Izumi Yukimura -- Omoide no Waltz （想い出のワルツ）

Back in the days when my ears were merely beyond embryonic, songs like "Till I Waltz Again With You" were what I was first listening on the American side of things due to my Dad's collection of standards and what was still being played on US variety shows in the 1960s. Sid Proesen wrote and composed this old chestnut for Teresa Brewer in 1952, and it was a huge hit for her as it stayed on the charts for 22 weeks with 7 straight weeks at No. 1. If the account listed at Wikipedia is indeed true, then this could have been the song that sparked Elvis Presley into thinking "Hey, I might have a chance at this singing gig!"

Some months later across the Pacific, "Till I Waltz Again With You" also became a launching point for another veteran singer. In 1953, the song under the Japanese title of "Omoide no Waltz" (Waltz of My Memories) was the debut single for Izumi Yukimura（雪村いづみ）. At the tender age of 16, she gave this slightly softer and jazzier version of the song in a voice that surprised the heck out of me since it sounded so much more polished than what a teenager would sound like behind a mike. And the above version is in the original English.

I gave a very slim background on the Tokyo-born Yukimura for my first article involving her so allow me to give some more details. Her childhood was sad in that her father who had been so much into music as a member of a Hawaiian band and introduced her to modern music committed suicide when his daughter was only 9 years old. In addition, her mother's company went bankrupt which meant that Yukimura had to drop out of junior high school despite her good grades. Most likely, because of her father's influence, she showed a desire to become a singer and so worked for free at a dance hall in Shimbashi called Florida in 1952. Later that year in May, she got a role at the Nichigeki Music Hall in a play as a cigarette girl and then made her professional debut as a singer for which she received her accolades.

Her debut with "Omoide no Waltz" got high praise and it also sold an amazing 200,000 records. Yukimura became so famous so quickly that she was even called The Cinderella of the Century. She was then placed with the other popular starlets Hibari Misora and Chieni Eri（美空ひばり・江利チエミ）to be seen as the unit San-nin Musume（三人娘...The Three Daughters）. Some years later, she made her way to the United States where she appeared on the Dinah Shore Show on NBC and was the first Japanese entertainer to grace the pages of "LIFE" magazine.

The Japanese lyrics for Yukimura's hit cover version were provided by Seiichi Ida（井田誠一）. Yukimura also appeared on the Kohaku Utagassen a total of 10 times with her most recent appearance to date in 1989 when he paid tribute to her late friend, Misora. However, none of those times featured her debut song.

Eri Ohno -- Trad Man

For you anime fans, if the name Eri Ohno（大野えり）rings a certain bell, it is because she sang an epic torch ballad for one of the "Lupin III" movies in the 1990s called "Destiny Love".

However, by profession, she is a jazz singer and so I encountered this likable hep cat affair by her just into the 1980s called "Trad Man". I'm writing this article in broad daylight in the afternoon but this makes for a nice little evening listen over cocktails. I couldn't find out who took care of the music and lyrics, but "Trad Man" was a track on her 3rd album "eri" from October 1980, and apparently the song was used for a few years for Hitachi commercials in the early part of the decade. I never would have thought to put jazz and a multi-conglomerate together.

My interest in jazz has ebbed over the years but once in a while, I still appreciate that Big Band sound.

November 9th 2023: I guess at the time I hadn't discovered the JASRAC database. The lyricist is Casey Rankin while the composer is Toshiyuki Daitoku（大徳俊幸）.

Nozomi Inoue -- Refrain (ルフラン)

Earlier today, when I was writing about "Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute" (私たちになりたくて) sung by Miwako Fujitani（藤谷美和子）, I mentioned that the song was composed by Nozomi Inoue（井上望）. I had never heard of her before so when her link showed up for the J-Wiki article for the "Sailor Moon" ending theme, I decided to satisfy my curiosity.

As it turned out, although she is a music producer now, decades ago, Inoue had been a tarento and an aidoru for a pretty brief time between 1979 and 1982. Back in those days, individual aidoru were going in and out of the geinokai as if there had been an existential revolving door posted between the real world and the celebrity world, and I gather that the Fukuoka-born Inoue was just one of the many who tried. The entertainment company who had her contract, Dai-Ichi Pro, had never handled an aidoru client before and unfortunately the lack of experience by the company cost her a fame that really never came to be.

However, she was able to release 9 singles and 2 albums during those 3 years. Her debut was "Refrain" in May 1979, and was created by a couple of folks who certainly knew their way around a song, lyricist Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）and composer Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）. At first, I couldn't quite figure out what the title meant despite the katakana involved but after putting the title into Jisho.org, it was the French pronunciation for "refrain".

Looking at the video above, I thought Inoue's singing of "Refrain" was not too bad with the melody sounding like an aidoru tune from several more years earlier. I certainly liked some of that rat-a-tat-tat urgency of the beat in there. Yamagami's lyrics dealt with the usual aftermath of a romantic breakup as the heroine still can't seem to let her former beau go. 

(cover version)

Miwako Fujitani -- Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute (私たちになりたくて)

Maybe next year, Moon!

