YOU ATE ALL OVER ME!

YOU ATE ALL OVER ME!
                                                                                   KENNETH E. HALL      8 January, 2016.      Houston

上を向いて歩こう

It was a hot, blustery summer day in New Orleans. It was 1963. Hardly a breeze rustled the leaves, so there was no relief to the sweltering heat. I was 11 years old and happily engaged in playing with plastic toy soldiers on my grandparents' front porch. In those days there were no PC's or laptops to monopolize kids' attention. They actually played outside!

On the porch it was shady, at least, and I concentrated on an epic battle taking place on a far distant planet, so I didn't even notice the heat. The air was filled with music, coming from my grandfather's Sony radio he brought back from Japan a few years ago.

The Number One hit song of the day was, of course, 

上を向いて歩こう  What? ....Don't remember it?

Maybe if I write it in English: "Ue o Muite Arukō".
Still don't recall? Oh, that's right, they never told us the REAL name of the song. They just told us it was called "Sukiyaki." Admittedly a strange name for a hit song, Sukiyaki is a popular dish in Japan, and yummy, too, I might add.

Another funny thing about the song was, it was sung in JAPANESE!! It had a catchy melody, one could sing along to. For some reason, it got lots of airplay, and I quickly picked up the tune. As for the words, well, that was a different matter entirely. I had not the slightest idea what the song was about, save that it was most probably about eating Japanese food. Yep, that must be it. It didn't matter — it was a great song.

I made up silly words to the music, and tried to mimic what I heard in Japanese. My spurious lyrics 

were:

"You ate all over me!

I've been to Tokyo.

You ate me not - over there - maccaroni! ...."

You get the idea. Soon enough, my grandfather came to the front room to call me to dinner, which we ate promptly at 11:30am. As he appeared in the doorway, he heard me singing my gibberish version, and was not impressed with my linguistic prowess.

"Oh, that's very nice!" He complained, "You ate all over me!"

I went into hysterics! He had no slight idea what I was singing about. 

Years later I did some research into the history of the song. It was by a Japanese guy, Rokosuke Ei, who wrote the lyrics while walking home from a Japanese student demonstration protesting continued US Army presence, expressing his frustration at the failed efforts. "Ue o Muite Arukō" means "I look up as I walk."

Sukiyaki is Japanese-language song that was performed by Japanese crooner Kyu Sakamoto (坂本 九), and the song became a Number One hit in the United States, the only Japanese language song ever to do so. It is ironic that something written to express sorrow at failure to oust U.S. troops from Japan was so fondly embraced by the very nation that sent those troops in the first place.

Sadly, Sakamoto died on August 12, 1985, in the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123, at the time the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history.

I really like his song! in fact, every time I hear it, I recall that particular summer day in 1963. One day, many, many years later, while walking through a deserted tunnel at a Narita, Japan railway station, I whistled Sukiyaki loudly, and with great emotion. The whistling echoed on the tile-lined tunnel walls, and sounded great! This was one of my first trips to that faraway land, and I was so very excited to be walking the streets there. It was always my dream to go to Japan, and now I had finally made it!!! 

As I emerged from the tunnel, to my great surprise, there was a tremendous crowd of Japanese just outside the tunnel exit, as well as lined atop a pedestrian bridge xrossing overhead All had stopped bheir bustling about and stood there and stared into the tunnel - - curious to see the source of this whistling. They all broke out in spontaneous applause when they saw me!

One of my favorite songs had provided me with a warm, entheusiastic welsome to a land I had longed to visit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C35DrtPlUbc

Below are JAPANESE, Romaji, and ENGLISH lyrics.

上を向いて歩う

涙がこぼれないように

思い出す 春の日

一人ぽっちの夜

上を向いて歩こう

にじんだ星をかぞえて

思い出す 夏の日

一人ぽっちの夜

幸せは 雲の上に

幸せは 空の上に

上を向いて歩こう

涙がこぼれないように

泣きながら 歩<

一人ぽっちの夜

(口笛…)

思い出す 秋の日

一人ぽっちの夜

悲しみは星のかげに

悲しみは月のかげに

上を向いて歩こう

涙がこぼれないように

泣きながら 歩く

一人ぽっちの夜

一人ぽっちの夜

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!

I look up when I walk

So the tears won't fall

Remembering those happy spring days

But tonight I'm all alone!

I look up when I walk

Counting the stars with tearful eyes

Remembering those happy summer days

But tonight I'm all alone 

Happiness lies beyond the clouds

Happiness lies above the sky 

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)

Remembering those happy autumn days

But tonight I'm all alone 

Sadness hides in the shadow of the stars

Sadness lurks in the shadow of the moon 

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