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Lyr Add: Meet Me in Kyoto Moto'

Lighter 17 Apr 25 - 07:33 PM
Jack Horntip 27 Apr 25 - 11:53 AM
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Subject: Lyr Add: Meet Me in Kyoto Moto
From: Lighter
Date: 17 Apr 25 - 07:33 PM

In the mid eighties I met a "non-traditional" (i.e., "older") undergraduate student named Isaac Yost. He was from Pennsylvania. Yost had serve in the USAF in Japan about thirty years earlier.

As I recall, this ( ther than "There Are No Fighter Pilots Down in Hell") was the only Air Force song he knew. It went to the tune of "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis" (1944):

Meet me in Kyoto, Moto,
Meet me at the shrine.
We will take our shoes off, Moto,
Or we'll pay a fine.
We will have some sukiyaki,
And we'll drink a cup of saki:
Meet me in Kyoto, Moto,
Meet me at the shrine.

There are only two Internet appearances (really just one), and the words are virtually the same.

"Kyoyo Moto" literaly means "Kyoto Capital," but the song is thinking of the fictional Japanese spy, Mr. Moto, created in 1935 by John P. Marquand, and was the hero of several very popular novels. He was played on screen by Peter Lorre.

The Japanese allusions combined with the all-American melody make for an amusing commentary on the novelties of Japanese culture as seen through western eyes.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Meet Me in Kyoto Moto'
From: Jack Horntip
Date: 27 Apr 25 - 11:53 AM

Several AF songbooks from 1954 to the 1970s have this song.


1954. Songs of the 8th Fighters
See here: https://archive.org/details/1954songsofthe8thfighters/page/13/mode/1up


1954. Stovepipe Serenade: A Collection of Fighter Songs, 1954 Edition
See here: https://archive.org/details/1954stovepipeserenade/page/n9/mode/1up?q=kyoto


1956. Stovepipe Serenade: 1956 Edition
See here: https://archive.org/details/1956stovepipeserenade1956editiongetzcollectionno55/page/60/mode/1up


1956. Stovepipe Serenade 318th FIS
See here: https://archive.org/details/1956stovepipeserenade318thfisgetzcollectionno56/page/60/mode/1up?q=kyoto


1958. Aces High: 317th FIS Songbook
See here: https://archive.org/details/1958aceshigh-317thfissongbook/page/n28/mode/1up?q=kyoto


1950s. 314th Air Division Songbook
See here: https://archive.org/details/1950s314thairdivisionsongbook/page/n5/mode/1up?q=kyoto


1963. Fighter Pilots Song Book
See here: https://archive.org/details/1963fighterpilotssongbookblackwidowsquadron/page/16/mode/1up?q=kyoto


c1967. 354th Tactical Fighter Squadron Training Manual
See here: https://archive.org/details/1967354thtacticalfightersdrntrainingmanual/page/16/mode/1up?q=kyoto


1970s. Untitled Songbook
See here: https://archive.org/details/1970suntitledsongbookmarkthomasviadockery/page/16/mode/1up?q=kyoto


.


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