Roger Whittaker -- The Last Farewell

 

I'll be doing the weekly Reminiscings of Youth post today rather than the usual Thursday because there are some plans for tomorrow, and I did want to focus on one particular folk singer-songwriter. Roger Whittaker passed away about a week ago although I didn't find out about his death at the age of 87 until yesterday. I've often mentioned about seeing those old K-Tel record commercials hawking those disco hits on television when I was a child. Well, Whittaker was another subject of K-Tel as you can see above and yep, that's how I got to know him.

There was one song that I will always remember Whittaker for. "The Last Farewell" was a song that was released in 1971 and it stood out at that time among all of the sunshine pop, psychedelic rock and Motown soul that was inhabiting music. Created by the singer and Ron A. Webster, it was a heroic ballad about a man leaving the love of his life to head out to sea and to go into battle hundreds of years previously...with the hint that he probably won't be coming back home. Now, how did a song like that become a hit?

Well, reading the Wikipedia article about "The Last Farewell", I found out that Whittaker had hosted a radio programme in his native UK, and one of the things that he did was ask listeners to send any poetry or lyrics to him so that they could be made into songs. Silversmith Webster was one of the lucky ones to get through and "The Last Farewell" was created, becoming "...one of the fifty all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide".

I was in elementary school when I first heard the ballad and the part that always got me was the intro and the outro when those French horns played. It really felt like a heroic ship was about to weigh anchor for the voyage into glorious combat. Not surprisingly, a lot of people felt the same way. After that, I've placed French horns alongside the Fender Rhodes and a cool bass (wood and electric) as my favourite instruments to be heard. It's ironic then that my own personal experience with the French horn was so horrible in junior high school band class. I couldn't blast enough air through that miniscule mouthpiece to make any sound whatsoever and so I made my transition to the clarinet instead.

The other great instrument on display in "The Last Farewell" was Whittaker himself. His voice was so warm and oaken that it was the musical equivalent of a Normal Rockwell painting, and he could have rivaled Burl Ives over who would read "The Night Before Christmas" on Xmas Eve in my mind. That's probably why I had assumed that he was American instead of British for many years. As for the song, it hit No. 9 in Canada while in the United States, it reached No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 but it did reach the No. 1 spot on the Adult Contemporary chart there. My condolences to Whittaker's family, friends and fans.

There were a couple of kayo kyoku from that year which earned Popularity Awards at the Japan Record Awards.

Koji Tsuruta -- Kizu Darake no Jinsei （傷だらけの人生）

Masaaki Sakai -- Saraba, Koibito （さらば、恋人）

Masao Kikuchi/Teruhiko Saigo -- Furusato wa Souya no Hate ni（ふるさとは宗谷の果てに）

 

Over eight years ago, KKP contributor and specialist on the early Showa Era tunes, Noelle Tham, introduced the late singer Takuya Jou（城卓矢）and his huge hit "Hone Made Aishite" (骨まで愛して) from 1966.

As Noelle mentioned in that March 2015 post, Jou was born Masaki Kikuchi（菊地正規）and when he debuted in 1958, he took on the stage name of Masao Kikuchi（菊地正夫）with just that small alteration of one kanji. One of his notable songs under that pre-Jou name was his September 1962 kayo kyoku, "Furusato wa Souya no Hate ni". (My Home is at the End of Souya).

To further explain, Souya is the name of a cape in Hokkaido which is the northernmost point of all of Japan. The song was written and composed by Jun Kitahara（北原じゅん）who happened to be Kikuchi/Jou's older brother, and for both brothers, "Furusato wa Souya no Hate ni" was in all likelihood a very personal song for them. It's a gallant tune with a bit of a country twang but it's also a kayo about lamenting the fact that neither Kikuchi nor Kitahara could go back to the land of their birth because they had been born on what was known as Karafuto Island（樺太）but it's currently known as Sakhalin after the Soviet Union had taken it over at the end of World War II. I'm not sure how the song did in the pre-Oricon era but I figure that there was nothing like a furusato kayo kyoku to get people into a sentimental mood and hitting the record shops.

Certainly, the fact that "Furusato wa Souya no Hate ni" was covered by a number of other singers and bands in the years since is probably a good sign at its popularity. For example, just when Kikuchi made that re-debut as Takuya Jou, Teruhiko Saigo（西郷輝彦）covered the song in 1966 as a tune belonging more in the Mood Kayo vein thanks to the chorus and that bluesy saxophone. Saigo also gave his vocals a more elegiac tone.

To finish off, I've embedded a video from Kuga's Travel, one of the channels that I subscribe to. A year ago, he made his own trip to Souya.

KAZZ:BA -- Sweet Lies

 

Earlier this year, I introduced the band KAZZ:BA which included Mima Morioka（森岡みま）who had been the teen drummer and vocalist for the technopop band Cosmic Invention（コスミック・インベンション）. The song that I covered was "Itsumo"（いつも）from their July 1991 album "Cuarenta".

As "Itsumo" shows, KAZZ:BA was a whole different animal compared to Cosmic Invention. And even this other track from "Cuarenta", "Sweet Lies" distinguishes itself from "Itsumo". I think that there is still enough of a City Pop essence in there but I'm also picking up on some Latin funk and New Jack Swing rhythms. Yup, I'm getting all nostalgic for those 1990s once more.

