Well, Jme, If We Can't Have Uta Con Because of the Beatles...

 

This week, we're not watching any "Uta Con"（うたコン）on NHK which was a bit weird because I swore that I'd seen "Uta Con" concierge Shosuke Tanihara（谷原章介）give out the lineup at the end of last week's episode for this week. And then, I figured something was up. Indeed, something was up...the number of non-Japanese songs being sung on the June 9th episode. Notably, the show's theme tonight was all about The Beatles, and this was confirmed by commenter Brian Mitchell in my last article yesterday. 

I've mentioned it before but our streaming provider of Japanese programming here in North America is Jme, and they've given us the heads-up on their website, but when it comes to the performance of American, British or any non-Japanese songs by Japanese artists in Japan, due to copyrights and all that legal stuff, they simply can't allow them to be heard. Usually, if it's one or two songs, Jme will put up the warning blurb at the top of the screen in Japanese and then mask the aural performance with Muzak although viewers can still see the singers doing the cover. However, when there's a whole bunch of foreign music played on a program, then Jme basically can't allow the episode to be shown. This has happened once before with "Uta Con" when the theme for that episode was Disney music.

This time, it's the Beatles. Not that I'm a huge fan of the Fab Four although there are several songs that I do like by Paul, John, Ringo and George, but it still gets rather annoying to have something that my family looks forward weekly get cancelled due to legal and money stuff (and personally, I did want to see Hiromi Iwasaki and Junko Yagami give their covers). Therefore, just off the top of my head, I've decided to put up some covers of the Beatles discography by Japanese singers...simply for the heck of it.

B'z -- Let It Be

Masayoshi Yamazaki -- All My Loving (and he's performing this in front of Sir Paul himself!)

Yellow Magic Orchestra -- Day Tripper

Mone Kamishiraishi -- Yesterday

Akiko Kanazawa -- Yellow Submarine Ondo（イエロー・サブマリン音頭）

The Beatles -- All You Need Is Love

 

I've been referring to The Beatles on various articles within KKP basically since I started this whole thing in 2012, but it wasn't actually until late in 2020 that I finally featured a song by The Fab Four here via Reminiscings of Youth. That was for "Strawberry Fields Forever", an alternately sweet and dark concoction by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

However, my second Beatles ROY article is on "All You Need Is Love", a single by the band that was released in July 1967 and I can safely say that it is probably the very first Beatles song that I remember hearing as a toddler. There is something about that refrain "...all you need is love..." that caught onto the synapses in my tiny brain (trivia tip: it hasn't changed much in size since then) and has held on for the past 50+ years.

I probably did hear it all over the radio but I can say with certainty that I saw it performed on that psychedelic animated film starring John, Paul, George and Ringo, "Yellow Submarine". It's too bad that I can't find that scene on YouTube. As I said that refrain has stuck with me for decades, but over the years, I've also learned to appreciate how it wasn't just The Beatles but also the backing of an orchestra behind this British pop/rock band that helped make "All You Need Is Love" work and all of the shoutouts to various other songs including the French national anthem, "In The Mood" and even the earlier Beatles' hit "She Loves You". And then, I read which people were providing the backup vocals. And wouldn't one say that this is the ultimate singalong song?

Considering all of the No. 1's around the world's music charts that "All You Need Is Love" would garner, I guess that it was good luck that a kid who wasn't even two years old got to know this song so early.

In any case, what was getting released in July 1967? Although I picked them out of Showa Pops for that month, a couple of them have differing release months according to J-Wiki although you can check those out in their individual articles.

The Carnabeats -- Sukisa Sukisa Sukisa （好きさ好きさ好きさ）

The Tigers -- Seaside Bound （シーサイド・バウンド）

Yujiro Ishihara -- Shiawase wa Koko ni（倖せはここに）

The Beatles -- Strawberry Fields Forever

 

I distinctly remember where I was forty years ago when I learned about the assassination of John Lennon on December 8th 1980. Of course, there was no SNS or Internet back then, so I actually didn't learn about the tragic death for several hours after he'd been shot in New York City at around 5 pm on the 8th and then later died in hospital at around 11 pm that night. 

As I said, I remember quite well where I was and that was just ambling into the living room in my pajamas after getting out of bed on the morning of December 9th and my mother told me as I was approaching the table for breakfast, "John Lennon is dead". With a combination of sunrise stupor and truly not realizing the import of the statement since I wasn't a humongous Beatles fan, I kinda went "Wut?" She repeated the sentence again and at the time, though I knew about the Fab Four and some of their songs (one of my earliest memories was watching "Yellow Submarine" on CBS years previously), I hadn't been totally cognizant of who the members were, although the name John Lennon did register somewhat in my head. But then, I realized that the Toronto radio station CKEY, which was our go-to station at the time, was playing a lot of Beatles songs that day from our pink SONY.

I don't remember the television news coverage but I do have a memory of one newspaper front page with a photo of a devastated Yoko Ono, almost looking like she was about to collapse. And there were the vigils near The Dakota apartments where Lennon and Ono had resided.

