Ohayo!!! I'm happy! I found a Japanese song with whistlings! It's our first song from a Japanese singer in Japanese language! And I can't understand anything! LOL
First of All, "Ue i Muite Arukō" means "I shall walk looking up", and people use to call it "Sukiyaki" because in Occident it is so much easier to speak than the original name, so the Pye Records gave it the new title when Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen covered the song. Still citing Wikipedia: "The title, sukiyaki (which is a Japanese steamboat dish), 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 (very few of whom could understand the Japanese lyrics anyway). A Newsweek columnist noted that the re-titling was like issuing 'Moon River' in Japan under the title 'Beef Stew'.
"The lyrics tell the story of a man who looks up and whistles while he is walking so that his tears won't fall. The verses of the song describe him doing this through each season of the year. The English lyrics of the version recorded by A Taste of Honey are not a translation of the original Japanese lyrics but a completely different set of lyrics set to the same basic melody. Probably the nearest translation, at least in feel, was recorded by US soul singer Jewel Akens, on ERA records, as "My First Lonely Night" which, although not a literal translation, tells a similar story. A lonely man walks through the night, after losing his love."
Now, a little of SongFacts.com: "This became a hit in the US when a disk jockey in Washington state heard the British version, and started playing the original by Sakamoto. The title remained "Sukiyaki," even though it had nothing to do with the song. Marsha Cunningham explains:
"In 1961-2 I was a high school student at The American School In Japan, living in Zushi, Japan. My dad was a pilot for Japan Airlines. While enjoying a Japanese movie staring Kyu Sakamoto, I heard the most unbelievably beautiful song. I purchased the record at a local shop and brought it back to the states the next year when I attended a girl's boarding school in Sierra Madre, CA. I played it in the dormitory frequently; everyone liked it. One girl took my record home with her on the weekend so her dad could play it on his radio station, and the rest is history!"
Ue o muite arukou
Namida ga kobore naiyouni
Omoidasu harunohi
Hitoribotchi no yoru
Ue o muite arukou
Nijinda hosi o kazoete
Omoidasu natsunohi
Hitoribotchi no yoru
Shiawase wa kumo no ueni
Shiawase wa sora no ueni
Ue o muite arukou
Namida ga kobore naiyouni
Nakinagara aruku
Hitoribotchi no yoru
Whistling
Omoidasu akinohi
Hitoribotchi no yoru
Kanashimi wa hosino kageni
Kanashimi wa tsukino kageni
Ue o muite arukou
Namida ga kobore naiyouni
Nakinagara aruku
Hitoribotchi no yoru
First of All, "Ue i Muite Arukō" means "I shall walk looking up", and people use to call it "Sukiyaki" because in Occident it is so much easier to speak than the original name, so the Pye Records gave it the new title when Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen covered the song. Still citing Wikipedia: "The title, sukiyaki (which is a Japanese steamboat dish), 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 (very few of whom could understand the Japanese lyrics anyway). A Newsweek columnist noted that the re-titling was like issuing 'Moon River' in Japan under the title 'Beef Stew'.
"The lyrics tell the story of a man who looks up and whistles while he is walking so that his tears won't fall. The verses of the song describe him doing this through each season of the year. The English lyrics of the version recorded by A Taste of Honey are not a translation of the original Japanese lyrics but a completely different set of lyrics set to the same basic melody. Probably the nearest translation, at least in feel, was recorded by US soul singer Jewel Akens, on ERA records, as "My First Lonely Night" which, although not a literal translation, tells a similar story. A lonely man walks through the night, after losing his love."
Now, a little of SongFacts.com: "This became a hit in the US when a disk jockey in Washington state heard the British version, and started playing the original by Sakamoto. The title remained "Sukiyaki," even though it had nothing to do with the song. Marsha Cunningham explains:
"In 1961-2 I was a high school student at The American School In Japan, living in Zushi, Japan. My dad was a pilot for Japan Airlines. While enjoying a Japanese movie staring Kyu Sakamoto, I heard the most unbelievably beautiful song. I purchased the record at a local shop and brought it back to the states the next year when I attended a girl's boarding school in Sierra Madre, CA. I played it in the dormitory frequently; everyone liked it. One girl took my record home with her on the weekend so her dad could play it on his radio station, and the rest is history!"
Ue o muite arukou
Namida ga kobore naiyouni
Omoidasu harunohi
Hitoribotchi no yoru
Ue o muite arukou
Nijinda hosi o kazoete
Omoidasu natsunohi
Hitoribotchi no yoru
Shiawase wa kumo no ueni
Shiawase wa sora no ueni
Ue o muite arukou
Namida ga kobore naiyouni
Nakinagara aruku
Hitoribotchi no yoru
Whistling
Omoidasu akinohi
Hitoribotchi no yoru
Kanashimi wa hosino kageni
Kanashimi wa tsukino kageni
Ue o muite arukou
Namida ga kobore naiyouni
Nakinagara aruku
Hitoribotchi no yoru
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