Freedom4um

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

Author! Author!
See other Author! Author! Articles

Title: Misora Hibari - Yawara
Source: YouTube
URL Source: http://youtube.com/watch?v=lKpfrv7cQb0
Published: May 26, 2007
Author: Koga Masao
Post Date: 2007-05-26 17:49:38 by Peetie Wheatstraw
Ping List: *Music Club*
Keywords: None
Views: 503
Comments: 29

An even better version of "Yawara" ("Judo," but as a metaphor for the "judo" of love: "Don't think you're going to win [in the game of love]," goes the first line, "If you think like that, you're gonna lose..."), with lilting grace notes so distinctive of Japanese enka, is here.

Misora Hibari - Kanashii Sake [Sad Sake]

(Ignore the gab-fest for the first 1:30 of the video)

[My translation] The sake I'm drinking all alone at a bar
Tastes like my tears at our parting
As I drink, the face of the guy I want to forget
Keeps floating around in my glass
"I'm happier by myself,"
I say to myself as I weep
Still loving the man who's no longer at my side
My night of tears and sorrow grows long...

Poster Comment:

Misora Hibari (born Kazue Kato) is the queen of Japanese torch singers, of a style of singing known as enka. She started her career at age 11 in 1948, and was much beloved in Japan for the role she played in raising the spirits there with her singing after Japan's catastrophic defeat. She died in 1989.

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  

Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest

Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 2.

#1. To: Peetie Wheatstraw (#0)

Great videos.

According to wiki she recorded "Yawara" in 1964 and "Kanashii Sake" in 1966.

I can certainly understand what her voice meant to those conquered people. She is a source of great pride even now I'm sure.

HOUNDDAWG  posted on  2007-05-27   17:10:14 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

#2. To: HOUNDDAWG (#1)

According to wiki she recorded "Yawara" in 1964

The first line of "Yawara" seemed familiar--Katsu to omou na, omoeba make yo- -, so I consulted Ivan Morris' The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan---the last chapter in the book about the WW II Kamikaze pilots.

Sure enough, there again was the first line of the song: Never think of winning! Thoughts of victory will only bring defeat... from a popular song of the kamikaze.

Peetie Wheatstraw  posted on  2007-05-27   17:41:42 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

Replies to Comment # 2.

        There are no replies to Comment # 2.

End Trace Mode for Comment # 2.

Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest