"SUKIYAKI" a number-1 hit in the US performed by Japanese crooner Kyu Sakamoto, the hit from 1963, is one of the few non-English oriental language hits ever. This topped the Charts at number 1 only 18-years after the end of the War with Japan, 10-years after the Korean conflict and at the beginning of the war in Vietnam. This marked a period of time when many, many, many thousands of US soldiers and sailors were in Asia. US Forces were primarily working under the Domino Theory, that communism in Asia had to be stopped and that if one country fell they all could. The lyrics tell the story of a man who looks up and whistles while he is walking so that his tears will not fall. The verses of the song describe his memories and feelings. Rokusuke Ei wrote this song while coming back from a protest against the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan and feeling dejected about the failure of the protest movement, but the lyrics were rendered purposefully generic so that they might refer to any lost love. The English-language lyrics of the version recorded by A Taste of Honey are not a translation of the original Japanese lyrics, but instead a completely different set of lyrics arranged to the same basic melody. The title Sukiyaki, a Japanese hot pot dish, actually 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. A Newsweek Magazine columnist noted that the re-titling was like issuing "Moon River" in Japan under the title "Beef Stew." https://youtube/watch?v=xUA-DcW1lFc
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 20:26:34 +0000
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