Friday, September 3, 2010

ワンダーソング ー S.R.S.

This is a really cool upbeat song. They opened with it when I went to see them, I think, and it got people relatively pumped up.

The hardest thing about translating, I think, is wondering how much wiggle room you can take before you have changed the meaning. (Japanese)

Wondersong - S.R.S.

One way or another I want to convey to you
things that can't be said with words alone
I don't have quite enough of that foolish bravery, though
so I'm eternally worrying

I don't want to have regrets
Ah, I just want to be honest
Anyhow, I'm going to turn this bag packed with feelings for you into words
and try it out

I'm not lonely or anything
if you're nearby
I can do even the impossible!
But I can't say it—when I see you off, (1)
I still turn and look over my shoulder!
I turn and look, but you're not there. (2)

I want to change the sad feelings in my heart
into sounds and let you hear them (3)
I'm looking for the melody that seems to be
resounding in your heart (4)

I don't want to compromise
Ah, I want to get ahold of myself
I will put my infinitely piled up feelings for you
into this song and shout it out!

I'll stay benched for ten thousand years (5)
if you're nearby
I feel like I can become a world leader!
But I can't say it—when we wave good-bye
I still turn and look over my shoulder!
I turn and look, but there's no point.

Everybody surely has worries and anxieties
You allow me to forget even that kind of stuff! (6)
I'm singing to deliver you this message from my heart
I like you!

(1) There is no literal "when" here, but I don't think we would say, "I see you off and" or something, in English. I also translated また as "still" on the next line. It's not what you usually consider また to be, but I read you can use it in that way...
(2) Between the も and the のに this line [and its parallel lines in other parts of the song (which goes for the previous comment too)] is pretty tricky. I ended up just putting what I felt the meaning was into as natural an English phrase as possible, which...I guess that is the point?
(3) I was thinking about how to say something like "i want to convey these sounds to you" and came up with "I want to let you heart these sounds," basically. With "I" as the subject, I'm not sure what else you could say. You could use "transmit" but I would only be tempted to use that if the noun was "sound waves" or something like that.
(4) Took a little while to decide whether her heart was resounding or her heart was searching... Not entirely sure if I guessed right.
(5) Almost certain this is uninformed and bad. I searched around a bit for references to 万年補欠 and it seemed to refer to the literal meaning in terms of like...being the spare player on a sports team usually. There must be something else, right? I didn't really understand. For now I tried to go with the sports metaphor? Bleh.
(6) This took some unraveling, but I think I got it right finally? Not sure : /