Hiroshi Takeshima -- Santa Maria no Kane（サンタマリアの鐘）

Wikipedia Commons

Along with Ryokuoushoku Shakai（緑黄色社会）, Hiroshi Takeshima（竹島宏）appeared on "Uta Con"（うたコン）last night to perform his own recent single, his 29th to be specific, "Santa Maria no Kane" (The Bells of Santa Maria) which hit the shelves in March 2023.

The enka and Mood Kayo singer kinda hovers in that area between his two chosen genres and regular pop music so I guess that he might have that amorphous label of New Adult Music which had attempted to stick onto certain songs in that gray area a few decades ago. Alternately, "Santa Maria no Kane" could be Neo-enka or Neo-Mood Kayo.

In any case, the Fukui Prefecture native sings this rather lush and dramatic ballad about a love lost in Florence, Italy which is pretty far from Japan for a Mood Kayo. Regardless, when I look at that title, I was wondering which church the singer, lyricist Hiroshi Yamada（山田ひろし）, composer Kohei Miyuki（幸耕平）and arranger Masayuki Sakamoto（坂本昌之）had been referring to. According to Wikipedia, there are five religious establishments in Florence which have a connection to that Santa Maria name, so I just went with Florence Cathedral which is known officially as Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. "Santa Maria no Kane" broke the Top 10 by scoring a No. 8.

Ryokuoushoku Shakai -- Summertime Cinderella（サマータイムシンデレラ）

 

"Uta Con"（うたコン）was up again last night, and there was a very nice tribute to choreographer Mayumi Natsu（夏まゆみ）who had passed away earlier this year. I mentioned her near the end of last month for an AKB48 article, and on last night's episode, the current incarnation of Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）performed a medley of some of the past MM tunes that Natsu had planned out in terms of the dance moves. 

As well, popular pop band Ryokuoushoku Shakai（緑黄色社会）appeared on "Uta Con" to perform their 7th and latest CD single which was released a few weeks ago on the 6th (although a digital version had come out some weeks earlier). "Summertime Cinderella" was written by vocalist Haruko Nagaya（長屋晴子）and guitarist Issei Kobayashi（小林壱誓）with bassist Shingo Anami（穴見真吾）handling the melody. I figure that with summer fast coming to a close, I should put out one more seasonally appropriate tune. 

Not surprisingly, "Summertime Cinderella" is bright and bubbly, and apparently according to the website "Ongaku Natalie"（音楽ナタリー）, composer Anami drew inspiration by what he believed to be the quintessential summer song, Anri's（杏里）1983 "Kanashimi ga Tomaranai" (悲しみがとまらない）which had been composed and arranged by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）. Anami stated that he had wanted to get that feeling of the sound of waves and an intro and verses which would be able to transport him to someplace refreshing. 

"Summertime Cinderella" was also used as the theme song for the TV drama "Manatsu no Cinderella"（真夏のシンデレラ...Midsummer Cinderella） which was broadcast on Monday nights at 9 pm on Fuji-TV. As any of those J-Drama viewing veterans would know, Fuji-TV at Monday at 9 pm has been seen as the slot for any much-heralded drama going back a few decades such as "Tokyo Love Story" or "The 101st Proposal". To be honest, I was surprised that Gekku（月９...Monday at 9）was still a thing on Japanese television. Vocalist Nagaya said that when her band got the gig to create the song, she was happy if somewhat pressured under the circumstances to come up with the tune. "Summertime Cinderella" peaked at No. 17 on Oricon.

Hiromi Iwasaki -- Biyaku（媚薬）

 

Hearing that disco bass plowing away, I felt like putting on those platform shoes and the green leisure suit to strut down the main street. These days, I'd probably be taken away by security. 

No matter. I'm talking about Hiromi Iwasaki's（岩崎宏美）"Biyaku" (Aphrodisiac) which was the first track on her August 1978 7th album "Pandora no Kobako"（パンドラの小箱...Pandora's Box）. Starting off with a drum pattern that automatically reminded me of Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover", it then seemingly takes listeners to a hot and sultry Roppongi of the 1970s while Hiromi sings about trying her darndest to get away from a guy who's simply a bit too much for her. As composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and written by Yoko Aki（阿木燿子）, that bass, the horns and even Iwasaki's vocals conspire to weave a tale of forbidden love on the busy streets of Tokyo.

Souki Urakami -- Touzakaru Inu（遠ざかる犬）

 

I haven't watched Seth MacFarlane's "Family Guy" in many years although I have bought the first seven seasons of the cartoon on DVD and have occasionally caught some YouTube videos of scenes in the most recent episodes. One of the highlights though has been Brian and Stewie's tumble through the multiverse which I thought was a bit more faithful in a truth-in-advertising sense than the recent "Dr. Strange" movie.

Well, strangely enough, it was that episode that I thought about when I first encountered the music video for Souki Urakami's（浦上想起）"Touzakaru Inu" (The Dog from a Parallel World). Urakami had started out as a specialist in overdubbing and music programming before making his own music from 2019. "Touzakaru Inu" was released as a digital single in January 2023 and though I wouldn't say that it was a Shibuya-kei tune, the arrangement of jazz and pop has that feeling of the soundtrack from an old-time American variety show or game show of the 1950s or 1960s as filtered through the contemporary music technology.