If I followed my usual pattern, I wouldn't be here but at Metro Convention Centre for the first full day of Fan Expo, Toronto's equivalent of Comic-Con down in San Diego. However, I'm sitting out this year since after going to the grand geek event for the previous 3 years, the Law of Diminishing Returns has finally smacked me on the head and told me to hold onto my money....even though it might be Stan Lee's final visit to Canada.

As with any Fan Expo, I am quite convinced that there will be the usual smattering of Sailor Moons, Mercurys, Marses, Jupiters, Venuses and even Chibi-Moons walking around and getting their photos taken over the next few days.

So on that note, I will give my tribute to the magical girl franchise to begin all magical girl franchises and provide another ending theme from the original 90s anime. Usually, my favourite songs from "Sailor Moon"（セーラームーン）have tended to be of the uptempo variety such as the iconic tango of "Moonlight Densetsu"（ムーンライト伝説）. I never really got into the ballads until I came across the ending theme for "Sailor Moon SuperS", "Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute" (Wanting to Become Us) by singer-actress Miwako Fujitani（藤谷美和子）.

I was surprised by a couple of things on hearing this ending theme. For one thing, I think it may have been the first ending credit sequence of the franchise to only feature Chibi-Moon (which would probably have had Usagi exploding the dumplings off her head in jealousy), and for the other, it was Fujitani who sang it.

Through my viewings of variety shows and suspense dramas on VHS tape, I had been totally accustomed to seeing the bubbly Fujitani chat about or act on those shows but then in 1994, she and a partner, songwriter Yoshiaki Ohuchi（大内義昭）, came up with one of the hits of the year, "Ai ga Umareta Hi"（愛が生まれた日）that got them onto the Kohaku Utagassen. Then, just a few months later in April 1995, Fujitani provided her 4th single for one of the crown jewels for TV Asahi, "Sailor Moon".

Listening to "Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute", the arrangement is all very nostalgically 90s and pleasing to the ear. I think Fujitani's slightly fuzzy voice helps out in that regard. It's dreamy enough so that I could imagine Seiko-chan singing this one in concert. And I think it's imprinted myself on me as Chibi-Moon's theme.

The lyrics were provided by the one and only Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and the music was composed by former tarento and singer Nozomi Inoue（井上望）. The song managed to peak at No. 25. The song is also on Fujitani's 2nd album "Believers" from April 1995, and of course, it is available on any of the many albums containing the Sailor Moon songs.

Masafumi Akikawa -- Sen no Kaze ni Natte （千の風になって）

Realizing that every year has its share of celebrities leaving this mortal coil, I've just been finding that 2016 has been especially poignant in that category. A few days ago, actor/comedian Gene Wilder passed away from complications from Alzheimer's disease at the age of 83. According to his bio on Wikipedia, he had already been diagnosed some 3 years prior but kept the news secret "....so as not to sadden his younger fans."

I tweeted that I knew his roles in the 1970s as Dr. Frankenstein in "Young Frankenstein" and The Waco Kid in "Blazing Saddles" plus his role as accountant George Caldwell in the comedy-thriller "Silver Streak" (which was partially filmed in Toronto). However, Wilder, to me, will always be the first Willy Wonka in "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory". There was a certain amount of zaniness in his roles but seeing the actor for the first time in that movie, my first and eternal impression of him was as the sly and deceptively wise maestro with that subtle sense of humour. In that purple outfit, he would have made a pretty good Doctor Who, and I will always remember him singing the true theme for the movie "Pure Imagination".

Wilder's decision not to inform the public about his diagnosis was the final trigger for me to put up a song that has gone in the Japanese music history books as one of the most interesting entries to become the No. 1 song of the year in Oricon. For the annual Top 10 charts in 2006 and 2008, the top spots were occupied by the fresh-faced boy bands, KAT-TUN and Arashi respectively with their high-energy hits. But in between those two years in 2007, there was an anomaly of sorts when this unlikely throat-lumping classical ballad based on a 1932 poem created by an American became the top tune for that year.

That would be "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" (Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep) performed by tenor Masafumi Akikawa（秋川雅史）. I don't remember the circumstances which launched this song into history. What I do remember is how for several months "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" became this earworm with my impression being that folks stopped whatever they were doing to listen intently. Heck, even the comedians (and I) got into this thing to imitate Akikawa's dulcet tones and sing "Watashi no..." during the year of its fame.

Akikawa was born in 1967 in Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku where he started to learn the piano and violin at the age of 4. Years later, he studied at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo following which he trained for 4 years in Parma, Italy. In 1998, he earned the top spot in a canzone competition and then won Best Vocal Performance at the Japan Classical Music Competition before officially debuting as a tenor singer in 2001.

His most famous song which was his debut single was released in May 2006. Supposedly it had a humble climb to the top but all that changed when Akikawa was invited to perform on the Kohaku Utagassen that year. As of December 27 2006, "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" was at the No. 31 position on the Oricon weeklies. But with Takuya Kimura（木村拓哉）of SMAP reciting the translated version of the original poem and then the tenor wowing the audience, it took almost another month but it finally hit No. 1. It then proceeded to become the best-selling single for the first half of 2007 before taking the full crown for the whole year, selling more than a million copies.

