[For Seniors] Recommended Spring Songs for People in Their 70s: A Collection of Nostalgic Spring Tunes

Across this wide fieldRyoko Moriyama

This Wide, Open Field – Ryoko Moriyama

The classic song that celebrates love and freedom spreading across the great outdoors is a folk tune released by Ryoko Moriyama in January 1967.

Her clear, pleasant voice and gentle melody deliver a refreshing sense of liberation, like clouds floating in the sky or wind sweeping through.

The piece is said to have been completed in just 30 minutes, based on a poem found in a Ginza art gallery.

After it was broadcast on NHK’s “Minna no Uta” in 1974, it became a children’s song passed down throughout Japan.

Singing it with older adults can blossom into warm conversations filled with nostalgia and create a wonderful time naturally full of smiles.

Spring Night

Spring Night – Miyagi Michio

This piece beautifully portrays a scene where the pure tones of the koto reverberate through a spring evening wrapped in silence.

Released in 1914 (Taisho 3), it is known as a masterpiece of Japanese music composed by Michio Miyagi at the young age of twenty.

It delicately depicts a man, guided by the sound of the koto on a night scented with white plum blossoms, experiencing a fleeting encounter with a beautiful woman.

The melodies Miyagi wove after overcoming blindness gracefully express the quiet of a spring night and the subtleties of the human heart, opening a new horizon for traditional Japanese music.

This work is recommended for those who wish to feel the changing seasons of Japan and the nuances of emotion.

On a tranquil spring night, why not surrender yourself to the harmonies of koto and shakuhachi?

poppy flowerAgnes Chan

Poppy Flower / Agnes Chan (Agnes Chan/Chen Meiling)

This was Agnes Chan’s Japanese debut single, depicting the pure feelings of a girl who tells her fortune in love using poppies blooming on a hill.

Her clear, gentle voice weaves together her thoughts, worries, and loneliness for a lover who has gone off to a distant city.

Released in November 1972, the song became a major hit, reaching No.

5 on the Oricon Weekly Chart.

She also performed it at the 24th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen in 1973, which helped ignite her popularity.

It remains beloved by many today as a heartwarming song that evokes the arrival of spring and is perfect for reminiscing about bittersweet memories of first love.

Smiling BackCandies

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This is a supreme song by Candies that delicately sings of a woman’s bittersweet feelings before parting with someone dear, carried on a melody as fresh as a spring breeze.

Released in February 1978, it reached number one on the Oricon charts and sold over one million copies in total.

Depicting a couple’s breakup through a moving-day scene, it shows the protagonist looking back on their memories, her smile concealing complex emotions beneath.

It’s a song we especially recommend to those who have experienced parting with someone important in the springtime.

The Apple SongMichiko Namiki

Apple Song, 1945 (Sung by Michiko Namiki)

This masterpiece, woven by Michiko Namiki’s clear singing voice, is a celebrated song that lit a beacon of hope in postwar Japan.

Brimming with gentleness, the piece sings of love with a pure heart while gazing up at the blue sky, resonating deeply with people of the time.

The memories of sound etched in monaural audio vividly convey the atmosphere of early Showa.

Released to the world as the theme song for the film “Soyokaze,” which premiered in October 1945, it was issued as a record the following January.

The warm melody crafted by lyricist Hachirō Satō and composer Tadashi Manjōme became a source of comfort for people living through the postwar reconstruction period.

It is a song to be enjoyed while sensing the arrival of spring, together with fond memories.

Song of Springsong

Mixed Chorus Piece “Spring Song” — Moto Uchida (arranged by Takeshi Yoshinao)

This is a heartwarming song that began airing in March 1937 (Showa 12) on NHK’s Osaka Central Broadcasting Station as a National Song.

Composed by Hajime Uchida with lyrics by Kunizo Kishi, its melody has a familiar warmth that resonated with people’s daily lives at the time.

Across its four verses, the lyrics depict charming scenes: the sweet gaze of a flower seller, the bustle of a market lined with fresh vegetables, the chirping of fledgling birds, and a spring landscape swaying in a gentle breeze.

A record was released by Polydor in July of the same year, followed by a release from Teichiku the next year.

The song has been covered by many artists, including Chieko Baisho and the sisters Saori Yuki and Sachiko Yasuda, and it continues to be beloved as a piece that lets listeners share the joy of spring’s arrival.

It’s a tune you’ll want to hum with family and friends as the season signals the beginning of spring.

A Hazy Moonlit Nightsong

[BS Nippon • Songs of the Heart] Oborozukiyo — FORESTA

A song that beautifully portrays a spring evening depicts, with delicate nuance, a scene where the setting sun and haze spread over a field of rapeseed blossoms, and a pale moonlight floats in the sky.

Alongside the tranquil countryside, it gently embraces quintessential images of spring in Japan—the hues of the forest, people walking along rice-field paths, the croaking of frogs, and the tolling of bells.

Released in 1914 as a Ministry of Education school song, the work seamlessly marries lyrics by Tatsuyuki Takano with music by Teiichi Okano, and it has long been cherished in educational settings.

It has continued to be loved across generations, with Aiko Moriyama covering it in 2009 and Ai Nishida performing it on a program in June 2023.

As a song to hear on a calm spring evening, it offers a warmth that deeply touches the heart.