This is about the power of a beautiful melody to transcend the language barrier, and how a Japanese pop song somehow conquered the world numerous times in different guises.
Bizarrely, I think the first time I heard the distinctive melody of Sukiyaki was in Snoop Dogg's cover of Slick Rick's La Di Da Di, which interpolates the opening verse. But it was not until a little later that I would hear that verse in its proper context, when US R&B vocal quartet released a cover of Sukiyaki in 1994 which was a hit around the world. But as nice as the song sounded, I had to wonder why such a tender ballad of lovelorn longing was named after a Japanese beef hotpot dish. Is the song's protagonist, I wondered, really pining for a pot of sukiyaki that upped and left him?
Our story starts in 1961. The song was written by composer Hachidai Nakamura and lyricist Rokusuke Ei (allegedly after actress Meiko Nakamura had left him), and named Ue o muite aruko (sometimes rendered as Ue wo muite arukou), meaning "I shall walk looking up". It is about a man reminiscing on his lost love, and keeping his head to the sky to keep the tears from falling. It was sung by rising young star Kyu Sakamoto, at a time when kayokyoku (Western-influenced pop and rock) was rapidly becoming more popular in Japan. I've included the lyrics and their translation below; I think you'll agree that it's a beautifully written song.
Ue o muite arukou (I look up when I walk)
Namida ga kobore naiyouni (So the tears won't fall)
Omoidasu harunohi (Remembering those happy spring days)
Hitoribotchi no yoru (But tonight I'm all alone)
Ue o muite arukou (I look up when I walk)
Nijinda hosi o kazoete (Counting the stars with tearful eyes)
Omoidasu natsunohi (Remembering those happy summer days)
Hitoribotchi no yoru (But tonight I'm all alone)
Shiawase wa kumo no ueni (Happiness lies beyond the clouds)
Shiawase wa sora no ueni (Happiness lies above the sky)
Ue o muite arukou (I look up when I walk)
Namida ga kobore naiyouni (So the tears won't fall)
Nakinagara aruku (Though my heart is filled with sorrow)
Hitoribotchi no yoru (But tonight I'm all alone)
(whistling)
Omoidasu akinohi (Remembering those happy autumn days)
Hitoribotchi no yoru (But tonight I'm all alone)
Kanashimi wa hosino kageni (Sadness hides in the shadow of the stars)
Kanashimi wa tsukino kageni (Sadness lurks in the shadow of the moon)
Ue o muite arukou (I look up when I walk)
Namida ga kobore naiyouni (So the tears won't fall)
Nakinagara aruku (Though my heart is filled with sorrow)
Hitoribotchi no yoru (But tonight I'm all alone)
Understandably it was a massive hit in Japan, sitting atop the pop charts for 3 months. More surprisingly, it also became a big hit in the English speaking world, and reached number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (it is still the only Japanese-language song ever to do so). It remains the biggest international hit by a Japanese singer.
It was when the song appeared in the US that it was renamed Sukiyaki, apparentlyly out of sheer cultural ignorance. Radio DJs decided that no one could pronounce "Ue o muite arukou", so they picked a Japanese word, seemingly at random, that they thought American consumers might be familiar with. Normally you would think that titling a love song "beef stew" would not be a great commercial move, but fortunately record buyers didn't care.
Now with such a great melody, obviously people wanted to sing it and record covers of it. But obviously, not everyone speaks Japanese, so several attempts were made to translate the lyrics into English and other languages.
One of the weirdest such versions was by The Blue Diamonds. These guys were a Dutch duo consisting of the two Indonesian-born brothers Ruud and Riem de Wolff (best known for their 1960 song Ramona, a big hit in Europe). I'm not quite sure why, but this is sung in German (not Dutch). My German has lapsed since high school, so I have no idea what this song is meant to be about, but I think it's safe to say that the lyrics are completely unrelated to the original.
The first decent attempt to translate the Japanese lyrics into English was on My First Lonely Night, by 60s soul man Jewel Akens. While it's not a direct translation, it captures the spirit of soldiering on through sadness in Rokusuke Ei's lyrics, even though the brassy soul style is very different to the Kyu Sakamoto original version.
Nonetheless, what is often now considered the "definitive" English language version, is the following song by A Taste of Honey. Otherwise known as a disco-funk act (their other big hit was Boogie Oogie Oogie), this was a real change of pace, but garnered them a big hit throughout the world in 1981. The new lyrics written by ATOH's lead singer/bassist Janice Marie Johnson are kinda cheesy and fall short of the artistry of the original; however, the words still have a certain musicality that is absent from Jewel Akens' version, making it easier to listen to and nicer to sing. This rendition from the variety show Solid Gold is also pretty high on the fromage; but seeing Janice Marie Johnson in a kimono with her hair done Japanese-style just does something for me. Sort of wrong but sexy.
The lyrics from ATOH's version popped up in an unlikely place in 1985; in La Di Da Di by Slick Rick and Doug E Fresh. If you haven't heard this song, it is very much "of its era", yet remains one of the all-time classic hip-hop joints, and bits of it have been sampled in countless other songs.
Not all versions of La Di Da Di have the Sukiyaki interpolation, actually. It featured on the original, but CD releases edited it out due to copyright issues.
While La Di Da Di is one of the most seminal hip-hop tracks in history, it was never actually a hit, commercially. Yet it was finally heard by the audience it deserved when Snoop Dogg covered it on his enormously popular debut album Doggystyle (renaming it Lodi Dodi), including the Sukiyaki section sang by a female vocalist.
The version best known to most people of my generation and younger seems to be the acapella rendition by 4PM, which again uses the lyrics written by Janice Marie Johnson. I must say I really like the harmonies on this, but the ultra-cheesy spoken bit almost ruins the experience for me - why must all these vocal groups feel the need to do that? Just because Barry White made it sound cool doesn't mean you can too... but I digress.
The below clip is 4PM performing the song on Japanese TV. Funny how it's come full circle.
If for some reason you still want to hear more versions, there are plenty out there. Try these:
A Spanish version by Mexican-American singer Selena
Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen doing one of the very first covers, in instrumental big-band style
A French version by Lucille Star
A live instrumental version on the accordion by prog-rock band Styx
60s pop group the Fabulous Echoes from Hong Kong covering the original Sakamoto version
Snoop Doggy Dogg's "Lodi Dodi"
A Portuguese-language version by Trio Esperanca
A Brazilian version by Daniela Mercury, sung in Japanese
No comments:
Post a Comment