Janice Marie Johnson &
A Taste Of Honey - THEN
PART THREE
By the Summer of 1980, things had begun to get REALLY weird. The "Disco Sucks" backlash had grabbed hold of America. Suddenly, all of those irreverent personalities & "happening" fashions of just a year before, were now the grist of jokes for late-night TV & just about everyone else looking for a laugh. Almost as quickly as mainstream America had embraced Disco, it bastardized it even quicker.
Record labels, whom had forced veteran Soul artists to record Disco music, began dropping these acts from their labels. In their haste to mine the golden goose that was Disco, they recorded & released all kinds of garbage. They had mistakenly believed that all that they had to do to make hit records, was to record songs with a fast beat, lots of strings, four-on-the-floor beats, girly choruses & it would sell & sell big.
Suddenly, these labels who shipped countless records in Platinum numbers, began having these records returned unsold in like numbers. Radio was down on Disco as well & a new "fad" called "Rap" came along & in a few short years, would completely spin the music world on its collective ear.
It was in this environment, that in the Summer of 1980, A Taste Of Honey released the single, "Rescue Me". "Rescue Me" was released in the Summer of 1980 & proved to be one of the most popular R&B songs of the Summer. It peaked at # 16 R&B & reflecting the climate of the music industry, as well as radio at that time, failed to chart Pop altogether.
The popularity of "Rescue Me" was such, that it was immediately sampled by the Ultimate MCs for their "Ultimate Rap" & again, 13 years later by Positive K for his rap hit, "I Got A Man". Their new LP, "Twice As Sweet" was released shortly thereafter.
Once again, Janice & Marie were the only ones pictured on the front. Unlike the first LP however, there was no oversight. The group had been struggling with internal differences. As a result, Perry & Don decided to leave the group, leaving Janice Marie & Hazel to continue as a duo.
The next single released from the LP, was "I'm Talkin' 'Bout You" & it peaked at # 64 R&B. Once again, it received no Pop action. However, they would find huge Pop success with their next release. The single proved to be one of their biggest & most enduring hits. Sadly, that success proved to be a source of much pain & disappointment for Janice Marie. That song was named Sukiyaki.
Sukiyaki was originally a #1 Pop hit in the Summer of 1963 for the Japanese singer, Kyu Sakamoto. It was a R&B hit as well, peaking at # 18 on the R&B chart. In Japan, it was released as "Ue O Muite Aruko", translating in English, "I Look Up When I Walk".
This song has been interpreted as everything from the death dirge of a man marching to his execution, a love song to a man who was sad & trying to keep his tears from falling, by walking with his head up. As I read the English translation of the lyrics, the meaning is quite vague, as it never addresses the cause of the singers' sadness or his situation.
From reading the translated lyrics of the original, I can honestly say that I don't know what in hell he's referring to. I have read that one of the writers wrote the lyrics after having his heart broken by an actress. As the song was sang in Japanese, perhaps only the writers know the literal meaning of their composition. Vague lyrics aside, it was a bonafide hit here in America.
Janice had sung this song as a young girl & although she didn't know the words of the song, much less what it was saying, she believed that it could a hit. Capitol Records wasn't enthused about the idea, but Janice remained adamant about recording it. Armed with a new theme, as well as the permission of one of the songs' writers, Janice re-wrote the song, marrying it to English lyrics. Then........along came heartbreak!
Unfortunately, after re-writing the song, much to her horror, Janice learned that she had no claim to the song. As it turned out, the writer who had given her his permission to re-write the song, had given up his rights to the song many years before. In order for the song to be included on the LP, Janice had to forfeit any claim to the song.
In what had to be a heart breaking decision, Janice chose to fight for the songs' inclusion on the LP & signed away her claim to the song. Her belief in both the song, as well as the need to break away from the "Disco" stereotype was that strong.
Janice's' faith was vindicated, when "Sukiyaki" hit # 1 on the R&B & # 3 on the Pop charts. "Sukiyaki" was certified Gold. It's popularity was such, that Doug E. Fresh & Slick Rick sampled it for their 1985 Rap classic, La-Di-Da-Di. Unfortunately, in what must be considered one of the music industries cruelest & unfair twists of fate, Janice receives no royalties for re-writing this # 1 Gold record. In spite of this, her faith was rewarded with what has proven to be one of R&B/Pop Music's most enduring ballads ever.
ON TO A TASTE OF HONEY -PART FOUR
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