Crazy Cats -- Hondara Koushinkyoku（ホンダラ行進曲）

 

The above image by Doryana02 is about the closest that I could get to a crazy cat through Wikimedia Commons. To be honest, I think the little one is quite cute and adorable actually and approaching something approaching a feline haute couture.

But it's all to introduce the comical band Crazy Cats（クレイジーキャッツ）with another one of their zany songs from the 1960s. The band, which included Hitoshi Ueki（植木等）, Hajime Hana（ハナ肇）and Kei Tani（谷啓）, was known for their wild n' crazy antics while dancing and singing about nothing in general...which was the point. They reveled in being portrayed as the most irresponsible representatives of Japanese society (while still wearing suits, mind you) through movies and novelty songs such as "Musekinin Ichidai Otoko"（無責任一代男）.

Another one is "Hondara Koushinkyoku" (The "Well, Then..." March) which was released as Crazy Cats' 5th single in April 1963. Created by the same duo behind "Musekinin Ichidai Otoko", lyricist (and future governor of Tokyo) Yukio Oshima（青島幸男）and composer Hiroaki Hagiwara（萩原哲晶）, it's another goofball tune set to some raucous orchestral marching music as the gang sings literal nonsense for the most part with the overall message being that any particular action will ultimately be meaningless so why even bother taking it? Aoshima did admit to a bit of nihilism in his approach. I'm not sure how popular the song got but I can imagine a bunch of drunken salarymen shaking off the tension at the local watering hole by singing this one.

Hitoshi Ueki -- Gomasuri Koushinkyoku（ゴマスリ行進曲）

 

Welcome to November 2023. It's definitely gotten seasonal here with the current temperature at 4 degrees Celsius. Hopefully, the chocolate bars and candies from last night's Halloween festivities have been tasty and won't end up as a coagulated semi-sentient mess in a year.

The video here is a decade old and comes from shin3mania TV and it shows someone grinding the sesame seeds which is known as gomasuri（ゴマすり）in Japanese. I've always done this whenever I go out to dine at any tonkatsu restaurant, and I do appreciate my ground sesame seeds on the tonkatsu itself or in the gloppy sauce. 

Gomasuri is also a slang term to mean ass-kissing or toadying up to the boss. I always saw that sort of character in a J-comedy set in the corporate world. They would be trying to curry favour with the president or section chief while seeing the main character as a meddling presence in the way up to the top.

My intention to start off the penultimate month of the year was to find something from my birth year of 1965 and I encountered this song by the late entertainer Hitoshi Ueki（植木等）. His most famous persona (although the real person was very far from this personality type) was that of the unrepentantly lazy and irresponsible company worker as displayed through his trademark tune of "Suudara Bushi" (スーダラ節）from 1961.

The 1965 song, "Gomasuri Koushinkyoku" (The Sycophant March) is another Ueki jaunty kayo kyoku of sinful personality where it's good to be as obsequious as possible. Gotta polish those apples and brown those noses. The usual trio arrived to take care of this song with Ueki behind the mike while Hiroaki Hagiwara（萩原哲晶）came up with the snappy melody for the orchestra and Yukio Aoshima（青島幸男）was behind the lyrics. 

Not surprisingly, there was a movie for Ueki with "Gomasuri Koushinkyoku" as the theme song: "Nippon Ichi no Gomasuri Otoko"（日本一のゴマすり男...Japan's No. 1 Sycophant） which hit the theatres in May 1965. One of the cast members was Mie Hama（浜美枝）who would later show up in the James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice" a couple of years later. That must have been quite the change from Ueki to Connery. In any case, you can see Ueki and Crazy Cats performing the song below and they're even doing the gesture for gomasuri.

(Unfortunately the video has been taken down.)

Yukio Aoshima -- Onna Nante（女なんて）

 

Last summer for the first time, I actually had the late entertainer and former Tokyo governor Yukio Aoshima（青島幸男）up on the byline of a KKP article instead of having him in his usual place in Labels as a songwriter. Ironically enough considering the season, it was for a Christmas song that he released in the year 2000.

Now, it's his second time on the byline and this time around, we're going way back into his career in the early 1960s when he released this December 1963 single titled "Onna Nante" (Aw, Women). As soon as I saw that title, I kinda figured that it was going to be a comical kayo (which was Aoshima's specialty) about a guy's frustration with women in a "You can't live with them, you can't live without them" way. Sure enough, he sings his own lyrics of his disdain of women and all of their bad points only to say in the last line that he'll still see if he can get a date with any of them.

