Feb. 13th, 2009 10:58 pm
I got yer world music right here!
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While waiting for our directionally-challenged paper pusher, I followed a link posted by
foodpoisoningsf to some softcore bearporn on YouTube. I was watching some tasteful footage of men in fundoshi set to some warbly early 60s Japanese pop when
monshu came passing down the hall. "I haven't heard this song in a long time," he said wistfully.
At first, I thought he was joking. Then I waited for him to notice that it wasn't actually the song he thought it was but a Japanese-language remake. But, no, it was the song he thought it was. Thirty years before the Pizzicato Five, an artist named Kyu Sakamoto swept the world with a sweet simple tune originally called "Ue o muite arukō" but that reached number one in the States under the title "Sukiyaki".
I've heard recordings of Eartha Kitt singing in Swahili, Johnny Cash in German, and "Girl from Ipanema" in the original Portuguese, but I still sometimes forget how international the pop charts could be in the days before Luaka Bop.
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At first, I thought he was joking. Then I waited for him to notice that it wasn't actually the song he thought it was but a Japanese-language remake. But, no, it was the song he thought it was. Thirty years before the Pizzicato Five, an artist named Kyu Sakamoto swept the world with a sweet simple tune originally called "Ue o muite arukō" but that reached number one in the States under the title "Sukiyaki".
I've heard recordings of Eartha Kitt singing in Swahili, Johnny Cash in German, and "Girl from Ipanema" in the original Portuguese, but I still sometimes forget how international the pop charts could be in the days before Luaka Bop.
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1. It could not be described as "having aged well". Particularly not in comparison to the original.
2. Holy Fujiyama-san, could it be much more Orientalist? Perhaps if you added a haunting shakuhachi solo?
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Happy Valentine's Day
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Even more so since Mr. Sakamoto had died in a plane crash 20 years or so ago (having enough time to scrawl out a note to his wife before he died), I find ...
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"Beim Suki-Sukiyaki in Naga-Nagasaki
Da sah ich sie und vergaß alle Frau’n der Erde..."
(http://www.magistrix.de/lyrics/Blue%20Diamonds/Sukiyaki-186346.html)
I always marvel at the ability of German song (and film) text writers in the 50s to 70s to explore new levels of kitsch and banality!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioFKZgH8oxI