Day 3 – A Song That Makes You Happy
Turning Japanese – The Vapors
The musical landscape is littered with one hit wonders, and The Vapors are no exception. Every time I hear “Turning Japanese” I wind up smiling. There is the rocking guitar riff, the silly, but sincere, lyrics and some the video is simply bizarre.
I was always somewhat aware of the song and enjoyed it enough after it was initially released in 1981 or so. It would come on the radio and I would sing along, and then as the years wore on it would simply not get airplay and I wouldn’t hear it much, if at all.
When I was in the Army one of the places I frequented was a restaurant & bar called The Bulldog in Monterey, California. This establishment had a jukebox filled with a bunch of different singles, most of which were “pop rock lite” of the era (1988-89) which my best friend and I didn’t care too much for. There were a few songs, however, that were on the jukebox that we liked. I don’t remember any of the others, but “Turning Japanese” was one of them.
Every time we went into The Bulldog, we went over to the jukebox, plunked in our change, and selected all the songs we liked, starting with “Turning Japanese”. No matter what else we played, we made sure that “Turning Japanese” was in the playlist, sometimes twice. It got to the point where the proprietors (brothers) threatened to take the song off of the jukebox. They knew we were there whenever the song came on, since apparently we were the only ones who would play it.
Ever since that time, I have had a good association with that song. Good times. Now, so many years removed from the time and place, the song still makes me smile, not just because of the time where I first became really connected with the song, but for the inane joy it has.
http://youtu.be/gEmJ-VWPDM4 (Turning Japanese On YouTube)