Ted Greene Explores “Sukiyaki” 07/05/00

Ted explores the harmony of “Sukiyaki”. Video Credits: Nick Stasinos 07/05/00

Welcome to my personal video-taped lesson with Ted Greene! This lesson was a follow up to a previous lesson in January of that same year on developing a chord melody arrangement for "'Round Midnight", but typically there are many segues into other topics and songs. In hindsight, these 'detours' turned out to be the 'gems' in the lessons.

As a bonus, taking lessons with Ted was full of all kinds of surprises. My lesson starts out with Ted fixing a leaning bridge pole on my lawsuit Ibanez 2355M (copy of a Gibson ES-175). This was my very first archtop guitar, bought recently from a local artist Brian Davis (that's Brian’s cubist style artwork on David Grisman’s “Hot Dawg” album cover). Ted LOVED that guitar and LOVED working on it. He lowered the action and slanted the bridge slightly to compensate for the string intonation. In conclusion, Ted bestows the virtues of archtop guitars that have that "high platform" such as my Ibanez, an extra sound chamber, a hidden benefit in design, enhancing the sound of the guitar. This video clip starts as Ted completes the setup, hands me the guitar, and I start noodling this familiar melody.

A mega-hit in the early 60’s sung by Kyu Sakamoto. Ted said “Sukiyaki” sounded like a Japanese coffee and I added “saki” because it rhymes with yaki, but it’s actually a Japanese hot-pot dish much like a beef noodle soup. The story goes like this: By the time the song reached England, Louis Benjamin, a British record exec, purposely renamed it after the popular hot-pot meal. After all, who’s gonna remember the song by the name of “Oe o Muite Aruko” in English speaking countries? Smart move! But to be fair, that would be the equivalent of renaming “Moon River” in Japan as “Beef Stew … wider than a mile!” Lol! This song drips of unrequited love! No surprise why A Taste of Honey’s singer Janice-Marie Johnson rewrote the lyrics that way in their 1980 version. Check out 4 P.M.’s a cappella version from 1994. A personal favorite!

Ted lays it out: Melody with chords, a brief stop at 1642 Baroque Street to compare suspended chords with an appoggiatura, then crosses a short bridge before heading home by way of playing the melody entirely in forth intervals. Wouldn’t this make a really great jazz guitar instrumental?

Song Analysis: 7th measure is actually vi, but Ted subs it by playing the ii chord early.
||: I | vi | I | vi | I | iii | ii | V | I | ii | IV | III7+ | vi IV | iii ii | I IV | iii ii :||
Bridge: A hybrid of the original and what Ted was playing
| IV | IV | iii | iii | iv | iv | iii | ii V ||

Did I hear it in a movie, on TV, like in a western? How could I have confused this with the likes of “A Home in the Meadow” (i.e. “Greensleeves”) from “How the West Was Won” (1963)? Well, it does share an affinity harmonically with some western themes as Ted demonstrates by playing a couple early TV show themes from “Maverick” (1957) and “Cheyenne” (1955). A stretch? Yeah, maybe! But, it was still a lot of fun!

Sayonara!