Sukiyaki

As I had mentioned in my previous post, I love the song Sukiyaki.  Bird Thonghai sang it in a soap I saw years ago.  My memory is kind of sketchy, but I think when he was singing the song, he was sitting in the floor at a low table… he might have on a Japanese outfit… he sang the song in Japanese.  I fell in love with his voice.  I didn’t understand what he was singing, but I loved the song.  The American version is also great, but the Japanese one is beautiful because of the lyrics … the images are poignant and touching. The words in this song lingers even after the last note dies out. It reminds me of the sweet fragrant smell of honeysuckle that clings to my senses even though I no longer have the blossoms underneath my nose. It’s sweetness and beauty is always there in my collection of memories and thoughts… waiting for me to reach for it when I need or want it. Just like the honeysuckle, I have filed away the memory of how that song makes me feel, temporarily set aside, but never forgotten.

A song is memorable to me when it leaves an image imprinted on my mind long after I have listened to it. The portrayal of love and lost in this song still affects me in a profound way. I love the lines “I look up when I walk by so my tears won’t fall” because I think all of us can identify with the times where we struggle to hold in our tears for whatever reasons and force ourselves to swallow the lump in our throats… the unmistaken wetness welling up in our eyes and our refusal to let those tears fall.