Yoko Ono's daimoku song

Rosemary Clooney

Youtube is peppered with videos like this. They also have the usual suspects commenting with both "Gee, thank you it changed my life" to "You will suffer in avichi hell".
But if anyone can find Rosemary Clooney singing on the Johnny Carson show:

"Here's a little ditty I learned in Toe-kee-yo,
 Nam- Myoho-Reng-Kyo..."

I'd love to see it again. Early seventies-ish. Better than White Christmas!  

Don't let being alive ruin your day.

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by: joeisuzu @ Tue Jan 24, 2012 at 15:27:41 PM UTC

Mambo Italiano

Joe, I'd love to see that Johnny Carson clip. I wonder if maybe she ad-libbed that line into Mambo Italiano -- http://youtu.be/9prJXEhNhPA  

"If only I had a nickel for every time I've heard someone say that the Soka skunk has changed its stripe." -- auntie

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by: mroaks @ Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 04:24:33 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I prefer Concentrate by Xzibi

I much prefer this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

"Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life and continue to chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo no matter what happens." - Nichiren Daishonin

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by: Ryuei @ Tue Jan 24, 2012 at 21:56:28 PM UTC

So many things wrong

Of course there are so many things wrong with it - Tibetans don't chant Odaimoku, the old man is not even really counting the beads, the Odaimoku is not at all being pronounced correctly (The "mu" and "ho" are both being dropped) - but its catchier, doesn't make me cringe for being too cutesy, and it's got sex, violence, and even a blue Chevy!

I guess I should also say that I suspect Yoko Ono was at best only playing around with the sound of Odaimoku and more likely was cynically mocking it. With Xzibit I get the feeling that he is not so much mocking the Odaimoku as using it as a backdrop for his mocking of California culture and its superficiality, materialism, and tendency to take on Asian cults and/or legitimate traditions that it then twists and dumbs down for its own purposes.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei

"Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life and continue to chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo no matter what happens." - Nichiren Daishonin

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by: Ryuei @ Tue Jan 24, 2012 at 22:02:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Xzibit - Concentrate

Video embedded for easy clicking:

http://youtu.be/Ih7GVaO0qiQ

"If only I had a nickel for every time I've heard someone say that the Soka skunk has changed its stripe." -- auntie

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by: mroaks @ Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 04:31:45 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Music Emporium

This is my favorite abuse of the holy mantra. It's mispronounced, and the whole song is pre-New Age intergalactic hippie shtick. I love how stupid it is.

http://youtu.be/DAmsJHpzGek

"If only I had a nickel for every time I've heard someone say that the Soka skunk has changed its stripe." -- auntie

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by: mroaks @ Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 04:28:35 AM UTC

Chlorox for my Brain!!!

Okay, now I understand why the early punks despised hippies so much.  

"Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life and continue to chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo no matter what happens." - Nichiren Daishonin

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by: Ryuei @ Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 06:19:46 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yoko's Daimoku song

Interestingly, Yoko posted a soundcloud audio link to this on her Facebook/twitter pages a few hours ago.  I've always liked this piece and she sounds sincere to me.  It is comforting to know that John Lennon heard NMRK before he died.

http://soundcloud.com/yokoono/...

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by: Simplify @ Tue Feb 07, 2012 at 01:56:03 AM UTC

Sincere

Simplify, I agree that Yoko sounds sincere. There's a lovely sweetness and simplicity to this song -- childlike in the best sense of the word.

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by: brooke @ Wed Feb 08, 2012 at 17:08:09 PM UTC

[ Parent ]