Hiroaki Hagiwara（萩原哲晶）composed "Onna Nante" in this twangy way which suggests that the complainer in the song lives somewhere out in the rural areas or he's a country boy at heart in the big city. There's something also very enka in the sharply slicing arrangement, but the comical aspects for the song make me think of it more as a general kayo kyoku. Not surprisingly, Aoshima sings it in the manner of a worldly fellow, if his world extends as far as the walls of his favourite watering hole.

Yukio Aoshima -- Yashi no Kokage no Christmas（ヤシの木陰のクリスマス）

 

Heck of a time for me to put up this thumbnail but I'm just continuing from my article concerning Arisa Mizuki's（観月ありさ）"Kotoshi Ichiban Kaze no Tsuyoi Gogo"（今年いちばん風の強い午後）, a summer-based Xmas tune that was the first track covered on Scott's latest "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcast back on July 26th.

The second song under Scott's purview at a little after the 9-minute mark on the podcast was Yukio Aoshima's（青島幸男）"Yashi no Kokage no Christmas" (Christmas Under A Coconut Tree). After years of having the late entertainer and former governor of Tokyo mentioned on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" as a songwriter for kayo including Hitoshi Ueki's（植木等）hit "Suudara Bushi" (スーダラ節）, I'm surprised that up to now, I hadn't had him included on the title line. Well, that changes today.

Several months after his time as the chief administrator of one of the world's largest metropolises, Aoshima released the tropical "Yashi no Kokage no Christmas" in November 2000. Written and composed by him, the story talks of a young child in Hawaii who wonders whether Santa Claus would be willing to stop by and give presents although his home is hardly a winter wonderland. Listening to this adorably ukelele-powered Xmas tune, I was also surprised that the song was actually produced in the 21st century because its arrangement sounds like it was thrown over right from his heyday in the 1960s. Incidentally, the above video has the Japanese version of the song while the one on Scott's podcast is the English version.

Yuzo Kayama -- Nihon Ichi no Wakadaisho（日本一の若大将）

 

Although I didn't get to see the actual segment on NHK News earlier today, I did see the blurb stating that actor/singer Yuzo Kayama（加山雄三）would be retiring from touring. I'm pretty sure that his fans are sorry and disappointed but considering his age of 85, I think that they would also be understanding if he decided to finish his time with concerts and be grateful for the decades of joy that he has given them.

So, today I wanted to start off this batch of KKP articles with his third single "Nihon Ichi no Wakadaisho" (Japan's No. 1 Young Ace) released in July 1962, which also happens to be the theme song for the movie of the same name. In fact, "Nihon Ichi no Wakadaisho" is the third in the long-running "Wakadaisho" film franchise starring Kayama. Written by the late entertainer and future Tokyo governor Yukio Aoshima（青島幸男）and composed by veteran composer Hachidai Nakamura（中村八大）, it seems to be a combination of a swinging Rat Pack-friendly jazz boogie and something that I once heard from Elvis Presley. It did have me thinking about snapping my fingers.

Naturally, Kayama was always the Young Man on Campus in each of these "Wakadaisho" movies, and from looking via the link at the Wikipedia list of them that's in the previous paragraph above, the star was always focusing on one particular sport. With "Nihon Ichi no Wakadaisho", it was actually two of them with the main focus being on marathon running and then water skiing. But I'm sure that the good lad also had his eyes on the ladies.

There is also my article on the theme for the very first in the "Wakadaisho" series, "Daigaku no Wakadaisho"（大学の若大将）.

s**t kingz -- Suudara Bushi feat. BUSINESS FISH（スーダラ節）

 

A few months before the pandemic rushed in and destroyed the Routine that my anime buddy and I had every couple of Sundays, the two of us had been watching a Fall 2019 anime called "Africa no Salaryman"（アフリカのサラリーマン...African Office Worker）, a slice-of-life show featuring the indigenous animals of that continent involved as cogs in the corporate machine. I wasn't aware that there had been something similar earlier in the year called "Business Fish" adapted from a web comic series which had a more ichthyic emphasis.

Never saw an episode of "Business Fish" which isn't only the title but also the name of the main character, but I was drawn to what was probably the special ending theme for the final episode. After all, "Sudara Bushi" (The Suudara Song) is one of the classic kayo originally done back in 1961 by the late Hitoshi Ueki（植木等）of comical band Crazy Cats, and it had a resurgence in popularity one year in the 1990s to the extent that Ueki showed up on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen.

