"Sukiyaki" | ||||||||
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Single by Kyu Sakamoto | ||||||||
from the album Sukiyaki and Other Japanese Hits (US) | ||||||||
B-side | "Anoko No Namaewa Nantenkana" | |||||||
Released | 1961 (Japan) 1963 (US, UK) |
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Format | 7" vinyl | |||||||
Genre | Pop, Kayōkyoku, Japanese pop | |||||||
Length | 3:05 | |||||||
Label |
Toshiba-EMI (Japan) Capitol/EMI Records (US and Canada) HMV/EMI Records (UK) |
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Writer(s) |
Rokusuke Ei (lyrics) Hachidai Nakamura (music) |
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"Sukiyaki" | ||||
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Single by A Taste of Honey | ||||
from the album Twice As Sweet | ||||
B-side | "Don't You Lead Me On" | |||
Released | March 1981 | |||
Recorded | 1980 | |||
Genre | R&B • Quiet Storm | |||
Length | 3:41 | |||
Label | Capitol B-4953 | |||
Writer(s) |
Hachidai Nakamura Janice Marie Johnson (English lyrics) |
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Producer(s) | George Duke | |||
A Taste of Honey singles chronology | ||||
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"Sukiyaki" | ||||||||||
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Single by 4 P.M. | ||||||||||
from the album Now's the Time | ||||||||||
Released | September 6, 1994 | |||||||||
Format | CD and cassette single | |||||||||
Recorded | 1994 | |||||||||
Length | 2:42 | |||||||||
Label | London Records (UK) | |||||||||
Writer(s) |
Hachidai Nakamura Janice Marie Johnson (English lyrics) |
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4 P.M. singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Sukiyaki" | ||||||||||
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Single by Selena | ||||||||||
from the album Selena | ||||||||||
Released | September 13, 1989 | |||||||||
Format | CD, 7" single | |||||||||
Recorded | 1988 | |||||||||
Genre | Latin | |||||||||
Length | 3:01 | |||||||||
Label | EMI | |||||||||
Writer(s) | Hachidai Nakamura | |||||||||
Producer(s) | A.B. Quintanilla III | |||||||||
Selena singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Ue o Muite Arukō" (上を向いて歩こう?, "I Look Up As I Walk") is a Japanese-language song that was performed by Japanese crooner Kyu Sakamoto, and written by lyricist Rokusuke Ei and composer Hachidai Nakamura. Ei wrote the lyrics while walking home from a Japanese student demonstration protesting continued US Army presence, expressing his frustration at the failed efforts.
In Anglophone countries, it is best known under the alternative title "Sukiyaki", a term with no relevance to the song's lyrics, as sukiyaki is a Japanese dish of cooked beef.
The song reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the United States in 1963, one of the few non-Indo-European languages' songs to have done so.
It is one of the best-selling singles of all time, having sold over 13 million copies worldwide. The original Kyu Sakamoto recording also went to number eighteen on the R&B chart. In addition, the single spent five weeks at number one on the Middle of the Road charts. The recording was originally released in Japan by Toshiba in 1961. It topped the Popular Music Selling Record chart in the Japanese magazine Music Life for three months, and was ranked as the number one song of 1961 in Japan.
Well-known English-language cover versions with altogether different lyrics include "My First Lonely Night" by Jewel Akens in 1966 and "Sukiyaki" by A Taste of Honey in 1980. The song has also been recorded in other languages.