Saturday January 9, 2021 “Sukiyaki” Kyu Sakamoto
OK this is just a strange selection and I haven’t been able to successfully identify where the inspiration, if that’s what we might call it, came from.
Just before the Beatles began what would be the British Invasion, and changed the sound and look of rock, the music on the radio in the US was in an odd place.
Here’s a number one song from 1963 by then 20 year old Japanese film star Kyu Sakamoto, recorded in his native Japanese. It was a big hit in Kyu’s home country of Japan and somehow it slipped into the hands of an American DJ who was intrigued by the catchy melody, played it and the reaction, as legend has it, was off the charts.
Anyone who didn’t understand Japanese had absolutely no idea that this poppy tune told a story of loneliness, sadness and weeping and the record label naming it after a beef and tofu dish, sukiyaki, didn’t really provide any clues to the message of the song.
It would sell over thirteen million copies internationally and probably had some amusing interpretations as English speakers tried to sing along while imagining what it meant. In case you were thinking this was a novelty or a one-off song, there have been more than fifty covers of "Sukiyaki" in various languages and it has been sampled in dozens more.
Sadly Kyu Sakamoto was a passenger on Japan Airlines flight 123 which crashed in 1985 killing all 520 passengers on board and was one of the deadliest crashes in recent history.
Still this is a lovely and catchy song and probably belonged as one of the top hits of the year, at least the year of 1963. Translation below and original lyrics are in the video if you want to go for it.
Stay safe and well...and then the Beatles changed music forever, and that was a good thing