If you think this is narcissistic, talk to my friend who recommended the song to me.
PS - This was actually quite difficult and you can read why in the notes and also why it might be partially incorrect (or just a wonky interpretation, let's say).
Emily I can't forget the way your eyes looked that evening The sky was fading into twilight As if it were whispering to the night
Emily First love is what summer is for [1] The stars in the sky, too Seem like they're wandering through the night
On rainy days, and farewell days dreaming of summer sun being loved, being swept away I'll disappear on [2] a star's revolving journey [3]
Emily The important thing is to be happy But don't say anything more than that, ok? [4]
On rainy days, and farewell days dreaming of summer sun being loved, being swept away I'll disappear on a star's revolving journey
Notes:
[1] I feel nervous about this because it hangs あこがれ out to dry, but I stand by it in terms of meaning and attitude.
[2] The subject is incredibly not literally in the song. At first I actually kept this as a gerund "disappearing" and I think you could do that, but then I realized he's not dreaming about that too. Someone is actually doing it. Either her, him, or both. I decided it can't be her because it's present/future tense. And dude wouldn't be singing this song if they were together, I don't think; seems pretty lonely. So I think he goes off alone.
[3] Then there's the other thing that throws a little chaos on the fire. I read たび as 旅 since the stars had already been kind of personified as wandering through the sky I figured it referred to that journey. Right? I think that is the correct interpretation but I realized that it MIGHT also be possible to read the whole two lines as, "When (度) the star goes around you vanish," or something hopefully less wonky than that. And it would have to be "you," cuz it's wouldn't be the singer or them together. SO. I don't really like that version and I don't think it's right (she doesn't seem like that kind of girl :P), but I do wonder if a Japanese person would read it like that way or not. I might just be overthinking it due to the hiragana.
[4] This strikes me as weird even in the original Japanese so for that reason I'm a little hesitant on the translation. If you think about it, it's really depressing, though, so maybe it's right...
Is this really that sad of a song or am I on crack? ( ﾉД`)ｼｸｼｸ…
In the city, in the wilderness, rushing in [1]
with an over-developed sense of entitlement—hell soldiers
On the wing of their flying machine blocking out the sky
is an ominously red ribbon, ribbon, ribbon [2]
Don't be frightened of this encroaching evil's power
You can't lose
No matter who the enemy, head for your dreams
with no fear, fighter [3]
Let's go, Red Ribbon
This is gonna be one heck of a thrilling struggle
You have a friend who will fight against their evil ambitions [4]
Beat'em, Red Ribbon
For the best future [5]
Awaken your wild side
Set your heart on fire, go fight!
Over the sea, in the desert, across the great plains [6]
the roaring devil's murderous weapons
Wound around the arms of
these fearless killers: red ribbon, ribbon, ribbon
Yes, that's right—in anyone's heart lies
the bravery to protect their love
Believe in the intense bonds you have formed [7]
and outrun the wind, fighter!
Let's go, Red Ribbon
It's gonna be an exciting brawl [8]
You have a friend who will leap, even into a hazardous trap [9]
Beat'em Red Ribbon
For the sake of my wonderful friends
I'll summon a miracle
Set your life on fire, GO FIGHT
Go after the seven dreams
scattered around the world
Don't hand them over to the bad guys
We'll defend the future, fighter [10]
Notes:
[1] This 走る was kind of a pain in the neck.
[2] This would be really unfortunate to do as plural, i.e. "On the wings...red ribbons, ribbons, ribbons" so I did it singular...
[3] Made this a noun to be more natural.....it sounded so wonkadonk to say "without being afraid" or something, SO.
[4] I went back and forth between "their" and "these" but even though "their" kind of comes out of nowhere it sounds better, I think. No qualification sounds...too weird, I think.
[5]イカした未来 was a new one on me. Any advice appreciated :P Briefly considered going ultra cliché and saying "For a bright and shining future" but...not really appropriate :P
[6] Perhaps an unacceptable level of embellishment given it's all just に、に、に...
[7] What "bonds?" Sorry, I tried to make it make sense...
[8] I used "brawl" above initially and then changed it to "struggle" so I could use "brawl" for 大暴れ...
[9] This phrasing is pretty awk, but honestly I think it's kind of awk in the original too : /
[10] Translated "tomorrow" as "the future," yep, sorry. I dunno. I could see "fight for tomorrow" but "defend tomorrow" or "protect tomorrow" is a little rough sounding...Idk. I guess at some point in these songs it's all a bit rough sounding.