I think one key to its amazing success is because of that original poem. For some reason, the original lyricist was listed as "fushou"（不詳）or "unknown" on the TV screen although according to Wikipedia, the authorship was finally confirmed in 1998 by newspaper columnist Abigail Van Buren (aka Dear Abby) with the accolades being given to American housewife and florist Mary Elizabeth Frye who had written "Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep" in 1932. The Japanese lyrics and music were provided by songwriter and photographer Man Arai（新井満）.

The poem's protagonist who has already gone to the spirit world encourages his still-mortal loved ones to not cry at his grave but accept that he has taken on new forms in the surrounding nature. Therefore, he isn't really dead at all. For many of the Japanese who just love a good cry when a character in a movie or TV drama dies beautifully, "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" was just the tonic. Akikawa's vocals, those words and the solemn but hopeful arrangement did the trick.

The popularity of "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" continued on into 2008 as it finished the year as the 65th-ranked single. And Akikawa appeared on the 2007 and 2008 Kohaku Utagassen to perform his magnum opus. Just recently, he showed up on an episode of NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）to sing the song which I hadn't heard in some years actually. But even in the latter part of his initial fame about a decade ago, he had started to perform that bit where he would hold one of his last notes for several seconds, and he did that again on the "Uta Kon" show.  Good ol' showmanship.

Anyways, I hope Wilder is now enjoying the company of his wife again, the late comedienne Gilda Radner.

Izumi Kato/Miho Morikawa -- September

Well, it is indeed September...never thought that we'd reach this point in the year so quickly, but I figure that is what middle age is all about.

I've been making this a personal tradition but since whenever September 1st rolls about, I always end up playing Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）classic "September", I decided to pay some tribute and look for some famous covers. Sure enough, I found a couple of them. One is by Izumi Kato（加藤いづみ）who gives a soft ballad version.

The other is basically Miho Morikawa（森川美穂）doing a straight-up karaoke cover against the original arrangement by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）.

And here is the original by Takeuchi. As for what the song has to do with former Fed director Ben Bernanke, you got me. For information on the song itself, you can check the original article.

Yuzo Kayama and The Yanchars -- Za . Lonelyhearts Oyaji Band (座・ロンリーハーツ親父バンド)

Ah, this song (and MV) never fails to lift my spirits.

From what I've been seeing, Yuzo Kayama (加山雄三) collaborates with many bands to come up with a number of his works since ever. There's The Launchers (ザ・ランチャーズ) and The Wild Ones (ザ・ワイルド・ワンズ) that go way back during the Group Sounds era and to when the Wakadaisho was actually wakai and awkward. Fast-forwarding to just last year in 2015, he was in the unit, THE King ALL STARS that looked like some hip rock group. But my favourite Kayama-collaboration has got to be with The Yanchars (ザ・ヤンチャーズ) back in 2010, during Kayama's 50th anniversary of being in showbiz.

Here are the members of The Yanchars: Kosetsu Minami (南こうせつ), Masashi Sada (さだまさし), Ryoko Moriyama (森山良子), Shinji Tanimura (谷村新司), and THE ALFEE. It's like a gathering of Kayama's pals! As for why I love this gathering of folk veterans - it's the music video. It had them looking cool with shades and strumming guitars, and adorable (especially Minami in that chullo) at the same time. Before seeing this clip, I never paid much attention to these guys as I don't listen to folk all that much, but they've definitely made their presence known to me by showing off their fun side.

Kayama and The Yanchars had released only one single, "Za . Lonelyhearts Oyaji Band", on 7th April 2010. It peaked at 36th place on the Oricon charts, which I think is quite decent for a group of aged singers. Witnessing the chemistry between the members and judging by how much I like this song, I really wished that they would have come up with more than just one piece. Oh well, I take what I can get.

Putting "Za. Lonelyhearts Oyaji Band" together were Sada, who was in charge of the lyrics, and Kayama as Kosaku Dan (弾厚作), who composed the music. What interested me in this tune was its amusing name that literally has "old man band" in it. Then what got me hooked was the bright and cheerful melody that is mostly folk-oriented, but then there's the screaming electric guitar that comes in from time to time that spices things up and gives it a rock vein. Hearing it with the voices of the folks behind the mic, the first thing I thought was, "ROOOAD TRIP!!!" - I can clearly envision a bunch of oldies going on a road trip in a beat up Volkswagen Kombi to relive the memories of bygone days. And speaking of memories, I'm guessing that's the main focus of "... Oyaji Band". Y'know, said oldies who were once in a garage band of sorts coming back together to play again for nostalgia's sake. Same old songs and it's as if nothing had changed over the years despite going through the pains of growing up. Come to think of it, perhaps the band's original name was "Za . Lonelyhearts Band" and the "Oyaji" bit was added years later. :)

tora3hime.ti-da.net/e3591961

Hmm, I wonder what "Yanchar" in The Yanchars stands for. If I'm not mistaken, Sada came up with the name. The only possibility I could think of is "Yanchar" meaning "Mischievous/Naughty" in Japanese... Actually that would be quite funny if it were really the case.