“Katte Ni Shiyagare” by Sawada Kenji (1977)

“Katte Ni Shiyagare” (勝手にしやがれ; lit. Doing What the Fuck I Want), released May 21, 1977, was the 19th single from Sawada Kenji and remains his best known song. The song title is a nod to the Japanese title of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 New Wave classic À bout de souffle (Breathless; lit. Out of Breath) which in Japanese is 勝手にしやがれ. The phrase would also serve as the Japanese title of the Sex Pistols first album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols released later that year, just to give you a sense of the hedonistic, anti-authoritarianism implied.

Sawada Kenji, popularly known by his nickname “Julie,” began his career as the incredibly handsome chocolate box lead singer of the massively popular 1960s pop-rock band The Tigers (my English language deep dive part 1, part 2, part 3). After the group disbanded (and a detour through hard rock group PYG), Sawada pivoted to a solo career as a singer of emotionally-drenched pop music. 

Julie’s new image (like the old image) was sexy and romantic but he also brought an emotionally tussled humanity to these new solo songs, fitting right into the new 1970s aesthetic as heralded by the famous “Beautiful” Fuji Xerox CM (which featured folk musician Kato Kazuhiko wandering around Ginza holding a sign that read simply: Beautiful.) Dressed in denim with soft, touchable feathered hair, Julie sang deeply emotive torch songs like “許されない愛” (Yurusarenai Ai; Unforgivable love) aimed directly at the hearts of his predominantly female fandom.

This act was so successful in Japan that Julie even debuted in Europe, specifically in France, with “Mon Amour, Je Viens Du Bout Du Monde” and “Fugitive” in 1975. The whole vibe fit right in with songs like the glamorous outlaw Serge Gainsbourg “Bonnie and Clyde.” A little bit sexy, a little bit dangerous, and very romantic. He had modest success and even filmed a movie in Paris where he spoke phonetic French opposite former Bond girl Claudine Auger. 

But the good times would not last. Julie would discover what K-Pop acts were still facing in the 21st Century, it’s not easy for Asian artists to establish careers in the West while maintaining their fandoms in the East. Language is a huge barrier but even bigger is travel time. Round-the-world flights are long today but were at least twice as long back in the 1970s. There is an infamous story of Sawada arriving back in Tokyo from France at 11 am, sleeping the day away in a hotel, and then having to get back on a plane to Paris at 10 pm the same day. 

So, we can perhaps forgive his short temper when caught out in back-to-back incidents in 1975-76 during the height of this where he first 1) headbutted a train station attendant for saying that his fans were annoying and 2) sucker punched some punk for calling him lame. After the second incident in 1976, Julie asked to be put on hiatus and skipped all of the end of the year awards shows. 

The gap between Sawada’s romantic persona and the guy who would headbutt a station attendant was massive--which is perhaps why the songs released in Japan that year like fluffy retro ditty “ウィンクでさよなら” (Wink de Sayonara; With a wink, Good-bye) failed to generate much heat.

Sawada needed a hit; his image also needed a change. 

He called up lyricist Aku Yuu, who had written his biggest hit to date so far at that point--時の過ぎゆくままに (the fourth best selling song of all of 1975)—and Mr. Aku apparently told Sawada that he wanted to write him a song with the theme of “Doing what you please.”

The lyrics were very different from anything Sawada had done before in his solo work. In the song, he takes on the persona of a libertine, layabout, drunken loser. The song begins with a lover leaving after an implied tryst. As the song enters the prechorus, Sawada begs for some dignity:

せめて少しはカッコつけさせてくれ

寝たふりしてる間出て行ってくれ

Couldn’t you at least let me keep some face

And leave while I pretend to be asleep

The sad sack lyrics continue with Sawada downing a bottle of bourbon and dancing until dawn in a “one man show” of not giving a single fuck.

Combined with the jaunty and extremely catchy melody from Ohno Katsuo, a long time associate of Sawada’s, and the charismatic performance from Sawada himself, the sad sack main character of the song may not be cool but he does seem like fun. Sawada’s plaintive, nasal voice during the “Aaah aaah” section of the song, combined with the image of him with his arms raised in celebratory defeat, is how he is mainly remembered today. 

Sawada had apparently been rather nervous to release a song with such a drastically different image than his suave, romantic persona but the gamble paid off. “Katte ni Shiyagare” sat at the top of the weekly Oricon chart for five weeks, disrupting the chart performance of Pink Lady’s “渚のシンドバッド”, a not insignificant feat for a veteran artist in the Era of Pink Lady Hysteria. It went on to  become the 4 best selling single of 1977 as well as cleaning up in the end of the year music awards, to include the prestigious Japan Record Award.

The song reached a much larger audience than his normal fanbase. While performing the song, Julie would wear a rakish hat pulled low over his face--something in imitation of Jean-Paul Belmondo in Godard’s Breathless, who himself was imitating Humphrey Bogart, who Sawada himself would also reference in 1979’s “カサブランカ・ダンディ” (“Casablanca Dandy”)--and then fling it off for emphasis at some point in the song. 

Apparently this hat throwing move (帽子投げ) was quite de rigueur for Japanese boys of a certain age (elementary to middle school age) when the song came out. 

While Sawada would never completely abandon the romantic hero of his earlier career, the massive success of “Katte Ni Shiyagare” marks a career turning point and he would continue experimenting with increasingly stylized and artistic modes of performance. But at the end of the day, it was the lovable loser of “Katte Ni Shiyagare” that would cement his status as the Biggest J-Pop Star Of All Time.

The song remains very much a part of karaoke culture and there are scores of covers, professional and amateur, available on the streaming platform of your choice. 

Kuwata Keisuke of legendary rock band Southern All Stars has performed the song and the title of Southern’s debut single contains a nod to the popular song by way of a Shimura Ken gag: “Katte ni Sinbad”

And Sawada is still a touchpoint for contemporary idols. Yamashita Tomohisa has covered the song (complete with hat toss), as well as Johnny’s & Associates group Snowman (although Date-sama does not fling his hat, alas):