Teresa Teng -- Toki no Nagare ni Mi wo Makase （時の流れに身をまかせ）

Back in my ancient Friday and Saturday nights at Kuri, my friends and I were the regulars there. There were also singers we emulated who were also regulars there as well in that karaoke lounge: Seiko Matsuda, Anzen Chitai, Checkers....and Teresa Teng（テレサテン）. The late singer was perfect for karaoke at that time. Her songs gently straddled the fence between enka and Japanese pop under the large umbrella of kayo kyoku.

"Toki no Nagare ni Mi wo Makase"was one of those songs that got heavily sung whenever we were there. I never tackled it myself but a couple of my friends seemed to be in charge of that one. Directly translated as "Giving Myself to the Flow of Time", it's officially known as "I Only Care About You". Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒きとよひさ） and composed by Takashi Miki（三木たかし）, the song also has that added dimension of internationality....I realize the previous word doesn't exist but I think it does adequately describe this song along with a number of other songs she sang. It not only sounds Japanese but somehow, it has a pan-Asian quality....it would feel just at home in Taipei, Manila or Hong Kong as it would in Tokyo.

And sure enough, after its release in February 1986, its popularity spread to a lot of the Asian countries. In Japan, it earned at least three awards, including the Japan Record Award Gold Prize, and went as high as No. 6 on the Oricon weeklies. Overall for the year, Teng's 16th single came in at No. 62, but at the end of 1987, its yearly ranking actually went up 20 places!

Perhaps it's a figment of my imagination but I've always thought that "Toki no Nagare ni Mi wo Makase"was a bit of a spiritual cousin to Hibari Misora's（美空ひばり） "Kawa no Nagare no You ni"（川の流れのように）, because of  the slight similarity in titles and also due to their wistful, contemplative but proud melodies. However, lyrically, Teng's song is a bit more conventional in that the words talk of her deep devotion to the partner she loves.

Teng was able to perform "Toki no Nagare" twice on the Kohaku Utagassen: the first time was at the end of 1986 and her second time was 5 years later. So strong was the song that it has become a standard in terms of how many other singers have covered it over the years. Enka veterans like Hiroshi Itsuki and Shinichi Mori have given their tribute as has rocker Yuki Katsuragi and folk/pop singer Tokiko Kato. But one of the more famous covers was by Hideaki Tokunaga（徳永英明） in his 4th album of cover songs, appropriately titled "Vocalist 4" which came out in 2010. His version is more on the pop ballad side of things with that characteristic Tokunaga tone but with more gravel.

PS. There is an English translation for the lyrics right at lyricstranslate.com You can try out the Japanese title or "I Only Care About You".