Every time I think about Aya Matsuura’s new single “Chocolate Soul”, which attempts to fuse her newer adult-contemporary style with a less-manic version of her early goofiness, I hear a completely different song.

First, here’s Aya:

The problem is, the word for soul is “damashii”, making the song “chokoreeto damashii” チョコレート魂, and you know what that means…

more...

I’m reading Kanna’s mind here, and she’s thinking, “I’ll kill them later, but y’know, I think I can actually work this outfit.”

more...

[Yes, I’m chasing Aya this week. In my defense, she’s A) talented, B) gorgeous, C) funny as hell, and D) an adult (well, now…).]

In addition to her CDs, concerts, commercials, and action-packed ass-kicking delinquent-detective yo-yo movie, she has a regular gig on late-night radio. In one of her shows, she played a song that she wrote herself, that hasn’t appeared anywhere else. Since I generally buy licensed products rather than download, I didn’t hear about it until it made Henkka’s list of underrated H!P songs.

He had no idea what it was about, he just thought it was quirky and cool and way too much fun. I agreed, and gave him a quick rough translation of one of the verses. This, of course, made the song even cooler.

His embedded Flash player didn’t work well on my machine, so if you can’t hear the song clearly, here’s a download site that has it (with the usual warning about popups and flash ads).

Danger: it’s an earbug.

My translation is necessarily very rough, because there’s almost no grammar, and a whole bunch of mimetic expressions to suggest the sights and sounds of… a washing machine: pashi-pashi, suton, tsurun, buku-buku-buku.

[note to Henkka: this transcript is slightly different from the one I put in your comments; I just caught another line that Mattthecat misheard while transcribing the lyrics (“suichuu” (underwater) should be “sui, kyuu” (the water, suddenly))]

お洗濯

Laundry

パシパシっと　いい形
すとん　つるんっと　いい心地
パシパシっと　いい形
すとん　つるんっと　いい心地
こんな気持ちになれるから
やはり　大好き　お洗濯

“Swish-swish”, we’re in good shape. “Thump, slide”, it’s a good sensation. “Swish-swish”, we’re in good shape. “Thump, slide”, it’s a good sensation. Because of how this can make me feel, Of course, I love laundry!

白　黒　色　分けきっちりと
ポッケにゴミはナイナイナ～イ
しみぬき、漂白　しっかりと
準備ＯＫ！ ＧＯ、ＧＯ、ＧＯ、ＧＯ！
ＧＯ、ＧＯ、ＧＯ、ＧＯ！

Whites, darks, colors, carefully separated; Trash in pockets, none-none-none; Spot remover and bleach, firmly applied; Preparations OK! Go, go, go, go! Go, go, go, go!

パシパシっと　いい形
すとん　つるんっと　いい心地
パシパシっと　いい形
すとん　つるんっと　いい心地
こんな気持ちになれるから
やはり　大好き　お洗濯

“Swish-swish”, we’re in good shape. “Thump, slide”, it’s a good sensation. “Swish-swish”, we’re in good shape. “Thump, slide”, it’s a good sensation. Because of how this can make me feel, Of course, I love laundry!

まずは水　急ぶくぶくぶく
左右　右左　踊ります
ぎゅ　ぎゅ　ぎゅ　ぎゅっと　しぼられて
お日さま　今日も　ヨロシクね　ヨロシクね

Now, in the water, suddenly bubbles-bubbles-bubbles, left-right, right-left, dancing. Firm-firm-firm-firmly wrung out, then Mr. Sun, today again, take care of me, okay? Take care of me, okay?

パシパシっと　いい形
すとん　つるんっと　いい心地
パシパシっと　いい形
すとん　つるんっと　いい心地
こんな気持ちになれるから
やはり　大好き　お洗濯

“Swish-swish”, we’re in good shape. “Thump, slide”, it’s a good sensation. “Swish-swish”, we’re in good shape. “Thump, slide”, it’s a good sensation. Because of how this can make me feel, Of course, I love laundry!

こんな気持ちになれるから
やはり　大好き　お洗濯

Because of how this can make me feel, Of course, I love laundry!

After we finished translating the story about the goblin’s invisibility cloak, we didn’t have much time left in class this week, so I quickly handed out the lyrics and vocabulary sheet for “Oo-Edo no Hikeshi”, the kabuki-orchestra cover of “Smoke on the Water”.

