Songoftheday 8/1/19 - It's all because of you I'm feeling sad and blue, you went away now my life is just a rainy day...ori
from the album Now's The Time (1995)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #8 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 23
Today's song of the day comes from the pop vocal group 4 P.M. (For Positive Music), who came together in Baltimore before moving the act to New York City, where they recorded and released their debut album Now's The Time. Benefiting from the spurt in popularity of a cappella-style neo-doo wop music heralded by the likes of Boyz II Men and Shai, the group's first single was also a throwback, a cover of a song that had already been a big hit twice before. "Sukiyaki", written originally in Japanese by Rokusuke Ei and Hachidai Nakamura, had nothing to do with the culinary dish the song is named for, but rather a despondent feeling for a lost cause (in the writers' case, from a demonstration against the American post-war occupation of Japan) which could be construed to be a broken love affair (though that would be only to people who spoke the language). At first titled "Ue o Muite Arukō" ("I Look Up As I Walk"), the song was first recorded successfully by Japanese actor and singer Kyu Sakamoto. Already popular as a band singer in his homeland, "Ue o Muite Arukō" was his debut solo track, and ended up topping the chart in Japan in 1961. Two years later, a British record executive brought the song to the UK, at first as an instrumental done by jazz group Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen, which reached the #10 spot in Britain, and then as the retitled "Sukiyaki" vocal version by Sakamoto which peaked at #6 there. Eventually it crossed the Atlantic, where it became the only Japanese-language #1 hit single to date, spending three weeks at the top of Billboard magazine's pop Hot 100 chart in 1963. Kyu enjoyed a career of success stemming from this, but his life was cut short in 1985 when he was one of the casualties of the Japan Airlines Flight 123 disaster that killed over 500 people.
In 1980, soul-disco group and Grammy Best New Artist winners A Taste Of Honey covered the song in name and music for their third album Twice As Sweet, but instead of translating the Japanese lyrics from the original, interpolated the meaning from Ei's song to more accommodate the broken heart story. Released as the third single from the record after two that failed to even reach the pop chart, their version of the song topped both the R&B and Adult Contemporary charts in 1981, and rose to #3 on the American pop Hot 100...
Thirteen years later, siblings Roberto and Reney Pena along with Martiz Ware and Larry McFarland as 4 P.M. took the Taste Of Honey version and revamped it as a doo-wop number for their take on the song. It became their first and biggest success...
4 P.M.'s cover of the song brought "Sukiyaki" into the American pop top ten for a third time in February of 1995. The song also went to #17 on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart in Billboard, as well as crossing over to their R&B list at #75. Internationally, the single was a huge success Down Under, peaking at #3 in Australia and #5 in New Zealand, while peaking at #7 in Canada.
Despite the success of their "Sukiyaki", 4PM were unable to continue that momentum. The second single from their debut album, "Lay Down Your Love", despite being a top-40 hit in Australia at #13, failed to reach the American pop chart, only "bubbling under" the Hot 100 at #107. In 1997, the group released their sophomore album A Light In The Dark, that included the single "I Gave You Everything", which also "bubbled under" at #124, but did manage to be a small R&B hit at #67. Leaving their label as well as Martiz Ware, the group had continued on for a while, releasing a few studio albums, most recently Tracks 4 A Mass Movement in 2008.
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"Sukiyaki" and "I Look Up As I Walk" has been covered by countless musicians, with many having some sort of success with the song. In 1963 (the year Kyu's version hit in the U.S.), the Dutch Indonesian group the Blue Diamonds took a German-language translation to #2 on the German singles chart...
That same year, American Clyde Beavers spent a week on the country music chart at #21 with his rendition, the first English-language version to become popular...
Latin music legend Selena covered the classic on her self-titled debut album in 1990...
In 1994, Snoop Dogg interpolated the chorus for his track "Lodi Dodi" (sung by Nancy Fletcher) from his debut album Doggystyle. The track climbed to #63 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart...
And just last year in 2018, dance music producer G.M. Hat covered the song for the dancefloor with singer Alina Renae, and made it to #19 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart...
Finally, here's 4pm making a live appearance on Japanese television in 1995...
Up tomorrow: Another vocal group specializing in acappella aren't standing up.
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