Did I become a diehard Beatles fan or even a Lennon fan because of what had happened? No, not really. At most, I can say that I am a casual fan of the Beatles and I like some of what Lennon had created. "Imagine" is actually not my favourite song by him. If I were to pick one, it would be either "Starting Over" or "Nobody Told Me". However, after he died, I became much more aware of what the Beatles meant to people all around the planet and I even decided to listen to part of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" during my lunch break at junior high school one day. Eventually, I started appreciating songs back in their early days and even during their later, more psychedelic years as the 1980s progressed .

I've been hearing the news that Ringo Starr has been asking radio stations to play "Strawberry Fields Forever" at least once today in commemoration of Lennon's passing. I'm obviously not a radio station but I've known about the song for years and to be perfectly honest, it's the first time that I've heard the February 1967 song by Lennon in its entirety for the first time in a very long time. Basically, the opening verses of "Strawberry Fields Forever" have stuck in my head, but listening to the whole thing and watching the video as shown at the top of the article, this must have been a real mind-bender for folks who first heard this in the late 1960s. For me, of course, instead of this being a Reminiscings of Youth article, it's much more of a Barely Reminiscing of Toddlerhood article, but even hearing just "Strawberry Fields Together" with all of the very unconventional progressions of the song in general, the usage of the horns and strings, the feelings of innocence and darkness within its four-minutes-and-change, and that way-out outro, I can believe it when fans and music critics alike state that McCartney, Lennon, Harrison and Starr really impacted the way pop music was created and presented.

So, when "Strawberry Fields Forever" made its debut in February 1967, what was also coming out in Japan? I could only find two songs that have already been covered in KKP.

1. Hiroshi Mizuhara -- Kimi Koso Waga Inochi (君こそわが命)

2. Ken Takakura -- Kiri no Hatoba（霧の波止場）

And here is John Lennon's "Nobody Told Me".

Akiko Kanazawa -- Yellow Submarine Ondo（イエロー・サブマリン音頭）

I actually remember watching The Beatles' animated feature "Yellow Submarine" on CBS when I was a kid. For someone who was accustomed to watching cute animals via Disney and Warner Brothers, viewing this one had me creeped out and mesmerized at the same time. I think the squint that I had watching "Yellow Submarine" explains why my eyes look the way they do now.

Well, as I mentioned last night for that Mini-Moni article, "Uta Kon"（うたコン）a couple of nights ago had the mixed theme of spring songs and Beatles classics. Of course, there were the straight renditions but then there was this most unusual kayo-fied version of "Yellow Submarine" titled "Yellow Submarine Ondo" (Yellow Submarine Japanese Folk Song) performed by minyo singer Akiko Kanazawa（金沢明子）.

Released originally as Kanazawa's 16th single from November 1982, this Japanese take on one of The Beatles' most recognizable hits sounds as if The Fab Four had truly fallen in love with life in Japan and decided to stay. Some years later, Paul and John decide to whip up a tune for the local summer festival.

Actually, though, the idea to make an ondo out of "Yellow Submarine" came from a director by the name of Shinji Kawahara（川原伸司）who helped in the production of songs including "Aoi Sangosho"（青い珊瑚礁）by Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）and Yosui Inoue's（井上陽水）"Shonen Jidai"（少年時代）. He had been thinking about converting a Beatles song into a traditional folk tune, and after a few stumbles, he met up with singer-songwriter Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）who decided to help out. Initially, it had been thought that comedienne Kuniko Yamada（山田邦子）would be the one to record it, but Ohtaki balked at that, stating that if Yamada went behind the mike, the song wouldn't be taken seriously enough (although I think, regardless, it does come off as a pretty comical tune...parts of it sound like Krazy Kats).

It was decided then that singer Kanazawa, who hails from my former home of Ichikawa in Chiba Prefecture, would be the one to record this new version of "Yellow Submarine" with Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）providing the Japanese lyrics. Of course, the finished product still has the basic familiar melody by McCartney and Lennon, but according to the J-Wiki article on "Yellow Submarine Ondo", some inspiration from Charles A. Zimmerman's "Anchors Aweigh" and "Gunkan Koushin Kyoku" （軍艦行進曲...Warship March）by Tokichi Setoguchi（瀬戸口藤吉）was added. As well, the first few bars of "Yellow Submarine Ondo" also has the opening notes for "I Want to Hold Your Hand". To wrap up the trivia section, the guys who can be heard caterwauling in the back are Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）, Ginji Ito（伊藤銀次）, Kawahara, Ohtaki, and Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）.

This special ondo didn't too shabbily on the charts by coming in at No. 64. There were some concerns about it, though, since the remaining Beatles and/or their representatives beginning from the 1980s  were getting strict with the copyrights for their creations so that any covers of their past songs including any parodies with changed lyrics were no longer accepted. However, fortunately enough, McCartney himself listened to "Yellow Submarine Ondo" and gave his blessings.

For interest's sake, here is the famous "Anchors Aweigh", the fight song for the United States Naval Academy and march for the US Navy itself. Below is "Gunkan Koushin Kyoku" which was the official march for the Japanese Imperial Navy and then the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force.