Sukiyaki (song)

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“Ue o muite arukō (Sukiyaki)”
“Ue o muite arukō (Sukiyaki)” cover
Single by Kyu Sakamoto
from the album Sukiyaki and Other Japanese Hits (US)
B-side "Anoko No Namaewa Nantenkana"
Released 1961 (Japan)
1963 (US, UK)
Genre J-pop, Pop
Length 3:05
Label Toshiba-EMI (Japan)
Capitol (US)
HMV (UK)
Writer(s) Rokusuke Ei and Hachidai Nakamura
Sukiyaki and Other Japanese Hits track listing
"Sukiyaki"
(1)		 "Tsun Tsun Bushi" ("The Tsun Tsun Song")
(2)

"Ue o muite arukō" (上を向いて歩こう "[I] shall walk looking up") is a Japanese song that was performed by Japanese crooner Kyu Sakamoto, and written by Rokusuke Ei and Hachidai Nakamura. It is best known under its alternative title "Sukiyaki" in English-speaking parts of the world. The song reached the top of the sales charts in the United States in 1963, and was the only Japanese language song to do so. In total it sold over 13 million copies internationally.[1][2]

The lyrics start as follows:

上を向いて歩こう ue o muite arukō ([I] shall walk looking up)
涙がこぼれないように namida ga kobore nai yō ni (so [my] tears won't fall)
思い出す春の日 omoidasu haru no hi (remembering spring days)
一人ぼっちの夜 hitoribocchi no yoru ([on this] lonely night)

The recording was originally released in Japan by Toshiba in 1961. It topped the Popular Music Selling Record chart in the Japanese magazine "Music Life" for three months. In 1963, the British record label Pye Records released a cover version of the song by Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen. They were concerned that English-speaking audiences might find the original title too difficult to remember/pronounce, so they gave it the new title of "Sukiyaki'". This title was retained when Capitol Records in the United States, and His Master's Voice in the UK, released Kyu Sakamoto's original version a few months later.

The title, sukiyaki (which is a Japanese steamboat dish), has nothing to do with the lyrics or the meaning of the song; the word served the purpose only because it was short, catchy, recognizably Japanese, and more familiar to most English speakers (very few of whom could understand the Japanese lyrics anyway). A Newsweek columnist noted that the re-titling was like issuing "Moon River" in Japan under the title "Beef Stew."[3]

After Sakamoto's follow-up to "Sukiyaki," "China Nights (Shina No Yoru)," charted in 1963 at number fifty-eight, it was the last song by an artist from Japan to reach the U.S. pop charts for sixteen years, until the female duo Pink Lady hit in 1979 with their top forty hit "Kiss In The Dark" (which was sung in English).

On March 16th 1999, Japan Post issued a stamp commemorating this song.[4]

Kyu Sakamoto (pronounced "cue") was one of the 520 people who died in the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 near Gunma on August 12, 1985. He was 43.

[edit] Covers and variations

Several artists have recorded cover versions of the song, while others have written and/or performed songs based on the melody. A 1981 cover by A Taste of Honey reached number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart (Adult Contemporary and R&B number one), while a 1995 version by 4 P.M. reached number eight in 1995.

Both the 4 P.M. and A Taste of Honey versions used the same English-language lyrics, written by Taste of Honey's Janice Marie Johnson. Johnson is quoted in The Billboard Book of Number One R&B Hits by Fred Bronson as saying that when she translated the original Japanese lyrics into English, she found out that the lyrics could be interpreted in three ways: as a man on his way to his execution, as someone trying to be optimistic despite life's trials, or as the story of an ended love affair. "Me being the hopeless romantic that I am," she explained, "I decided to write about a love gone bad." Thus, the English version featured lyrics like: "In reality/You and I will never be/'Cause you took your love away from me." A Taste of Honey, who were quite popular in Japan (Johnson and her bandmate, Hazel Payne, often wore kimonos in concert), also considered their version of the song a tribute to one of the countries where they were most popular, and added a whispered "Sayonara" at the end of the song.

Johnson's explanation notwithstanding, the standard English translation of the Japanese lyrics has nothing in common with the lyrics used by A Taste of Honey.

A Spanish version (featuring the lyrics written by Janice Marie Johnson translated into Spanish) was also recorded by the late Tejano singer Selena in 1989.

Bands who have recorded covers or variations of the original Ue o muite arukō:

[edit] References

  1. ^ 坂本九さん 〜心のふるさと・笠間〜 (Japanese). Kasama Tourist Association. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
  2. ^ Ringo Houso. uemuite (Japanese). Sigh For The Old Good Times. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
  3. ^ Fred Bronson (2003). "Sukiyaki", The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits. Billboard Books. ISBN 0823076776. 
  4. ^ わたしの愛唱歌シリーズ第9集郵便切手. Japan Post (1999-03-16). Retrieved on 2008-06-03.
Preceded by
"It's My Party" by Lesley Gore		 Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Kyu Sakamoto version)
June 15, 1963		 Succeeded by
"Easier Said Than Done" by The Essex