"Toki no Nagare ni Mi o Makase" (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: ; meaning "Give Yourself to the Flow of Time") is a song recorded by Taiwanese singer

Teresa Teng Teng Li-Chun ( zh, t=鄧麗君, s=, p=Dèng Lìjūn; 29 January 1953 – 8 May 1995), commonly known as Teresa Teng, was a Taiwanese singer, television personality, musician, and philanthropist. Referred to by some as the "Honorific nicknames i ...

in both Japanese and Mandarin. The original version was released as a CD single in Japan on February 21, 1986, for her Japanese studio album of the same name (1986). The following year, Teng recorded a Mandarin Chinese version of the song, titled "I Only Care About You" (

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

: 我只在乎你). It served as a single for her Chinese studio album also of the same name, which was released through Polygram Records on April 1, 1987. The song was a big success in both Japan and the Chinese-speaking world. In Japan, "Toki no Nagare ni Mi o Makase" won the Grand Prix (most prestigious award) at the 1986

Japan Cable Awards are an annual set of music awards, sponsored by the . The awards were presented annually since 1968 and are based on requests from the audience received by cable broadcasters. The awards ended in 2017; Kiyoshi Hikawa, who is a Japanese enka si ...

and the All Japan Cable Broadcasting Awards, making Teng the only non-Japanese artist to have won either award for three consecutive years. In 1997, it was voted the 16th greatest Japanese song of all time in a nationwide survey conducted by the

Japan Broadcasting Corporation , also known by its romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestrial television channels (NHK General TV and NHK ...

(NHK).

Background and release

The original Japanese version "Toki no Nagare ni Mi o Makase" served as the lead single for Teng's Japanese studio album of the same name, released on July 31, 1986. The song was composed by Takashi Miki, with lyrics penned by Toyohisa Araki. "Toki no Nagare ni Mi o Makase" was one of the most popular songs in Japan in 1986, with its parent album selling over 2 million copies. A Mandarin version of the song was recorded with the title of "I Only Care About You" (), with new lyrics penned by Shen Chih. It was included in her Mandarin album of the same name in April 1987. "I Only Care About You" subsequently achieved widespread popularity in mainland China.

Live performances

Teng performed the song live at the 37th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen in 1986, and at the 42nd NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen in 1991. It has been covered by many artists since its release.

Impact and legacy

The song is well known in Asia and has been recorded by musicians into the 21st century in

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and

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

. In a national survey conducted by the

(NHK) in 1997, the song was ranked 16th among the 100 greatest Japanese songs of all time, the highest position for a song by a non-Japanese artist. In a 2010 survey conducted by the Teresa Teng Foundation to determine Teng's most popular hits, "I Only Care About You" received the second-most votes. In August 2021, "Toki no Nagare ni Mi o Makase" was ranked as the 9th best Japanese pop song of the 1980s by ''Music Magazine.''

Accolades

"Toki no Nagare ni Mi o Makase" won the Grand Prix (the most prestigious award in Japanese music) at the 19th

and the 19th All Japan Cable Broadcasting Awards (yearly), making Teng the only artist to have won the Grand Prix for three consecutive years at both events.

Track listing

Japanese CD single # "Toki no Nagare ni Mi o Makase" (時の流れに身をまかせ) – 4:14"Wo Zhi Zai Ku Ni - Teresa Teng"
allmusic.com. Retrieved June 22, 2012. # "Tasogare" (黄昏) – 2:41

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1986 singles Teresa Teng songs Songs in Japanese Mandarin-language songs Song articles with missing songwriters