東ゆかり）in 1971 but they divorced 5 years later.
.jpg)
