A Taste of Honey -- Boogie Oogie Oogie

 

The disco/R&B band A Taste of Honey has had residency on KKP since the blog was three weeks old. I was tackling one of the great kayo classics in "Ue wo Muite Arukou" (上を向いて歩こう）, aka "Sukiyaki", when I also mentioned that A Taste of Honey provided their own cover on the song in the early 1980s...which proved to be their second and final hit in their career thus far.

However, as commendable as their elegant cover of the iconic Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）song was, their first big hit has been the one that has been usually recognized when it comes to A Taste of Honey. The strange thing is that when I first heard their 1978 debut single "Boogie Oogie Oogie", it was through a TV performance of this song by then-teen sibling stars Kristy and Jimmy McNichol on some sort of nighttime special. With the whole mainstream disco craze, the McNichols' popularity at the time, and the novelty song-esque nature of that title, I actually did assume that this was the McNichols' tune, front and centre.

And yes, the above has Kristy and Jimmy, but no, it isn't for "Boogie Oogie Oogie".

So, it was actually many years later that I found out the truth that "Boogie Oogie Oogie" was by A Taste of Honey, and yeah as performed by Janice-Marie Johnson (and Hazel Payne) while slapping that bass hard and wearing those heels, maybe even the folks who were thinking that disco started to suck would have been willing to give a reprieve to this one. Heck, if I had been born a decade earlier, I probably would have been rarin' to run to my nearest disco and hit the dance floor. My dancing would have sucked for sure but I would have had oodles of fun doing so.

"Boogie Oogie Oogie" was not only a hit on the dance floor but also a hit outside of it as well. It hit No. 1 on Billboard's pop, disco and soul charts in September 1978, and according to the Wikipedia article for the song, it also became the first certified Platinum single in the history of Capitol Records by selling over 2 million records. I would probably posit that the chairman's office became a disco dance floor in celebration. 

So, we've got one of the primo disco songs coming out in 1978. What else was winning at the Japan Record Awards that year? 

Grand Prize: Pink Lady -- UFO

Best New Artist: Machiko Watanabe -- Kamome ga Tonda Hi （かもめが翔んだ日）

Gold Prize: Naoko Ken -- Kamome wa Kamome （かもめはかもめ）

Kyu Sakamoto -- Ue wo Muite Arukou (上を向いて歩こう）Part 2

                                 

Continuing on from Part 1...

"Ue wo Muite Arukou", despite all of its cheerful music and Kyu Sakamoto's grinning demeanor, is a deceptively depressing song. The lyrics hints at the singer having gone through some major crisis and trying to keep spirits up. The title translates as "Let's Walk Looking Up".

Here is my translation of the lyrics:

Let's walk looking up

So that the tears don't spill over

Remembering that Spring Day

A lonely night

Let's walk looking up

Counting the blurry stars

Remembering that Summer Day

A lonely night

Happiness is above the clouds

Happiness is above the sky

Let's walk looking up

So that the tears don't spill over

Walking while crying

A lonely night

Remembering that Fall Day

A lonely night

Sadness is in the shadows of the stars

Sadness is in the shadow of the moon

Let's walk looking up

So that the tears don't spill over

Walking while crying

A lonely night

A lonely night

Just wanna curl up into a fetal position, doesn't it?

But as I said, the song has become a uber-standard on both sides of the Pacific. One of the more successful covers of "Sukiyaki" was in 1981 by an R & B group called A Taste of Honey, with vastly different lyrics, of course. And that's their video above.

Still, I'm a bit uncertain how it became the legend it is now. I mean, I like the tune myself and I've been listening to it since I was virtually a baby. But how did it take hold of an American public, the vast majority of which cannot speak Japanese? It just goes to show that music can be a language that can go across and beyond linguistic borders, although nearly 50 years later, there has yet to be a Japanese pop song that can vie with Beyonce or Maroon 5. But acts like AKB 48 and YMO have made their own niche inroads into the States and beyond over the years. And Saori Yuki, veteran pop singer, struck some pay dirt late last year with an orchestra called Pink Martini on an album called "1969".  There is always hope.

And finally, it's been interesting to note that via YouTube and other sites I've investigated that comments have been almost fawning of this tune. 

Ah...and here is a photo of the actual sukiyaki. I love this one, too, although I'm a bit iffy on the raw egg.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jooon/4667069268
by Jon Åslund