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Flower and Greenery Column

[Plants and Music] #1 Forget-me-nots

August 5, 2022

植物と○△□

Forget-me-nots for you / Forget-me-nots

Forget-me-nots for You (1971) by Yoichi Sugawara and others Forget-me-nots (2021) by Awesome City Club

We will provide a relaxed tour with the theme of "music" related to flowers and greenery.
The first episode will feature forget-me-nots (although it's out of season...)

Forget-me-nots bloom with lovely blue flowers from spring to early summer.
English name: Forget-me-not
A wonderful literal translation.
Its origins date back to medieval Germany.
When the knight Rudolf tries to pick forget-me-nots from the riverbank for his lover Berta, he accidentally falls into the river.

Rudolph, swept away by the current of the river and exhausted,

"Don't forget me!"
These words are entrusted to flowers.

Legend has it that Bertha named the flower after his last words.
In Japan, it was translated as "forget-me-not" or "forget-me-not" by botanist Takiya Kawakami.

In connection with this, "True Love" and "Don't Forget Me"
It is said that this flower has been given the following meaning.

Now, when you hear the words "forget-me-not" related to songs, which song comes to mind first?

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A: Forget-me-nots for you
B: Of course...

Gentlemen and ladies with a wealth of life experience,
If you want to experience a love that is like a bouquet of flowers, right in the middle of your youth, you probably chose B.

Of course, I'm A, sung by Yoichi Sugawara.

At the time, I had no idea what the lyrics meant,
"He's a bob-haired guy with narrow eyes."
That's all I remember. Sorry.

We asked "Little Kyosen," who has a deep knowledge of Showa-era pop music, about the appeal of Sugawara Yoichi.

"I started to appreciate Yoichi Sugawara's talents after I turned 45. I think it's the way he sings about mature love, or high-quality love, with his velvet voice and a gentle orchestral backing. Until then, I had never listened to a song without a beat."

I see. I'll listen to it again.

This song was originally sung by the female chorus group Voce Angelica, and has also been sung by other singers such as Baisho Chieko and Azusa Michiyo.

On the other hand, what is Awesome City Club ?
Formed in 2013, this three-person band consists of a male and female vocal duo plus one other member.
Awesome City is set as a fictional town. Could it refer to a utopia like Gandhara?

In 2021, half a century after the hit "Forget-me-nots for You,"
It was used as an inspiration song for the movie "A Love Like a Bouquet (commonly known as Hanakoi)."
"Wasurenai" has been released.

What is an inspiration song?
It's not even listed in the Kojien dictionary.

"A song inspired by the movie"
That's what it seems to be.

The movie "Hana Koi" is a beautiful love story that depicts the five-year romance between two people who meet by chance after missing the last train.
The members of Awesome, who appeared in the film as musicians, were so impressed by the finished film that they decided to compose their own music.
It was used in advertisements and trailers, and recorded a total of 200 million streams just eight months after its release.
It's amazing that you can watch a movie and then immediately write a song.

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If I can gather these loves together one by one and have the light that is you, I will overcome the cyclical destiny and make the flowers of love, the bouquet, bloom

≪Of course Lyrics: atagi・PORIN≫
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A phrase from the song that beautifully expresses the world of the movie.

I especially love the expression "bundled" here.

"Bundled" is not enough.
It has to be "tied up"!

The person who is burned into my mind and never leaves it is Yoichi Sugawara.
Of course, the song I sing with all my heart at karaoke is "Wasurenai."

I want to have a love that lasts forever, like a bouquet of flowers.

By the way, there seem to be many other songs that include the word "wasurenagusa" in the lyrics or title.

--- Forget-me-nots for You (Voce Angelica, 1963, Baisho Chieko, Sugawara Yoichi, 1971)
Chikuma River (Hiroshi Itsuki, 1975)
Forget-me-nots Again (Miyuki Nakajima, 1982)
Traces of a Dream (Kouzo Murashita, 1982)
Forget-me-not (Masashi Sada, 1984)
Forget-me-not (Yutaka Ozaki, 1985)
Forget Me Not (BONNIE PINK, 1998)
Forget-me-not (Nokko, 1998)
Forget-me-not (Personality Radio, 2003)
Forget-me-not: K's Funeral Procession (Nightmare, 2003)
Forget-me-not (Ko Shibasaki, 2003)
Cobalt Blue (THE BACK HORN, 2004)
Forget-me-not (rice, 2005)
Forget-me-not (w-inds.・2007)
Forget-me-nots (Tate Takako, 2007)
Forget-me-not (meal art, 2007)
Forget-me-not (Pico, 2010)
Transient Fingertips (KAT-TUN, 2012)
forget-me-not ~Wasurenagusa~ (FLOWER, 2012)
Circle Game (Galileo Galilei, 2013)
The Hill Where Forget-Me-Not Waits, from the album "forget me not" (Minami Asako, 2017)
Return to the Womb (BUCK-TICK, 2018)
Around the Cherry Blossoms (Yoshino Yoda (Yuuki Takada), Sae Kobayakawa (Rika Tachibana), Karin Domyouji (Hiyori Nitta), Ayame Hamaguchi (Masumi Tazawa), Tamami Wakiyama (Misa Kayama), 2018)
forget-me-not (ReoNa・2019)
December 9 (ACE COLLECTION・2019)
Forget-me-not (Lotus flower, 2020)
Of course (Awesome City Club・2021)
Forget-me-not (Natsumi Kawano, 2021)
And more...

Please give it a listen if you have the chance.

<Reference>
Yoichi Sugawara / Forget-me-nots for you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmrYQlfh_kg