Eiji Miyoshi -- Ame（雨）

 

It was just back on Tuesday that I wrote about another song titled "Ame" (Rain) which was a 2009 ballad by singer-songwriter Jun Shibata（柴田淳）. Well, I noticed that there was one other "Ame" right close to it in the backlog, so I've given that one a go, too.

Actor-enka singer Eiji Miyoshi（三善英史）has been mentioned once before on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for a 1979 cover of "Shinjuku Jouwa"（新宿情話）. But right from the start of his career, he was suddenly given tons of accolades and popularity. First, if I can add a little more to his profile, Miyoshi was born Teruhiko Tamura（田村照彦）in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo as the son of a geisha and as a teen, he was scouted for his good looks and size.

However, much to everyone's further delight, Miyoshi also had a voice to match, and in May 1972, his debut single "Ame" was released. Given the tags of both enka singer and aidoru, the 17-year-old's light and dancing voice tripped the light fantastic over Kazuya Senke's（千家和也）melancholy lyrics of a woman waiting in the rain on Saturday afternoon, perpetually waiting for the man who will never arrive to court her for some reason. Keisuke Hama's（浜圭介）oboe or clarinet-led melody adds to the bittersweet situation with some lower strings taking the baton as well.

"Ame" did hit a nerve with listeners. The song managed to earn the Best New Artist prize at the Japan Record Awards that year, along with a Silver award at the Shinjuku Music Festival, and another Best New Artist prize at the Japan Kayo Awards. On the Oricon weeklies, "Ame" went as high as No. 2 and it could have hit the top spot but the eventual song of the year, Shiro Miya & The Pinkara Trio's（宮史郎＆ぴんからトリオ）"Onna no Michi" (女のみち）didn't relent. As it was, though, the song sold over half a million records and eventually became the 18th-ranked single for 1972. Ironically, although Miyoshi performed in the Kohaku Utagassen three consecutive times from 1973 to 1975, none of his songs were "Ame".

Pat Benatar -- You Better Run

 

It says something about how iconic MTV was when Pat Benatar's "You Better Run" has been noted on Wikipedia as the second video ever presented on the channel (above at 5:40) right after The Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star". 

Here's a slightly sharper form of the music video for "You Better Run" which came out as a single in July 1980 and was my introduction to the snarly and sexy Benatar, although I've enjoyed "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" even more. As such, it was the first Benatar song to be placed as a ROY article on KKP. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it on that legendary first broadcast of MTV since we couldn't get it on our cable. Actually, I saw it on some local late-night music video show probably while my parents were out socializing one Saturday night. Listening to "You Better Run" and watching the singer strut around, I could imagine myself fleeing from the lady whenever she yelled out the title. Not someone to cross. Although "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" was a Top 10 single, "You Better Run" did more modestly by ranking in at No. 42 on America's Billboard.

I keep getting educated as I do these ROY articles about how many of these 80s classics are actually covers of earlier originals. As has been the case with "Bette Davis Eyes" and "They Don't Know", I've found out that "You Better Run" was originally recorded by the rock band The (Young) Rascals back in 1966, as something that may have preceded the whole punk craze a decade later. The original rose to No. 20 on Billboard.

Now, what was scoring in the Top 3 of Oricon in July 1980?

1. Monta & Brothers -- Dancing All Night

2. Toshihiko Tahara -- Kimi ni Kettei! （キミに決定！）

3. Shinji Tanimura -- Subaru （昴）

Yoshie Nakano, Yu Sakai & Shuri -- Happy Boogie（ハッピー☆ブギ）

 

A few days ago, another NHK morning serial was launched and has been the case in the past, "Boogie Woogie"（ブギウギ）is based on a fictionalized account of a real-life celebrity (with the names changed to prevent any complaints). During the pandemic, there was the drama "Yell"（エール）which was based on the kayo kyoku songwriter Yuuji Koseki（古関裕而）.

"Boogie Woogie" shows the life and times of the brassy singer Shizuko Kasagi（笠置シヅ子）whose trademark song was "Tokyo Boogie Woogie"（東京ブギウギ）, and as you can see above, the production staff didn't waste any time making that point clear right from Episode 1. That is indeed Shizuko Kasagi Suzuko Fukurai（福来スズ子）performing the famous upbeat kayo kyoku from 1947. Pretty darn happy way to start one's day.

(not the opening credits but a good video nonetheless)

I also saw the opening credits to "Boogie Woogie" and I was impressed with the different animation styles being used. Even the design of the title looking like four people cutting up the rug is fantastic. And the wonderful thing is that the music for the series is created by Takayuki Hattori（服部隆之）, the grandson of the composer of "Tokyo Boogie Woogie", Ryoichi Hattori（服部良一）.

Grandson Hattori was also responsible for the theme song "Happy Boogie" and it fulfills both words very well in the sound. I was automatically attracted of course by the jazz but also by the three singers behind it: Yoshie Nakano（中納良恵）of bohemian jazz and indies group Ego-Wrappin', Yu Sakai（さかいゆう） who's often collaborated with Tomita Lab（冨田ラボ）, and actress/singer Shuri（趣里）. Could get people dancing from the breakfast table.

The Hattoris aren't the only intergenerational celebrity association in "Boogie Woogie". Main actress Shuri happens to be the daughter of Candies' Ran Ito（伊藤蘭）and actor/singer Yutaka Mizutani（水谷豊）whose character has continued to solve crimes in the long-running "Aibou"（相棒）.

Yukio Hashi -- Nankai no Bishonen（南海の美少年）

 

When I posted the "Top 10 Singles for 1961" in the fading minutes of September 30th 2023, I couldn't help but notice the fact that singer Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）had no fewer than four songs on the list. That was quite the achievement and the last time that I saw a single artist or band with as many as four songs on the Top 10 for a particular list was probably AKB48.

