I got yer world music right here!

[muckefuck]

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.

Comments

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia lists over 70 other cover versions. Seems like I must've heard it several times before, but the melody is only vaguely familiar in the way that I suspect most hit songs of that era would be.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Just listened to the Taste of Honey version and I have a couple thoughts:

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?

[foodpoisoningsf.livejournal.com]

From Wikipedia: A Newsweek columnist noted that the re-titling was like issuing "Moon River" in Japan under the title "Beef Stew."

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Yeah, found that more than a little puzzling myself. I kept listening to the lyrics waiting for him to mention going out to eat!

[foodpoisoningsf.livejournal.com]

Probably because he's been dead since 1985 and no one's managing his rights.

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of all of the Japanese restaurants around that have names that have nothing to do with food. They're just picked because Americans have probably heard them before and will go, "oh, Japanese! Maybe they have sushi!"

[mlr.livejournal.com]

I tried to transcribe it. For the harmony, I used the Pizzacato 5 version. For the lyrics - well I did my best :-)

Happy Valentine's Day

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thank you SO MUCH for this.

[aadroma.livejournal.com]

So you know this song's lyrics are quite depressing, right?

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 ...

[mlr.livejournal.com]

me? oh yeah. If Joni's 'I wish I had a river' is OK for Christmas, why not this for VD?

[hanskramladen.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

In the German version, they actually managed to put the word "Sukiyaki" into the lyrics:
"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!

[hanskramladen.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

Oh yes, what would this be without a youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioFKZgH8oxI