Rick, I know the song you are speaking of very well. "Sukiyaki" by Kyu Sakamoto was the number 1 song on the Billboard charts for 3 weeks in early 1963. It was the first song in a foreign language to get into the Billboard Top 100. When I lived in Okinawa, Japan, people always requested it on the Oldies request show ("The Vault.") I learned how to sing it, and it isn't very hard. I also sing "Shima Uta (Island Song)" which is an old Okinawan folk song. "Sukiyaki" however is NOT a folk song. Here's the whole sad story about the song and the performer (I found this on the internet):Sukiyaki
Kyu Sakamoto
- words by Rokusuke Ei, music by Hachidai Nakamura
- #1 hit in 1963 for Kyu Sakamoto. Kyu (pronounced "cue") was one of the 520 people who died in the crash of a Japan Airlines 747 near Tokyo on August 12, 1985. He was 43.
- released in Japan as "Ue O Muite Aruko" (I Look Up When I Walk)
1.) ue o muite arukou
namida ga kobore naiyouni
omoidasu harunohi
hitoribotchi no yoru
2.)ue o muite arukou
nijinda hosi o kazoete
omoidasu natsunohi
hitoribotchi no yoru
(chorus) shiawase wa kumo no ueni
shiawase wa sora no ueni
3.) ue o muite arukou
namida ga kobore naiyouni
nakinagara aruku
hitoribotchi no yoru
(whistling)
4.) omoidasu akinohi
hitoribotchi no yoru
kanashimi wa hosino kageni
kanashimi wa tsukino kageni
5.) ue o muite arukou
namida ga kobore naiyouni
nakinagara aruku
hitoribotchi no yoru
(whistling)
-----------------------
Translation:
1.) I look up when I walk so the tears won't fall
Remembering those happy spring days
But tonight I'm all alone
2.) I look up when I walk, counting the stars with tearful eyes
Remembering those happy summer days
But tonight I'm all alone
3.) Happiness lies beyond the clouds
Happiness lies above the sky
4.)I look up when I walk so the tears won't fall
Though my heart is filled with sorrow
For tonight I'm all alone
(whistling)
(chorus)Remembering those happy autumn days
But tonight I'm all alone
5.) Sadness hides in the shadow of the stars
Sadness lurks in the shadow of the moon
6.)I look up when I walk so the tears won't fall
Though my heart is filled with sorrow
For tonight I'm all alone
-------- It is said that the song was written by Rokusuke Ei when his heart was literally broken with a Japanese actress, Meiko Nakamura. The singer was killed by a plane crash which lost more than 500 lives in 1985.
--Mbo