We worked through it quite seriously, with the teacher interjecting cultural notes and correcting translations, and then I played the video. It had exactly the effect I had anticipated, with almost everyone catching on quickly.

One surprising exception was the fiftyish American woman who made it all the way through the song without even a vague hint of recognition. None, nada, zilch, zippo. I can understand not being a Deep Purple fan, or avoiding classic rock in general, but how on Earth did she manage to never hear one of the most famous guitar riffs in rock? The song has a frickin’ monument!

Now that I know what the title means, it’s time to take a stab at translating the lyrics. There’s at least one line I have little faith in, and four that simply can’t be translated in a way that preserves the line breaks from the original. And, of course, there’s the subtitle.

From That Sky ～替え玉は硬メンで～

From that sky – “Hey ramen vendor, put some more noodles in this!”

歌詞：つんく 作曲：つんく 編曲：鈴木俊介

買い物行ったら定休日
しょんぼりしてたら
電話がかかってきて
デートが大決定

When I went shopping the store was closed. I was feeling down-hearted, when I got a phone call. Dating is a big decision.

スカートボタンがとまらない
がっくりきてたら
電話がかかってきて
バイキングの誘い
あらま　どうしましょう

The skirt button that won’t stay put was breaking my heart, when I got a phone call, inviting me out for smorgasbord. Oh, no, what shall I do?

想像してたのと
なんか違う２１世紀
空飛ぶ車よりほら
やっぱKISSでしょうね

The 21st Century is somehow different than I’d imagined. Hey! If we can’t have flying cars, at least there’s kissing, right?

From That Sky　羽ばたけ
自由な発想で

From that sky, flap your wings with the idea of freedom!

From That Sky　彼方へ
勝利の女神さ
私が女神さ

From that sky, to beyond, the goddess of victory! I’m the goddess!

サウナに行ったら風邪引いた
ゾクッとしてたら
あいつが来てくれた
やばい！スッピンだわ
眉毛　描かなくちゃ

When I went to the sauna, I caught a cold. When I had the chills, he came to see me. Awful! I wasn’t wearing makeup. My eyebrows weren’t drawn!

想像してたより
のんびり２１世紀
並んででも食べたいのよ
有名ラーメン

The 21st Century is more easy-going than I’d imagined. Famous ramen that I want to eat, even though there’s a line.

From That Sky　轟け
未来の恋人へ

From that sky, roar [like thunder] toward a future lover!

From That Sky　恋する
勝利の女神さ
私が女神さ

From that sky, the goddess of romantic victory! I’m the goddess!

From That Sky　羽ばたけ
自由な発想で

From that sky, flap your wings with the idea of freedom!

From That Sky　彼方へ
勝利の女神さ

From that sky, to beyond, the goddess of victory!

From That Sky　轟け
未来の恋人へ

From that sky, roar [like thunder] toward a future lover.

From That Sky　恋する
勝利の女神さ

From that sky, the goddess of romantic victory!

From That Sky　轟け
未来の恋人へ

From that sky, roar [like thunder] toward a future lover!

From That Sky　恋する
勝利の女神さ 私が女神さ

From that sky, the goddess of romantic victory! I’m the goddess!

[Update: Corrected translation. According to my professor, I was right the first time about the girls, but wrong about the grammatical inversion in the first verse. It’s “wine, women, and song”, not “wine, women, then song”…]

[Update: Now with romanized karaoke lyrics and translation!]

[Update: New! Improved! Now with extra Blue Man! This clip claims the group is Tokiwazu, so perhaps the other name only refers to their work with the full orchestra.]

He started it with Oo-Edo no Hikeshi (大江戸の火消し = “Firemen of Edo”). This led me to track down their versions of two other classics (1, 2), as well as the people responsible (題名のない音楽会 = “Orchestra Without A Name”), and the occasion (350th anniversary of the Great Fire of Meireki).

