ハノイの恋人 [Lover of Hanoi]

Annotation — Japanese Songs

The song "ハノイの恋人" ("Lover of Hanoi") (Toshiba-EMI # 4Rs-518), written and composed by Yuichi Tsuboi Osamu and Nakamura. This is the same song as released by 斎藤佳代 [Kayo Saito], unknown date, below: ハノイの恋人 / 紙飛行機. Here, this was a Nagauta folk group consisting of Osamu Nakamura, Yutaka Kato, and Yuichi Tsuboi. Guests include Nobuko Tanabe (piano), Kaoru Sugiura (cello), and Akira Wakasugi (5-string banjo). Nagauta is a type of Japanese Classical Music, in the form of dance theatre / drama. The song was a love story involving a disabled veteran of the war: "I can't stand in front of you, with both my legs ripped off by a bomb".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

Japanese: 爆弾で 両足をもぎとられた姿で あなたの前に行くなんて とてもできません

Notes

A. A woman whose legs were torn off by a bomb writes to her lover Toshiba-EMI 4Rs-518 (4Rs-518-A), stereo, 45 r.p.m., side 1, "Mfd. by Toshiba-EMI Ltd. in Japan"; "ハノイの恋人" (坪井雄一作詩, 中村治作曲, 松本三紀夫編曲), 4:00; B side "思い出にさようなら" (坪井雄一, 中村治), 2:06; 制作 三文ユニット, 発売元 音楽の店. The back sleeve prints both lyrics with chords and the players: guitar 中村治 and 加藤豊, wood bass 坪井雄一, piano 田辺のぶこ, cello 杉浦薫, 5-string banjo 若杉章, recorded at スタジオ90, engineer 川原正雄. The front shows a woodcut-style picture of a figure among tall grasses; ¥600; Toshiba-EMI company sleeve. The lyrics are sung by a woman who lost both legs in a bombing and, even if peace comes to Hanoi, writes to release her lover by saying she will marry someone else. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Themes

Hanoi · Disabled Civilian · Lost Love · Civilian Casualties

In collections

Japanese Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]