The Works of Fumiko Okada（岡田富美子）

 

I never expected to see her name up on television but recently I saw that veteran lyricist Fumiko Okada had received some sort of award for her decades of work via an NHK report. From that, I thought that it would be time to post a Creator article regarding her.

But first a bit of background from her J-Wiki file, Okada hails from Hiroshima Prefecture. When she gradated from university, her parents pressed her to get a job at television broadcaster TBS working as a timekeeper for music programs. However, knowing herself as someone who never really enjoyed the rigors of an average job or career, she was pretty miserable. Also, she developed insomnia but one night, she gained the urge to write poetry and found out that the words flowed out of her surprisingly easily. Then one day, after amassing her poems into a collection and having some faint interest in becoming a songwriter, she was noticed by the manager of a famous arranger at work. Noting how unenthused young Okada looked, he asked her what she really wanted to do for which she replied "I want to become a lyricist". A mere few days later, that manager suggested Okada to a record company as a rookie lyricist. At least, one song with her lyrics got into a music festival and that apparently was all she needed to write...literally. She started getting requests for her words, something that has been continuing for her for close to 55 years.

(1972) Young 101 -- Kaiju no Ballad（怪獣のバラード）

In a desert where the blood-red sun set

A great big monster lived there in peace

One morning when he woke up, he heard a bell from a caravan off in the distance

He suddenly screamed out

I wanna see the ocean! I wanna love people! Monsters have hearts, too, you know!

Let's leave the desert behind and head to where love and the ocean reside

Although I didn't note this in the original KKP article for "Kaiju no Ballad", this was apparently Okada's first work as a professional lyricist. 

(1981) Ruiko Kurahashi -- Glass no Yesterday （ガラスのYesterday)

Yesterday

I danced all night with you

Yesterday, although we can never meet again

We said "See you later" and parted

You're the one who embraced me while saying

I can't love you on mere kindness

Whenever Okada's name is mentioned, I will always first remember Fashion Music specialist Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子）songs since the lyricist provided a number of her works to her. 

(1986) Shibugakitai -- Sushi Kui ne! （スシ食いねェ！）

This is the No. 1 sushi restaurant in Japan

Gotta eat sushi! Gotta eat sushi! Gotta eat sushi!

Green tea! Green tea! Green tea! Pickled ginger! Picked ginger! Pickled ginger!

In contrast with the elegance of Kurahashi's signature song, the raucous "Sushi kui ne!" comes under the catchphrase of "Okada wrote this one?!". She must love her sushi.

(1987) Kiyomi Suzuki with Rats & Star -- Lonely Chaplin (ロンリー・チャプリン）

Lonely Chaplin

Time passes...and even if you fade away

I will always wait for you

Smile like the little boy you are

You want to come home

Into my arms, don't you?

As long as your dreams are unfulfilled

Oh, do what you wanna do again

Oh, do what you wanna do again

Man, didn't know that Chaplin was that lucky a guy!

(1979) Asami Kado -- Fascination (ファッシネイション）

I love you. Stop it because you make me feel so helpless

Stop it if you're only going to kiss me once

I love you. I got myself all psyched up

I hate you stalling for time

Nothing like pouty coquettishness to spice up a relationship!

Sing Out/Young 101 -- Namida wo Koete（涙をこえて）

 

I heard this song on an episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）, I believe, several weeks ago. When I did, I figured that this must have come from the 1960s or early 1970s since it involved pretty much every guest to sing in a Sunshine Pop style.

Indeed, the song was "Namida wo Koete" (Rising Above the Tears) and it was originally sung by the choral band Sing Out（シング・アウト）. Almost a couple of years ago, I wrote about a similar group called Young 101 which basically acted as the in-house singers for the NHK music show "Stage 101"（ステージ101）. Well, apparently, Sing Out was the 12-person predecessor for Young 101 which had their time between 1969 and 1971. As was the case with Young 101, certain members of Sing Out would go their own very successful solo ways such as singer Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ）, songwriter and producer Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）and composer Yasuo Higuchi（樋口康雄）.

"Namida wo Koete" was the first of three singles released by Sing Out in November 1969. Written by Koji Kaze（かぜ耕士）and composed by Hachidai Nakamura（中村八大）, it's a very lively, upbeat and inspiring song that had me thinking The New Christy Minstrels, an American group that used to get onto AM radio a whole lot back when I was a moppet.

As for the song, it peaked at No. 53 on Oricon. Not surprisingly, Young 101 would provide their own cover of "Namida wo Koete" on their April 1971 album "Stage 101".

Young 101 -- Kaiju no Ballad（怪獣のバラード）

 

Earlier today, I wrote on Fuyumi Sakamoto's（坂本冬美）newest single, "Saikai Sakaba"（再会酒場）, and did a little mention of the expanded version of "Uta Con"（うたコン）tonight while wondering what the reason behind the special 70-minute show. Well, it turned out that a chunk of the broadcast was dedicated to commemorating the originating network NHK's 70th anniversary this year, and not surprisingly, the Kohaku Utagassen's first televised broadcast back at the end of 1953.

I've seen my fair share of music shows on NHK and the other commercial networks including "Uta Con" but there are many that I never got to see, and one of them which did get featured during the retrospective was "Stage 101"（ステージ101）on the national broadcaster. Although obviously, there were weekly music shows that came onto NHK dating back to the 1950s, "Stage 101", which lasted between 1970 and 1974, was touted as the first music show directly aimed at the younger audience. It was titled that way because the show took place at the network's CT-101 studio in Shibuya which had once boasted the largest such space in East Asia.

"Stage 101" had a changing group of hosts which included Tetsuko Kuroyanagi（黒柳徹子）, a former NHK announcer herself who would gain far more fame later as the host of TBS music ranking show "The Best 10"（ザ・ベストテン）. Plus, it had a group of dancing and singing men and women known as Young 101（ヤング101）who kinda looked like a massive group of The Partridge Family. Strangely enough, Young 101 had future soloists Hiromi Ohta（太田裕美）, Akira Kushida（串田アキラ）and Hiroko Taniyama（谷山浩子）as members.

A number of original songs came from "Stage 101", one of them being "Kaiju no Ballad" (Ballad of the Magic Dragon) which was written by Fumiko Okada（岡田富美子）and composed by Osamu Shouji（東海林修）as this Sunshine Pop feel-good tune which probably became a mainstay for high school glee clubs everywhere in Japan. The lyrics have a caravan of happy people inviting a dragon to not just lie in the desert but to join them for a trip to the wondrous ocean. The dragon apparently accepts. "Kaiju no Ballad" was released as a single in September 1972.

To finish off, "Stage 101" was replaced by "Let's Go Young"（レッツゴーヤング）the following month, another music show for the younger generation which had a much longer run.