Music in Yi Yi

--The music director is Edward Yang's wife, a classical musician.

--NJ is a fan of 50s and 60s American music, in part a vestige of American influence on Taiwan during that time period. He sings "Sha Na Na" and an Elvis song at one point.

--The piano piece Ting-Ting plays is a version of George Gershwin's "Summertime." The song is used ironically in the sense that the family is struggling with the Grandmother's incapacity.

--The song Mr. Ota plays on the piano is a famous Japanese pop song--"Ue wo muite arukou," by Kyu Sakamoto. It is known as "Sukiyaki" in the U.S., and it was the first #1 song in the U.S. that was not in English (in 1964). The first lines, translated, "I look up when I walk so the tears won't fall /Remembering those happy spring days / But tonight I'm all alone." You'll notice it's sung in a rather upbeat manner despite its subject matter. (The melody was used for several American R&B songs in the 1980s, keeping the name "Sukiyaki." Why we renamed the song after a type of noodle, I don't know.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtXQ31F1A-k

--After Mr. Ota finishes the Sakamoto song, he launches into Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata." Notice that the song moves from diegetic to nondiegetic sound. First, it's a striking contrast: a piano bar suddenly flooded with classical music. Next, it reflects the mood as NJ does the middle-age equivalent of drunk dialing when he leaves a message for his ex-girlfriend.