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?