Well, "Sudara Bushi" got a rap/hip-hop update for "Business Fish" courtesy of XLII and Dotama as that special ending theme with Ueki still helping out and the snappy choreography by four-man group s**t kingz. I wrote about the guys several months ago because of their "Egao!"（えがお！）and their dancing keeps me coming back for more.

But it wasn't enough for Business Fish to get all of the dancing glory. s**t kingz themselves also got to do the live-action version of the dance in their own video, and it is quite glorious to see them bust a move while dressed in those 60s sober-sided suits and hairdos.

As for the original ending theme and credits, the song is "Don't Stop Moving" by Sarah Kelly.

Crazy Cats -- Musekinin Ichidai Otoko（無責任一代男）

The last time I wrote about the comical band Hajime Hana & Crazy Cats（ハナ肇とクレージーキャッツ）, it was for a B-side called "Hai Sore Made yo"（ハイそれまでヨ）which also made its way into one of their movies "Nippon Musekinin Jidai"（ニッポン無責任時代...Japan's Irresponsible Generation） which had come out in 1962. The trailer above was interesting to view since Cats vocalist Hitoshi Ueki（植木等）who had the lead role of Hitoshi Taira（平均）looked like a rather nerdy type but with a personality that would more match that of a juvenile delinquent.

Well, that B-side was on the other side of the main song, the theme for the movie itself "Musekinin Ichidai Otoko" (Irresponsible Man of His Generation) also sung by Ueki. Created by the same duo behind "Hai Sore Made yo", lyricist Yukio Oshima（青島幸男）and composer Hiroaki Hagiwara（萩原哲晶）, it's a Crazy Cats comical march with Ueki no doubt touting the slacker life. Incidentally, this was also the Cats' 3rd single, and both it and the movie were big hits.

Despite his unrepentant lackadaisical character from the movie, Ueki cut a dapper silver fox figure on the stage, didn't he?  As I mentioned above, the song was a big hit for Crazy Cats and according to a biography on Ueki by author Juugatsu Toi（戸井十月）, it made quite an impact on the postwar baby boomer men of that time, although I think that considering what happened to Japan during and afterwards, not a lot of those guys became Hitoshi Taira. Also from the J-Wiki article on the song, according to lyricist and future Tokyo governor Aoshima, "Musekinin Ichidai Otoko" had a profound effect on comics such as Tamori（タモリ）and Beat Takeshi（ビートたけし）with the latter's view of the world turned upside down. The song would also make an appearance in the Cats' 2nd movie, "Nippon Musekinin Yaro"（ニッポン無責任野郎...Japan's Irresponsible S.O.B.） which was released in December 1962, just 5 months following the first movie.

The Oricon charts hadn't existed at that time, but if they had, I'm pretty certain that the song would have hit the top spot.

Crazy Cats -- Hai Sore Made yo（ハイそれまでヨ）

Last week on NHK's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, the theme was comical kayo which definitely meant that the works of the comical band Hajime Hana & Crazy Cats（ハナ肇とクレージーキャッツ）would be included in the festivities. Sure enough, "Hai Sore Made yo" (Yeah, Until Then) was featured.

I\d never heard of this song until last Tuesday. For me, Crazy Cats, and notably the late Hitoshi Ueki（植木等）, meant "Suudara Bushi" (スーダラ節）from 1961. At the time, Ueki, through that 1961 hit and the Crazy Cats movies, was self-styling himself as Japan's most feckless man, and this apparently continued in a 1962 entry titled "Nippon Musekinin Jidai"（ニッポン無責任時代...Japan's Irresponsible Generation）. The main theme was "Musekinin Ichidai Otoko"（無責任一代男...Irresponsible Man of His Generation）which did come out as the Cats' 3rd single in July 1962.

The B-side was "Hai Sore Made yo" which is an interesting comical tune. First off, it has Mr. Irresponsible himself launch into a heart-on-his-sleeve Mood Kayo as his voice dips into a heartthrob baritone. But then, the usual Ueki nasal twang boomerangs back as his character seems to loudly lament the latest situation he has put himself in, thanks to his shenanigans. The music also returns to brash and brassy.

I'm not sure whether the above video is an actual scene from "Nippon Musekinin Jidai" but Ueki really puts in the performance as he switches from the usual Mood Kayo stroll of introspection to crazed comical and twisty. And may I say that is the largest performance space in an izakaya that I've ever seen.

Hiroaki Hagiwara（萩原哲晶）came up with the song while future Tokyo Governor and then-comedian Yukio Oshima（青島幸男）was the lyricist.

