Teruhiko Saigo -- Rolling Stones wa Konakatta（ローリング・ストーンズは来なかった）

 

There has been one of those big musical questions: The Beatles or The Rolling Stones? Although I know the hits by both such as "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by the former and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by the latter, if push comes to shove, I'd be more in The Fab Four's camp since I'm more familiar with their big songs. But I do have one Stones' hit from the 1980s that I will be covering as a Reminiscings of Youth article later on this year.

I don't quite remember how I encountered this intriguingly titled song by the late Teruhiko Saigo（西郷輝彦）, "Rolling Stones wa Konakatta" (The Rolling Stones Didn't Come). His 66th single from June 1973, I was left wondering whether it was about some fan who couldn't make it to a Stones concert?

Well, from what I read on one Japanese language blog and on the J-Wiki and Wikipedia articles for The Rolling Stones during the early 1970s, perhaps the fan was songwriter Takuya Fujimoto（藤本卓也）who wrote, composed and arranged "Rolling Stones wa, Konakatta". The band had some legal issues over drugs in France, and along with convictions for Jagger in 1967 and 1970 on banned substances, their Pacific tour in 1973 was thrown for a loop and Japan didn't allow them to play in the country.

And so I gather that was the story behind the making of "Rolling Stones wa, Konakatta". The interesting thing is that the intro for the song sounds more like Santana's "Black Magic Woman", and Fujimoto's lyrics drop names like a downburst with Bob Dylan, Carole King, Janis Joplin, Chicago, John Lennon, Santana and of course, The Stones. It's almost as if the protagonist were trying to rationalize the fact that all of those other artists can also share the stage with Mick and Keith, but deep inside, he really wants to see his heroes.

The Rolling Stones eventually did come over to perform here. I was once assigned to do the English level checks for a group of employees at the Four Seasons Hotel in Tokyo, and I struck up a friendly conversation with the manager. He mentioned about some of the celebs that stayed over (including Mariah Carey), and when it came to Mick, he rolled his eyes since apparently The Rolling Stones left their suite looking like it had been hit by a bunch of rolling stones. And no, Charlie Watts wasn't responsible for the video below.

Hiroshi Itsuki -- Yogisha no Onna（夜汽車の女）

The master was back on "Uta Kon"（うたコン）last night, and continuing on with that theme of train kayo that introduced me to "Kogen Ressha wa Iku"（高原列車は行く）, Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）sang a song that probably got quite a lot of notice from the introduction by host Shosuke Tanihara（谷原章介）. Apparently, this number by Itsuki hadn't been sung on TV in around 40 years!

"Yogisha no Onna" (Woman on a Night Train) is certainly something different in the Itsuki discography when compared to his enka and Mood Kayo entries. His 15th single in September 1972 was, according to J-Wiki, released as the second example of Pops Enka（ポップス演歌）, following his first attempt in the previous single, the more successful "Matteiru Onna"（待っている女）.

With all due respect to the person who coined the name for that sub-genre, I can't really place anything enka onto "Yogisha no Onna" which I think is much more in the fuzzy rock/funk vein. And as with "Matteiru Onna", I could easily envisage Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）or Akiko Wada（和田アキ子） covering this. Not surprisingly, it was the same duo who had created the latter song behind the former, Yoko Yamaguchi and Takuya Fujimoto（山口洋子・藤本卓也）.

Yamaguchi's lyrics present the usual story of love gone wrong for a woman as she gets on that evening express, but it's surrounded not by the tender enka sound stylings but by Fujimoto's funky downtown arrangement that almost cry for Richard Roundtree as Shaft to rescue the lady from her emotional malaise. Even Itsuki's vocals sound quite different in that his lower tones seem to be almost missing in his delivery.

To be honest, I actually liked last night's performance of "Yogisha no Onna" by Itsuki better than the original since the person who arranged it for him actually oomphed up the 007 aspect by a fair bit (Itsuki...Hiroshi Itsuki). In addition, I was surprised that the singer hadn't sung the song on TV for decades, but perhaps he and the audience had thought this form of Pops Enka was just a little too much beyond the pale for him. In any case, the song hit No. 21 on Oricon and won Itsuki a Japan Record Award for Best Performance.

Hiroshi Itsuki -- Matteiru Onna （待っている女）

I heard of this song without knowing the title or the original singer for years and years. But I had no idea that "Matteiru Onna" (The Waiting Woman) was actually a Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）single.Within the kayo kyoku world, the beaming Itsuki is quite the Renaissance Man with his dexterity in musical instruments and genres, but little did I know that he had already tackled this rocking tune with Mood Kayo lyrics.

Released in May 1972 as Itsuki's 14th single (according to his discography on his website), I had thought that "Matteiru Onna" was something that Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）or Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）sang originally. My assumption that the early years for Itsuki were all about the enka and Mood Kayo before he decided to stretch his wings out some more. Written by Yoko Yamaguchi（山口洋子）, the lyrics are about a woman pining for a lost lover somewhere in the dark streets of the city...something typically Mood Kayo. But Takuya Fujimoto's（藤本卓也）music puts a near-disco jolt into the usual Akasaka proceedings. I can even envision a re-arrangement with Blondie music for this one.

"Matteiru Onna" peaked at No. 6 on Oricon, and Itsuki performed it at the 1972 Kohaku Utagassen, his 2nd appearance on the New Year's Eve special just a year after his debut of the more Mood Kayo "Yokohama Tasogare"（よこはま・たそがれ）. According to J-Wiki, the singer is currently in 3rd place after Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）and Shinichi Mori（森進一）for the most number of appearances on the Kohaku.

Of course, the monomane artists couldn't let this one go.