sukiyaki

Why the title Sukiyaki? The explanation is simple: intercultural ignorance. Western DJs needed a song title that was at once easily pronounceable and associated with Japan. So, "Sukiyaki" was it, even though the word is not mentioned in the song

Sakamoto's top 40 moment was largely due to Louis Benjamin, then the head of England's Pye Records. While visiting Japan on business, Benjamin heard Kyu's ode and brought it home for his new artist, jazzman Kenny Ball, to record. The lyrics were dumped. Figuring no one in the world would touch a tune with a title like "Ue O Muite Aruko," Benjamin decided to name the record after one of his favorite culinary delights.

The rerecording got some airplay, but some DJs in Seattle started playing the original in response and it went over better, but the retitling stuck...and there you go.

When the song aired originally, I had no clue as to it's meaning, but I was able to comprehend the sadness of it all.

Then it got bumped from #1 by Easier Said Than Done. That's new thread material.

4pm - harmonised soul
Cover Girls - rnb
Slick Rick sings it on "La di da di"
It definitely gets done acappella by a few rnb acts, but can't think of specific examples right now
Loads of easy listening, "music for lovers" covers
A number of jazz covers
The ventures covered it
There's a 30 second squeezebox version of it on a Styx live album

Cover Girls version up on my blog

Also, A Taste of Honey had a big hit with it in the early '80s.

I love this song!

Proto-Jpop!

I love this song!

This song used to be on this cute little music box my parents had when I was a child. I had no idea it was a big song until they played it on NPR this morning!

The greatest!

<3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUA-DcW1lFc

I love this song!

Excellent in The Double (no clip of how it's actually used, which is good if you haven't seen it--won't ruin the context).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkgRbqs8zJQ

great song.
quoth wikipedia

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 (nor is the word ever uttered throughout); "Sukiyaki" 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".

This is a great book.

https://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15874-9/sayonara-amerika-sayonara-nippon

Looks interesting!