Hitoshi Ueki -- Damatte Ore ni Tsuite Koi（だまって俺について来い）

Well, today wasn't exactly the greatest day in terms of my surrounding environment. There was a small leak in the unit above that was affecting my unit, and there was a misunderstanding in terms of logistics earlier for the plumber's arrival, so I got to see my usually cheerful superintendent go ballistic on the property manager (but the plumber came an hour ago and now everything is copacetic). Then, around the dinner hour, the power went out due to the high winds outside affecting power lines, but that was only an hour's worth of inconvenience.

I seem rather sanguine, don't I? Look, after all the sturm und drang of my youth and younger years, I've come to the conclusion that life is now too short (especially since passing 50 a few years ago) to go nuts on something that is not really worth getting all worked up about. Plus, taking it out on folks who are trying to help only leads to massive guilt afterwards, believe me.

Come to think of it, the late entertainer Hitoshi Ueki（植木等）of the comical band Crazy Cats（クレージーキャッツ）probably had something akin to the right idea. Perhaps more accurately put, it was his onscreen persona of the most feckless salaryman who had the right idea since I've heard that the real Ueki was a fairly serious and dour fellow.

Last night on "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, enka prince Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）did a cover of Ueki's November 1964 single "Damatte Ore ni Tsuite Koi" (Shut Up and Follow Me). Never having heard this lively kayo that seems to fit Ueki's Mr. Irresponsible to a well-crossed "T", I looked it up on YouTube and found the original as you can see above.

With some brassy brass and a hearty cackle that would even make The Joker stand up and applaud, Ueki is the guy you want at your side while singing this song. If you haven't quite reached that sanguine point in your life, he's the fellow who will kick you out of your blues and pull you over to a bar for some drinks and lively conversation.

Written by Yukio Oshima（青島幸男）and composed by Hiroaki Hagiwara（萩原哲晶）, the same duo behind Ueki's most famous song, "Suudara Bushi"（スーダラ節）, "Damatte Ore ni Tsuite Koi" got the singer to perform it on the 1964 Kohaku Utagassen on NHK. Perhaps after all of the hoopla and stress surrounding the Tokyo Olympics that year and the need to show Japan's best side in the postwar era, a little bit of silly and whimsical was perhaps what the doctor ordered, thanks to Ueki.

Yukiji Asaoka -- Furimuite mo Kurenai (ふり向いてもくれない)

Yukiji Asaoka（朝丘雪路）was a face that I'd seen from time to time on the telly back in my Japan days. I didn't know her by name but she was always a presence on some talk show or variety program although she is also listed as an actress and a singer. She also happens to be the wife of a respected veteran actor Masahiko Tsugawa（津川雅彦）.

Born in 1935 in Tokyo as Yukie Kato（加藤雪会）, she went through the education of becoming a member of the Takarazuka Revue in the Moon Troupe before serving in the actual revue for 3 years and then retiring in 1955. Following that, she entered the world of TV and movie acting plus some duties appearing on various shows such as "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）for about a year from 1974 and "11PM" for 16 years (1966-1982).

As a singer, Asaoka released 9 singles between 1964 and 1975 including this one, her 2nd, from 1965. "Furimuite mo Kurenai" (He Won't Even Turn Around), a typically bluesy Mood Kayo about a woman pining for a man who can't or won't notice her. I can easily smell the alcohol, cigarette smoke and sadness wafting in from the bar. What sells the song to me is Asaoka's silky vocals that cleanly cut through all that atmosphere without sounding as if she knocked back a couple of bottles of Suntory a night. Strangely enough, the lyricist for "Furimuite mo Kurenai" is the late Yukio Aoshima（青島幸男）, the comedian and future governor of Tokyo. Jinzo Kosugi（小杉仁三）took care of the music.

J-Wiki listed this song as one of the hits for 1965 in the pre-Oricon age so I'm not sure how it did in terms of sales. And there are a couple of other singles which seem to have gotten more of a reputation since they have their own entries, but as an introduction to Asaoka's singing career, "Furimuite mo Kurenai" meets the bar (no pun intended) nicely. I'll have to take a look at those other songs since Asaoka had also had a long stint (10 appearances from 1957 to 1971) on the Kohaku Utagassen including one appearance singing this particular song on the 1966 show.

Hitoshi Ueki -- Suudara Bushi (スーダラ節）

One year during the 90s, there was an old entertainer who just seemed to take over the stage and screen again, years after his heyday in the 50s and 60s. Hitoshi Ueki（植木等）of The Crazy Cats was back on top with his old chestnut, "Suudara Bushi"(The Suudara Song). It didn't spark a mass revival of 60s Japanese comic jazz bands on the same level as lounge and jive did back in North America at around the same time, but the Japanese seemed to embrace Ueki like a beloved long-lost uncle.

