I heard this song yesterday on Facebook, where the melody was used as background for a video of a man walking two kimono-clad cats in Kyoto. I hadn’t heard “Sukiyaki” in many years (it came out in the U.S. when I was 13), but I remembered the tune instantly, though the words of course are in Japanese. The Japanese title was changed for play in other countries, but changed into the name of a dish, for crying out loud. And I didn’t know how popular the song was (see below).
It’s a song of loneliness, though it inspired by politics. The details below are from Wikipedia.
Ue o Muite Arukō” (Japanese: 上を向いて歩こう; “I Look Up as I Walk”), alternatively titled “Sukiyaki“, is a song by Japanese crooner Kyu Sakamoto, first released in Japan in 1961. The song topped the charts in a number of countries, including the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1963. The song grew to become one of the world’s best-selling singles of all time, selling over 13 million copies worldwide.
Sakamoto died at 43 in a plane crash.
“Ue o Muite Arukō” (pronounced [ɯeomɯiteaɾɯkoꜜː]) was written by lyricist Rokusuke Ei and composer Hachidai Nakamura. The lyrics tell the story of a man who looks up while he is walking so that his tears will not fall, with the verses describing his memories and feelings. Ei wrote the lyrics while walking home from participating in the 1960 Anpo protests against the U.S.–Japan Security Treaty, expressing his frustration and dejection at the failed efforts to stop the treaty. However, the lyrics were purposely generic so that they might refer to any lost love
In the US, “Sukiyaki” topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1963, one of the few non-English songs to have done so, and the first in a non-European language. It was the only single by an Asian artist to top the Hot 100 until the 2020 release of “Dynamite” by the South Korean band BTS. “Sukiyaki” also peaked at number eighteen on the Billboard R&B chart, and spent five weeks at number one on the Middle of the Road chart.
Can you name an American chart-topper in a European language? I can!
Here’s “Sukiyaki,” which has both the Japanese words written in English transliteration as well as the English translation.
What a blast from the past! I must have been 8 when this was popular, but I also remember it well!
I also remember the tune well. It reappears now and then when a scene needs to evoke Japan. My favorite bit from the Wikipedia article is:
A Newsweek columnist compared this renaming to issuing “Moon River” in Japan under the title “Beef Stew”.[6]
I have not heard this song, but the melody really sounds like a song that I have heard.
As for European but non-English chart toppers, without looking any up, I would guess “Rock Me Amadeus”.
I’ve always liked that recording.
Dominique, by The Singing Nun
Guantanamera, by the Sandpipers
Both from the sixties.
The seventies (I think) Eres Tu. Don’t remember the group.
Mocedades.
Erm … English isn’t an European language? There, all cliches about Americans in just one innocent question. 😂
Apart from that: 99 Luftballons, La Bamba, Volare …
Love the song it’s been too long since I’ve heard it?
I thought of La Bamba and volare, as well.
Earlier, there were C’est Si Bon by Eartha Kitt, and Bei Mir Bist du Schein, a big hit for the Andrews Sisters. Edith Piaf’s La Vie en Rose was also a hit.
Mas que nada by Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 (in Portuguese).
Wooden Heart by Elvis Presley (partly in German).
Dominique
The first foreign-language song to be a #1 hit in the UK charts was “Je t’aime… moi non plus” performed by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. It made #2 in Ireland, but only #58 in the US.
The infamous Bad Bunny had a #1 earlier this year with “DtMF” sung in Spanish. (The title stands for Debí Tirar Más Fotos / I should have taken more photos.)
If memory serves me, Sakamoto had survived (unharmed, I think) a previous air crash.
Regarding music evoking Japan, I recommend the 1957 film “Sayonara,” the title song by Irving Berlin and scored by Franz Waxman. Also the soundtrack of the 1967 Bond film “You Only Live Twice,” score by John Barry. And for good measure for SE Asia (Malaysia) the 1964 film, “The 7th Dawn,” score by Riz Ortolani, the title song lyrics by Paul Francis Webster, and (Hong Kong) the 1955 film “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing,” Oscar-winning title song by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster, scored I think by Alfred Newman, Randy Newman’s uncle.
I lived in Japan in the early 60s as a child and remember the song known as Sukiyaki well, as it was ubiquitous there at the time. A pretty tune.
the plane crash he died in was worst single plane crash in history. 520 people died. boeing engineers messed up the repair of the rear pressure bulkhead of the boeing 747 and it gave way several years after the repair.
I used to walk to junior high singing this song loudly and off key. Thank you for a wonderful memory.
Hmm, I don’t think I ever heard this before.