“La La La Love Song” by Kubota Toshinobu (1996)
“La La La Love Song” written and sung by Kubota Toshinobu, released as a single on May 13, 1996, was the opening theme song for the smash hit drama Long Vacation (1996). It sold over 1.8 million copies that year, ranking in as the third best selling single of 1996 behind only very heavy hitters Mr. Children’s “Namanoki uta” and globe’s “Departures”.
By all accounts, Kubota grew up in a normal, middle-class family in Shizuoka with no connections to America or the music business. But as a teenager, Kubota developed a strong interest in R&B (especially Stevie Wonder) and it would change the course of his life. Not only did he train as a singer (winning Best Vocalist at the YAMAHA East West amateur band competition in 1982) but he threw himself into the study of all things African and African-American. After he graduated from university, he began selling his R&B-influenced songs to artists like Johnny’s & Associates idol Tahara Toshihiko, among others.
(The Kubota-penned “It’s Bad” (sung by Tahara) went all the way to number four on the Oricon chart in 1985. You can hear the burgeoning hip-hop influence in Toshi’s rap section!)
Kubota made his debut as a solo artist in 1986 with 失意のダウンタウン [Shitsui no Downtown; Downtown Heartbreak] and over the next few years began building a steady following among Japanese music fans. In 1988, he had his first real hit with “You Were Mine,” which was used as a theme song for TV drama 君の瞳をタイホする [Kimi no hitomi wo taiho suru; I’ll capture your eyes (?)]. And then in 1990, he appeared for the first time on the prestigious end of the year music show Kouhaku Utagassen in 1990, singing a duet with with R&B singer Alyson Williams in New York City.
R&B and “urban” sounding music was certainly known in Japan but it wasn’t the dominant sound of popular music. The number one song of 1986 was a disco holdover from teen idol Ishii Akemi called “Cha Cha Cha” (and you have to watch her perform it with all the teenage indolence she can muster). The late 1980s were the years of Rebecca, TUBE, all those classic City Pop songs, Shonentai, Checkers…
As the 1990s dawned, Kubota turned his attention more to America where he toured to primarily black audiences and even released some great tracks such as his cover of “Just the Two of Us,” a duet with British R&B singer Caron Wheeler released in America on Columbia Records. But Japan called him back home to the motherland when in 1996 he was tapped to provide the opening theme song to a new drama starring an up-and-coming young talent named Kimura Takuya.
That theme song was titled, “La La La Love Song.”
I discuss Long Vacation and trendy dramas more in episode 26 (the episode actually opens with Kubota x SMAP singing “La La La Love Song”) and episode 27 but long story short, the drama and its theme song were both smash hits. While both excellent by themselves, somehow the combination of the modern trendy drama with the modern urban pop song just hit the public consciousness just right. The tune was catchy, the lyrics were easy to remember, and the song was just the right tempo and mood for belting along to at karaoke.
まわれ まわれ メリーゴーラウンド
もうけして止まらないように
動き出したメロディ
La・la・la・la・la love song
Round and round, merry-go-round
Don’t stop it turning round again
The melody is moving along
La・la・la・la・la love song
The lyrics tell a story about the ups and downs of falling in love, of being head-over-heels but not quite sure where it’s headed or even what your partner is feeling. In interviews later, Kubota expressed some disappointment that he couldn’t come up with anything better than “la la la la la love song” for the chorus but I think it adds to the song's charms. The phrase essentially serves as an amplifier for the “la” of “love” making sure that we really remember what this song is about.
Kubota has a wonderful soulful singing voice and his almost plaintive “hey girl” tone contrasted with the bouncy rhythm of the melody perfectly captures that sweet-sour feeling of falling in love.
“La La La Love Song” has been covered a billion times by singers of all types and is still be covered to this day, including, recently, a nice cover by Doyoung of popular K-Pop group NCT 127 and a cover from up and coming Japanese hip hop artist Shurkn Pap.
And the song was such a huge hit and has had such a long tail that it essentially earned Kubota a place in the pantheon of Japanese musicians for perpetuity. He doesn’t seem to be releasing much new music now but he continues to appear on Japanese television music shows and variety shows. He was also still actively touring up until the pandemic hit and I hope he’ll pick it back up now that restrictions are slowly lifting. I will definitely be in the audience if he performs stateside.
While Kubota never crossed over to the mainstream in America, he did get to appear on Soul Train. (And, yes, you should absolutely click through to watch that.)