As such, I had to look into and write about at least one of those Hashi hits and so I went with No. 2 on the Top 10, "Nankai no Bishonen" (The Handsome Boy of the South Seas). Released in May 1961 as as his 8th single, when I first saw and translated that title, I envisioned some toned and tanned Polynesian kid having a ton of fun under the sun while wearing a grass skirt. But then, I heard the melody by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）and the lyrics by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）, and realized that this was anything but a tale of tropical Nirvana.

Actually, the young man in the title refers to Shiro Amakusa（天草四郎）, a 17-year-old Japanese Catholic leader of the Shimabara Rebellion (1637-1638), the biggest uprising against the Shogunate in Japanese history. Also calling himself Geronimo and Francisco, the rebellion in what is now Nagasaki Prefecture involved fighting back against the policies enforced by the daimyo of Shimabara which included prohibition of Christianity. In the end, the rebellion was defeated and Amakusa and his thousands of followers were beheaded. So, I can imagine the militaristic and mournful melody of this song which has also been given the subtitle of "Shiro Amakusa's Song".

The above has fresh-faced enka singer Shin Aoyama（青山新）performing "Nankai no Bishonen" in front of the original singer himself.

Mayumi Dan -- Say You Love Me/Hatsukoi Epilogue（初恋エピローグ）

 

I chose this single because I had never heard of Mayumi Dan（壇まゆみ）before and the arrangement of Side A grabbed my ears. Her J-Wiki profile has her listed as a former actress who had been born Mayumi Mitome（三留真由美）in Fukuoka City in 1962. She wanted to become a thespian and started out her entertainment career as a campaign girl for a local bank while in high school. Then her first foray into acting came about from an appearance on a NHK historical drama in 1980.

Her dip into singing was just that...a mere dip. She only released two singles; her debut single in 1981 was a cover of The Four Saints'（フォー・セインツ）"Chiisana Nikki"（小さな日記...A Little Diary）. Then later on in the year, her second and final single, "Say You Love Me" was released. Considering how short her singing career was, I probably wouldn't put her in the aidoru category even though her singing ability had me tempted me to do so. As well, "Say You Love Me" which was written by Akira Mitake（見岳章）and composed/arranged by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）has that sing-songy aidoru feeling although as I mentioned off the top, the arrangement with that country-sounding guitar and the way that the intro and outro go were enough for me to get my attention. At 4:15 is the B-side "Hatsukoi Epilogue" (First Love Epilogue) which was also handled by the Double Akira. Slightly sprightly and tropical, Dan's vocals fairly fly lightly over the ocean.

Dan retired from show business in 1989 and afterwards, she's been very busy by first starting out designing children's products with one company and then setting up her own. She's also gotten into corporate training, counseling and being a representative of the local Kyushu Actors' Club. As of now, her name has been Eri Ishimaru（石丸愛梨）.

Hiromi Go -- Anata ga Ita kara Boku ga Ita（あなたがいたから僕がいた）

 

In continuing for one more post following last night's writeup on Miki Hirayama & Maki Nomiya's（平山みき・野宮真貴） "Artist"（アーティスト）which was a part of the Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平） tribute on "Uta Con"（うたコン）last night, I have here another song by another guest on last night's broadcast.

Unlike "Artist" which was a recently newly-found song by the golden combination of lyricist Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）and composer Tsutsumi, Hiromi Go's（郷ひろみ）"Anata ga Ita kara Boku ga Ita" (I'm Here Because You Were Here) was released all the way back in August 1976 as his 18th single and as another Hashimoto & Tsutsumi concoction. I can already hear those deeper yet nasal tones that would represent the Go voice for me all these years. It's an upbeat tune about a man's gratitude toward his significant other for going through both the good and bad times with him.

Go had pointed out though in the talk segment before he performed "Anata ga Ita kara Boku ga Ita" that the message in the hit song could easily apply to his relationship with Tsutsumi. Basically, he said if it hadn't been for the legendary composer, he wouldn't be here. The song would peak at No. 2 on Oricon and end up as the 46th-ranked single of the year. Go would also perform it at the Kohaku Utagassen that year but before that he had accepted a Japan Record Award so he would be standing with his fellow Shin-Gosanke（新御三家）members, Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）and Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）with their own awards that night.

Miki Hirayama & Maki Nomiya -- Artist（アーティスト）

Good Free Photos

About a week ago, I noted that "Uta Con"（うたコン）was going to have a tribute to composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）who had passed away nearly three years ago. As such, I posted the debut single for Natsumi Shimai（夏海姉妹）, "Hotel Sabaku"（ホテル砂漠）which wasn't only released for the first time last month but it gained life as a long-gestating product of the golden combination of Tsutsumi and lyricist Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）. 

Well, tonight, the tribute to Tsutsumi did happen on "Uta Con", so there were the cover performances of his timeless creations such as Judy Ongg's "Miserarete"（魅せられて）and Ayumi Ishida's（いしだあゆみ）"Blue Light Yokohama" （ブルーライト・ヨコハマ）. However, there was the revelation of a previously unrecorded song by Tsutsumi and Hashimoto, but it wasn't "Hotel Sabaku" which may have been a little too raunchy for the show.

Instead, we got a duet by veteran singer Miki Hirayama（平山みき）and Pizzicato Five's Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）titled "Artist". It was released just today and in contrast with the stripperific Natsumi Shimai song, this one is a lot more palsy-walsy with Hirayama and Nomiya acting like good ol' buddies getting together for an old-fashioned pop tune with enriched beats for some reason. In fact, I'd say that there is a certain senpai-kohai relationship between the two.