Comments on: The Sukiyaki Song

The Sukiyaki Song

carter — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 08:37:42 -0800

The Sukiyaki Song [mp3] Depending on your age, you may have heard your parents humming this, or even hummed it yourself. Sung by Kyu Sakamoto, the Sukiyaki Song was the only number 1 hit by a Japanese artist in the US, in 1963. It remains the biggest international hit by a Japanese popular singer. The song has nothing to do with the popular Japanese beef dish; the Japanese title was "Ue o Muite Aruko" (I Look Up When I Walk), but was changed because it was thought that western DJs would be unable to pronounce it. The song spawned many covers, and Maddmansrealm has collected over 60 of these, including French and German versions, bossa nova versions, a short accordion version by Styx, and a live instrumental version by Bob Dylan and Tom Petty [mp3s]. Kyu Sakamoto died in 1985 in the crash of JAL 123.

By: moonbird

moonbird — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 09:07:42 -0800

great post, but the mp3 link is getting fried, i think.

By: briank

briank — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 09:12:49 -0800

One of my favorite songs, and I will look forward to all of those covers just as soon as we stop killing the guy's site.

By: scheptech

scheptech — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 09:17:32 -0800

Funny how music can transcend time and culture. I was just a kid when this came out, and at the time I thought it was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever heard. Helped me understand there really were people over there just like us. Didn't know about JAL 123.

By: rokabiri

rokabiri — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 10:03:42 -0800

Kyu Sakamoto and Izumi Yakimura are two of my, what some call rokabiri, favorites. thanks!

By: chunking express

chunking express — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 10:31:30 -0800

Wicked post, I can't wait to listen to all the covers. The original song is excellent.

By: jdl

jdl — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 10:35:11 -0800

Thanks for this post--this is the first song my parent's danced to in maybe 62 or 63!

By: ilsa

ilsa — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 10:48:34 -0800

The ironic part about changing the name to make it easier to pronounce is that most English speakers mispronounce it.

By: Oriole Adams

Oriole Adams — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 11:29:23 -0800

Mental Floss is ahead of the game!

By: Malor

Malor — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 13:34:20 -0800

Anyone have a mirror? It's downloading at 0.3k/second. Will take like eight HOURS at the present speed. :-)

By: carter

carter — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 13:45:00 -0800

Yoinks! Apologies for the bandwidth issues. It's always worked smoothly for me. I guess I didn't envisage the effect of hordes of MeFi Sakamoto fans descending on it :O

By: matteo

matteo — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 13:54:11 -0800

even if I couldn't download any of it, thanks for the post, I guess. it's a very cool song

By: salad spork

salad spork — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 14:22:04 -0800

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 15:06:48 -0800

I can't wait until the site comes back up, if it ever does. I want every single one of these MP3s. (I'm the guy who calls WQSR on their "Sing For Your Song Weekends" and requests Sakamoto Kyuu-chan, much to the DJs' alarm."

By: alumshubby

alumshubby — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 15:07:21 -0800

I gave up on the link and Gnutella'd this bad boy -- for research purposes only, I swear! I grew up in easy-listening "beautiful music" hell audiowise (what can I say, my parents were WW II generation), so I instantly recognized the melody even though I'm sure I've never heard this original version of it. As soon as I heard the song, I was floored by Kyu Sakamoto's singing. If his English had been up to it, he could've been an American pop sensation to rival Neil Sedaka and Pat Boone. The sound of it is such that I can easily imagine it might've been popular in the US in the early Sixties despite the language barrier.

By: kuatto

kuatto — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 16:07:03 -0800

JAl 123: (GPWS) SINK RATE (GPWS) WHOOPWHOOP (GPWS) PULL UP (GPWS) PULL UP

By: sour cream

sour cream — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 18:05:25 -0800

The correct title is actually "Ue o mite aruko." (Mite being the -te form of the verb miru which means to look.) "Muite" would be a conjugation of the verb "muku" which, to my knowledge, does not exist. :) Wrong, salad spork. "muku" does exist and means roughly "to face something." So literally, the song's title means "Let's walk while facing upward" although a more idiomatic translation might be "Let's look up when we walk" or "Keep walking with your head up", meaning be optimistic, don't let the daily drudgery keep you down, have dreams etc.

By: dhruva

dhruva — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 21:39:03 -0800

conditional [this is good]- I can't wait to hear this now.

By: 235w103

235w103 — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 00:58:45 -0800

Is the site completely gone now? Is there a mirror somewhere?

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 01:54:56 -0800

For whatever bizarre reason, this song entered my head the other day. I only know it because I had possession of my aunt's 45 collection at one time. Interesting to know the year, I think she may have been a senior that year. I'm amazed to find a post on MeFi about it. I agree, his voice was wonderful. I only recall ever having heard one cover, don't remember who's.

By: litlnemo

litlnemo — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 02:08:33 -0800

I think it was A Taste of Honey who had a cover hit of it in about 1978. That's the one I'm familiar with, though at the time I did hear Casey Kasem play a bit of the original on American Top 40.