Listed on one of their early demos as "am 2:50," this song is about waking up to tangled emotions in the middle of the night, a tortured realization of something that has lost its shine.
lostage - 2:50
Translated by Alan Rice
I hid my face in the dark blue night
Having that dream of being alone
I thought1
It's not like that, leave it for tomorrow2
Lingering memories I can't ignore any longer
Those feelings that won't find a voice3
I thought1
That bell already chimed
so many times
What do you think, how do you feel4
There's nothing left for me
What do you think, how do you feel
There's nothing left for me
What do you think, how do you feel
There's nothing there anymore
1. In the original Japanese below, the phrasing on both of these stanzas is flipped, which creates a very different feeling. I tried a variant with "So I thought" at the end instead of on the front, but it creates more of a sense of past tense reflection that I thought went against the overall feeling of the song.
2. This line was difficult to put into English, and I'm not really satisfied with it, but he's rejecting the dream of being alone and trying to push off thoughts about it for another day. Obviously, it doesn't work, because immediately after saying he thinks he'll put it off, he's struck by "un-erased memories."
3. Had to take a few liberties here, because "unerased memories" is not how we'd approach that concept in English, and because "That feeling which did not become a voice," the literal translation of the second line of the stanza, just sounds super silly. I chose this line over "Those feelings I can't put into words" because it stays a little closer to the original's usage of "voice."
4. Clever lyrics here, he uses two different forms of "omou," which means to "think/believe/feel about" a thing. Thus, I also used two variants in the translation, although it's impossible to maintain the beautiful wordplay, since there aren't any homonyms that function like that in English for this.
The original Japanese lyrics, for reference:
濃いブルーの夜 顔を隠した
一人だったような あの夢
そんなもんじゃない 明日に加えよう2
そう思って1
消してない記憶 もう否めない
声になってない あの想い3
もうすでにあの鐘は
何度も唸る
そう思って1
何を思う 何を想う4
何もない もう僕には
何を思う 何を想う
何もない もう僕には
何を思う 何を想う
何もない もうそこには
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Friday, September 26, 2014
Lyrics Are Pieces
Translating lyrics is an imposing task. Not only do you need to consider the emotion of the song that you feel through the instrumental portions and the nuance of expression within the singer's voice, but there are underlying currents of both cultural and personal meaning that create the depth of emotion.
The title of this blog, "Kashi wa Kakera," is both a slight allusion to the band who will be taking the spotlight in this project, the pillows (and their song Boku wa Kakera), and also an attempt to capture the spirit of the project. Lyrics are but pieces of the whole, and to properly translate a song requires more than simply turning the words from one set of symbols to a semi-equivalent set of different symbols.
I want to help strengthen the connection between fan and band, between word and feeling, by bridging that gap left when only the words are considered. This blog will be a series of annotated translations, referring to points of cultural significance, outlining interesting wordplay and references, and attempting to tie together these pieces of story created by lyrics into a fuller narrative through use of interviews and other sources relating the individual history of the songwriter and band members.
I know that the majority of songs in the pillows' catalog have already been translated, and many of us who consider ourselves Busters have been able to deepen our relationship to their music because of this. This project will seek to facilitate a further deepening of that relationship among the fans who are drawn to Sawao's words by providing further pieces of the story to them.
This will not be only about the pillows' lyrics, but that will be the main focus. Learning enough of the history of a band or musician to tie tenuous pieces together into threads of narrative is a long process, and I unfortunately do not possess the knowledge for other bands at the present time.
Anyway, comments and suggestions are highly appreciated, and I look forward to learning and sharing more in the hopes that others will find this project useful.
-Alan
The title of this blog, "Kashi wa Kakera," is both a slight allusion to the band who will be taking the spotlight in this project, the pillows (and their song Boku wa Kakera), and also an attempt to capture the spirit of the project. Lyrics are but pieces of the whole, and to properly translate a song requires more than simply turning the words from one set of symbols to a semi-equivalent set of different symbols.
I want to help strengthen the connection between fan and band, between word and feeling, by bridging that gap left when only the words are considered. This blog will be a series of annotated translations, referring to points of cultural significance, outlining interesting wordplay and references, and attempting to tie together these pieces of story created by lyrics into a fuller narrative through use of interviews and other sources relating the individual history of the songwriter and band members.
I know that the majority of songs in the pillows' catalog have already been translated, and many of us who consider ourselves Busters have been able to deepen our relationship to their music because of this. This project will seek to facilitate a further deepening of that relationship among the fans who are drawn to Sawao's words by providing further pieces of the story to them.
This will not be only about the pillows' lyrics, but that will be the main focus. Learning enough of the history of a band or musician to tie tenuous pieces together into threads of narrative is a long process, and I unfortunately do not possess the knowledge for other bands at the present time.
Anyway, comments and suggestions are highly appreciated, and I look forward to learning and sharing more in the hopes that others will find this project useful.
-Alan
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