According to this site:
When I first arrived in Korea I was told the most popular song there was "China Night". This was a Japanese song that was picked up by the GI's on R&R and brought back to Korea. All you hear on this site is the melody. The words, in japanese sound like: "she has no yoyo". When I moved to Japan a year later it was still popular. I found this music on a Japanese site of old popular songs. It was titled as: "The Night of China" or in japanese: "Shina No Yoru". The japanese character for the letter "r" is pronounced not as we would but has a softer sound so the word "yoru" does sound a bit like yoyo.
The original provider of this track to the Internet Archive didn't know the vocalist, but a commenter on the post positively identified it as Ho Mei Fan and the Columbia Orchestra and also provided the lyrics:
Minato no akari murasaki no yo ni
Noboru Junk no yume no fune
Ah-ah wasurare nu kokyu no ne-e
Shina no yoru yume no koru
Shina no yoru Shina no yoru yo
Yanagi no madoni rantan yurete
Aka torikago Shina Musume
Ah-ah yarusenai-i ai no utah
Shina no yora yume no yoru
Shina no yoru Shina no yoru yo
Kimi matsu yoi wa obashima no ame ani
Hana mo chiru chiru beni mo chiru
Ah-ah wakarete mo wasuraryoh ka
Shina no yoru yume no yoru
Ho Mei Fan - China Night (mp3)
Ha! My Grandfather, who was a marine on Guadalcanal and Korea, has a copy of this 78! I used to play it on his huge console stereo...not sure if it (the stereo, that is) works anymore. I kind of think it doesn't.
ReplyDeleteIf you’re interested in “Shina No Yoru”, I just posted the original 78rpm version by Watanabe Hamako on my blog : http://ceintsdebakelite.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/watanabe-hamako-shina-no-yoru-china-night-she-aint-got-no-yoyo/
ReplyDeleteGreetings,
Ceints de bakélite
I have an Album that my Father brought back from Korea when he was in the Army. I have the words for this song and also NAGASAKI BATTERFLY (may be a mis print for BUTTERFLY). Do these Albums have any value to them. Do not want to sell, just curious. Thanks
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