I like to imagine him sinking majestically back beneath the waves off the coast of Hokkaido

2006-02-10

I like to imagine him sinking majestically back beneath the waves off the coast of Hokkaido

IFUKUBE Akira (伊福部昭) is dead. IMDB has him listed as a composer on almost three hundred movies, but the one that everyone, including me, is going to remember him for is Godzilla. And not only the music -- apparently he also helped with the sound design, including Godzilla's indignant roar and bone-jarring stomp.*

I only have one CD collecting the best of his monster movie music, but his work prefigures a surprisingly large proportion of Philip Glass-style pop minimalism, with repeating themes moving up or down a scale step, pulse harmony, strict rhythms going neatly in and out of phase... it's all there, folks, except more menacing.

The Godzilla ending theme includes a song which I will include here in its entirety as tribute to Ifukube-san.

平和への祈り
やすらぎよ　光よ
とく　かえれかし
やすらぎよ　光よ
とく　かえれかし
Prayer for peace
O peace, o light,
Please return to us soon.
O peace, o light,
Please return to us soon.

(Although the lyrics were actually written by Godzilla screenwriter, KAYAMA Shigeru. Ssh.)

* I also notice in that story that "[t]owards the end of the Second World War, he was exposed to radiation during lumber testing." Whether this gave him lumber-related super-powers or not is a secret he took to his grave.

Popularity factor: 5

IbaDaiRon:

Whether this gave him lumber-related super-powers or not...

Super powers or super prowess?

A coworker who witnessed the accident and resulting change is reported (unconfirmed) to have exclaimed, "Whoa, get a load of his woody!"

(Seriously, what's the name of the CD?)

Matt:

Aw, man, let's let him rest in peace a week before we start making jokes about his piece (I CAN'T STOP MYSELF)

The CD is called Millennium Godzilla Best, and has an embarrassingly ugly cover, but lots of great stuff on it. The only thing is that it's all monster movie stuff... so there's nothing from his pre-Godzilla period, no Harp of Burma, etc. etc. I think there are more wide-ranging collections out there too...

Patrick:

I never really watched Godzilla- to my detriment, I am sure. I haven't ever been very drawn towards older movies- I tend to stay mostly with movies made during my admitedly short time on the planet. It is hard to watch and enjoy a movie like the original Godzilla simply because of the special effects- I have a good imagination, but it is hard not to find it more funny than serious these days. I hope I do not offend anyone with my bias!

-Patrick

IbaDaiRon:

THAT'S RIGHT, GIVE YOURSELF TO THE DARK SIDE, MATT, IT IS THE ONLY WAY...BWHAHAHAHA!

Thanks for the title; I'll have to drop by Book Ace this afton and put in an order, see what else they have in the catalogs. (Mostly out of real interest, partly just to mess with the music counter staff. I have a rep there, you see; they cringe when I come in now. It's becoming a vendetta-thang.)

Patrick: I've always thought it significant that the only really "realistic" Godzilla movie (Emmerich's) got a very cold reception here in Japan. (That it wasn't a great movie no doubt helped, of course.)

Matt:

Yeah, you definitely have to get into a different mindset, Patrick. Or at least try. The original Godzilla is actually pretty unsettling, if you keep in mind the context (a-bomb, etc.) and manage to temporarily forget the fact that a ridiculous, campy Giant Monster continuity sprang up around Godzilla almost immediately.

(IDR, wouldn't you say that the original Godzilla was 'realistic', at least by the standards of the time? More so than, say, the old King Kong...)

2006-02-10