The Peanuts to release 50th anniversary album
09/24/2008 @ 12:00 pm
The Peanuts, a female pair of Japanese twins (Emi and Yumi Ito), who were a major presence in the Japanese music world back in the ’60s, are planning to release a new album to mark the 50th anniversary of their debut back on 1959.
Here are a few of their better known songs in Japan.
If you are old enough, you might remember them as the duo who sang the original Mothra theme.
They even appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.
I had no idea that they had any sort of career beyond Mothra!!! Faaabulous!!!
September 25th, 2008 at 1:27 amA number of years ago, when I found out that the twin faries from Mothra were a popular singing duo in Japan called the Peanuts, I did an internet search on ‘em, but couldn’t find out much beside that one of them worked on a soap opera and the other had died. But that info must have been faulty. I think I’d like to see a show that would pit the Peanuts against Pink Lady and throw in Puffy to boot. I’d pay a dollar for that.
September 25th, 2008 at 5:52 amBy the way, in that Youtube clip of the Mothra song, those two are not the Peanuts. It’s a scene from a more or less recent Godzilla movie called Tokyo SOS, and those two–albeit lovely– ladies are someones else. They aren’t even twins!
September 25th, 2008 at 5:58 amHanuman,
When I first got here in ‘69, The Peanuts were all over the TV.
The most popular and common type of TV show on Sunday afternoon back then was a kind of “music variety” show. Each show had a full orchestra, and the popular singers of the day would come and do their tunes. The shows were on virtually all channels and ran back-to-back from afternoon until evening.
Of course, there was some slight variation in the format (the MC, comedy, quizzes, amateur competitions), but basically the shows were a vehicle for the stars of the day to present their music. Often you could see the same artist performing the same song three or four times during a single day. It may sound boring but it was pretty cool. Needless to say I saw a lot of The Peanuts back then, and they were cool.
Also, for those who are familiar with the Japanese entertainment world, The Peanuts were related to the head of the Watanabe Productions talent agency, which back then had virtual control over who got to appear on TV. One of the sisters married Kenji Sawada, who went on to become a very popular singer. They divorced and Sawada could not get a TV gig to save his life.
I saw on the TV the other day that he will appear in a special soon, for the first time in about 25 years.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:23 ambamboo,
Thanks for letting us know about the video. I grabbed it from YouTube without looking at it very closely.
I found another video with The Peanuts doing the song, but it has an annoying overdub in English. If anyone knows of a better video, please let us know.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:32 amCouples days ago Sawada was on TV NHK Music Show ” Songs “. Well, I don’t think the divorce affected so negatively on his carrier.
Anyway, I can’t remember the days in 60s when the Beatles were still active. But I have heard of this ” Koi no Fuga ” by the Peanuts.
Once my father told me he liked Chiemi Eri who would sing the cover of ” Tennessee River “. Do you remember her ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YieqbyVfGDk&feature=related
When I hear Eri sing now on Youtube, I know her English pronunciation sounds weird, but it has good taste itself.
September 25th, 2008 at 7:05 pmCorrection : The cover was ” Tennesee Waltz “
September 25th, 2008 at 7:10 pm