The Crazy Cats were originally known as The Cuban Cats when they first formed in 1955. Doing the army base circuit, supposedly one soldier, after seeing one of the members smash another bandmate's head with a sink, apparently said, "You, crazy!". And the change in name was made. The most famous members of the band were the leader and drummer Hajime Hana（ハナ肇）, trombonist Kei Tani（谷啓） and guitarist/vocal Hitoshi Ueki....all of whom left this mortal coil in the last 20 years.

Fellow comedian and one-time Tokyo Governor Yukio Aoshima（青島幸男）wrote the lyrics while Hiroaki Hagiwara（萩原哲晶）took care of the melody. "Suudara Bushi" has the underlying element of raucous old-time enka/kayo kyoku while bits of dissonance come in as the comedy. Hagiwara composed the song in the aims of matching Ueki's amiable but feckless character on stage, and even lifted, with Ueki's approval, the singer's favourite nonsensical phrase of "Sui, sui, suuuuuidararatta..."to incorporate into the main chorus of the song.

Aoshima's lyrics were ironic, to say the least. In a country of steady hard-working tortoises in the early 1960s, Ueki portrayed himself musically as the irresponsible procrastinating hare. With the face of a sly fox, he was the lazy salaryman who loved his mug of beer and betting on the horses far more than work. For him, vice over virtue was his mantra. One repeated line was the gleeful "Yeah, I know, I know....but I just can't help myself!"

Even more ironic was that Ueki the man was an extremely serious fellow outside of work. As his father had predicted, "Suudara Bushi" was a huge hit, selling 800,000 records in the pre-Oricon days. Even so, on hearing about the massive success of the song, Ueki forlornly remarked, "For this song to become a hit is pretty sad." He was also quoted as saying, "This as a hit makes me wonder if the Japan I know and the real Japan are two different things." Not a happy camper, was he? In any case, he was the consummate professional on stage and screen. Despite his misgivings about the Frankenstein he had wrought, he and the rest of the Crazy Cats made a series of movies based on the song's character in what has been called the "Irresponsible" series. And every time he came out to perform the song, that leering grin of the feckless man always beamed...

March 27, 2021: The song's legacy continues here.

Kyu Sakamoto/Re:Japan/Ulfuls -- Ashita ga aru sa (明日があるさ）

A couple of years after Kyu Sakamoto （坂本九）had the biggest hit of his career, "Ue wo Muite Arukou", （上を向いて歩こう）i.e. the Sukiyaki song, he released this upbeat number written and composed by Yukio Aoshima (青島幸男）and Hachidai Nakamura（中村八大） (who had also composed "Sukiyaki"). Yukio Aoshima was not only a comedian and TV personality, but he eventually became the 13th governor of Tokyo from 1995-1999. Instead of the somewhat melancholy original lyrics in "Sukiyaki", "Ashita ga aru sa" (There's Always Tomorrow) is optimistic through and through. It's about a male student who keeps trying to make the first move on the object of his affections but just can't execute.

Since it would be a few years before Oricon would start its ranking system, J-Wiki doesn't supply any numbers but the song did sell over 800,000 copies.

In 2001, the song got a second life when rock group Ulfuls and a one-off unit consisting of 11 core members of the Yoshimoto Kogyo（吉本興業）Agency (which represents Kansai-based comedians) known as Re: Japan gave their own respective cover versions of Sakamoto's hit. For Re: Japan, their "Ashita ga aru sa" debuted at No. 5 on Oricon and spent 2 weeks in the top position. The video above has Re: Japan doing it old school with dinner jackets and a full studio orchestra. And it also comes with translation. The song itself was so successful that it begat a series of commercials for Georgia Coffee with the Yoshimoto comedians appearing as businessmen in a regular company, and that ended up becoming a Saturday night comedy serial that ran for about 12 weeks. One guess as to what the theme song was.

Ulfuls' version had come out almost a couple of months before Re: Japan's take on it. It debuted at the No. 5 spot before staying at its highest position of No. 4 for 5 straight weeks. The single also went double platinum.　Their video below has the boys helping out at a ryokan.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTUxMTU3MDE2.html

At the end of the year, the two units collaborated on a joint performance at the Kohaku Utagassen. (紅白歌合戦）。

I think at this time in Japan's history, a re-hash of this song wouldn't be a bad idea.