But there’s more. I found a higher-resolution video, and transcribed lyrics. My reading class will be amusing next week…

大江戸の火消し

俺たちゃ琵琶湖に行った　弁財天詣でさ
夜詰めの当番済まして　湯治も兼ねて
たまには上美女揃えて　杯重ねて
木遣りの声にも磨きを　あてて帰ろうか

大江戸の火消し　空もはればれ
大江戸の火消し

琵琶湖じゃ畔の小屋で　芝居をやっていた
ちょいと覗いて行こうか　急ぎの旅でなし
江戸からの旅役者が　はるばる来ていた
はだか火使って火が出て　俺たちの出番さ

火事場にゃ火消し　空には火の粉だ
火事場にゃ火消し

And for the kana-challenged who want to sing along:

Oo-Edo no Hikeshi

Ore-tacha Biwako ni itta, Benzaiten moude sa
Yozume no touban sumashite, touji mo kanete
Tama ni wa jou-sama soroete, sakazuki kasanete
Kiyari no koe ni mo migaki o, atete kaerou ka

Oo-Edo no hikeshi, sora mo harebare
Oo-Edo no hikeshi

Biwako ja hotori no koya de, shibai o yatte ita
Choito nozoite ikou ka, isogi no tabi de nashi
Edo kara no tabi-yakusha ga, harubaru kite ita
Hadaka-bi-zukatte hi ga dete, Ore tachi no debaru sa

Kajiba nya hikeshi, sora ni wa hinoko da
Kajiba nya hikeshi

Oh, what the hell, let’s try for English (loose where necessary to fit the tune):

Fire Brigade of Edo

We went up to Lake Biwa, a pilgrimage to Benzaiten,
after standing watch all night long. At the hot springs there,
we arranged for hot young women, and plenty of hot sake,
and practiced our hard-labor chant. Now shall we head straight for home?

Fire-brigade of Edo, the sky begins to brighten.
Fire-brigade of Edo.

In a hut on Biwa's shore, they were putting on a play.
Let's stop in and take a little peek, we're not in a hurry.
Troupe of Edo actors, had come up all the way from town.
Open flame turned into fire, our turn now to do our duty.

Fire-brigade on the scene, the sparks are in the sky.
Fire-brigade on the scene.

The most difficult part of trying to get a few decent screen captures from the Aya The Witch DVD is summoning the willpower to stop staring at her.

more...

[Another depressing song, this time performed by Yuuko Nakazawa on her debut album. It wasn’t released as a single, so there’s no complete performance on video, but a trimmed version can be found here. The translation is mostly literal, and I’ve tried to preserve the original line breaks rather than rewrite it as smooth English.]

捨てないでよ

“Don’t throw me away”

作詞：つんく　作曲：つんく　編曲：川口　真

(lyrics and music by Tsunku, arrangement by Makoto Kawaguchi)

知らないふり　いつもしてる
あなたの他の女性を

I’m always pretending I don’t know about your other women.

ダメな女　苦しいのに
あなたをまた許してる

I’m a hopeless woman. Even though it’s painful, I’m forgiving you again.

今日は帰るの　明日は来るの
ねぇ　ひとこと　「ごめん」と
言わせてみたいけど

Are you going home tonight? Will you come back tomorrow? Oh, one single thing, “I’m sorry”, I wish I could make you say it, but…

でも　待ってるばかり
でも　泣いてるの見せない
でも　待ってるばかり
でも　愚痴なんて言わない

Instead, I’m just waiting. Instead, I won’t show you that I’m crying. Instead, I’m just waiting. Instead, I won’t even grumble.

いつかはあなた　好きな女性できても
捨てないでよ

Even if someday you fall in love with someone else, don’t throw me away.

知らないふり　いつもしてる
香水の残り香も

I’m always pretending I don’t know, even with the lingering scent of their perfume.

いい女よ　全てそうよ
あなたの邪魔はしない

I’m a good woman, I won’t intrude on everything you do.

明日は来ない　電話もかけない
ねぇ　ひとこと「好きだ」と
言わせてみたいだけ

You won’t come over tomorrow, and you won’t call. Oh, one single thing, “I love you”, is all I try to make you say.

でも　待ってるばかり
でも　淋しいと言わない
でも　待ってるばかり
でも　待ってると淋しい

Instead, I’m just waiting. Instead, I won’t say I’m lonely. Instead, I’m just waiting. Instead, when I’m waiting, I’m lonely.

いつかはあなた　好きな女性できても
捨てないでよ

Even if someday you fall in love with someone else, don’t throw me away.

でも　待ってるばかり
でも　泣いてるの見せない
でも　待ってるばかり
でも　愚痴なんて言わない

Instead, I’m just waiting. Instead, I won’t show you that I’m crying. Instead, I’m just waiting. Instead, I won’t even grumble.

いつかはあなた　好きな女性できても
捨てないでよ
捨てないでよ

Even if someday you fall in love with someone else, don’t throw me away. Don’t throw me away.