BUT DANG DON'T U FEEL PUMPED UP NOW?! :D
Update: Wow, now I know no one paid attention to this entry. You guys let me typo "desert" as "dessert" V_V #weallwantcake #corrected
Hey hey everybody, come on over I'm not such a sketchy guy I'll tell your fortune, I'll tell your fortune I'll tell you your future
Put on a glittering ring C'mere, I'll show you the way C'mere, c'mere Let's dance until the tomorrow we're all so excited about
Swing your hips, stomp your feet [2] I'll play the fool for you Leave it all, leave it all to the tarot cards
Hey hey everybody, come on over I'm not such a sketchy guy I'll tell your fortune, I'll tell your fortune Just like this, just like this, I'll take you along
Notes:
[1] Considered "Magic Song" but there is no charm to that lol "Incantation" is hard to fit. This was the hardest part of the song. Not sure "charms" is that good either. Honestly I think the title of the song is just a bit weird, but anyhow!!
[2] Subject is actually unclear. This verse is sort of hazy to me.
Today I qualified to do standard jobs in Japanese->English at Gengo. I realize that that doesn't automatically make me brilliant, nor does it make translating any easier (wouldn't that be nice), but I'm pretty stoked to have passed their test.
This is an interview I meant to translate last year around when it came out, but forgot. It's still interesting, especially if you like Shintaro Sakamoto and haven't read it already. There are notes at the bottom, but take this as a disclaimer that it's not perfect; I just tried hard. Practice makes...something.
"Don't you have that feeling where even in the midst of something like despair, you want listening to music to be fun?"
Ending an almost year and a half silence since the sudden announcement of Yura Yura Teikoku's break-up, Shintaro Sakamoto is releasing a solo album, "How to Live with a Phantom," on November 18th. I'm sure there are many people who have already heard the first single off it, "In a Phantom Mood" on 7 inch. There are probably people with their hopes up imagining what the new album will sound like, as well as those who feel hesitant.
"How to Live with a Phantom" is Sakamoto's first solo album—in addition to guitar, he plays base, keyboards, etc. You can't simply say it follows in a straight line from the bewitched breakdown in the psychedelic rock album, "I'm a Cave;" something new is being born. No, these quiet expressions can't be called an extension of "I'm a Cave," but this album has even more of the casual groove and aloof atmosphere running through it. Light pop that slips right into your everyday. Even so, there's a depth there with no bottom in sight. You realize with a start that you're completely sucked into the image born of the sound, the melody, and the lyrics. Through the lyrics comes a knowing heart mottled with dry nostalgia. Instead of pessimism in response to loss and loneliness, there's almost a kind of home sickness. Snuggled up close to the lyrics are the melancholic melodies. The jaunty sound that delivers them diffuses the atmosphere. If we say that Yura Yura Teikoku's sound was able to draw you in with its overwhelming presence, this solo work will slip in through the cracks in your heart and get cozy. A perfect mood.
Shintaro Sakamoto has kicked his solo career into gear, so we decided to start the man himself about this new album.
Specifically, when did you start thinking about doing a solo album? Did you have something like this in mind right after Yura Yura Teikoku ended?
Right after it was ended I was like an empty shell and wasn't doing anything. So then when did you start working on it?
I started on it around the second half of last year. At first I was just messing around at home, had bits of songs like these…I guess I was just making music without any ambition of putting out an album.
So basically like playing, or a hobby.
Hm, yeah.
Then when did that turn into thinking about making an album?
Sometime near the end of the year I had about seven songs piled up, so I figured I would start on it. Did you have anything like a concept for the album?
I guess rather than having a particular concept of what kind of album I should do I wanted to first off just make the sound that I wanted to make. I started from the bass line, then layered in the conga and percussion. Actually, at first I thought maybe that was good enough. I even did a test run just like that, but felt it wasn't the kind of album you could listen to over and over. So from there I added the guitar and a bunch of stuff.
Ah, so it's like you started from the rhythm section. By the way, that sound you wanted to make, what kind was it specifically? Well, I guess listening is the best way to figure out, but if you explain it in words, what does it sound like?
The drums and bass are muted, light sounds, unsustained; the bass is paired with the vocals and the rhythm bounces a little bit…
So it's not like something you couldn't do with Yura Yura Teikoku, no reactionary feelings, but just purely what you wanted to do?
Ahh, yeah, nothing like that.
Was there something you were listening to that influenced that sound you were explaining you wanted to make?
Ahh, I might have been thinking, "I always did like this kind of thing." By which I mean drums with no reverb applied, like no echo or something; I actually wanted to do that with Yura Yura Teikoku when we were recording for the first time. I like not applying reverb to anything. If I had done it at that time, we would have sounded really weak. At the time I didn't realize that with reverb, even when you don't think you're depending on it, you actually are. I gradually came to understand that (lol). Of course, the actual recording was done by (Souichiro) Nakamura.
This album is basically you playing bass and everything yourself—was there anything difficult about that?
Well there was the issue that it simply took a lot of time. To make make a phrase I'd practice until I was about to explode and then record, for example. And that's not just bass, but guitar, and the small organ parts, too. Also in a very real way it took a lot of time because we were recording parts separately. That said, since I was doing it all myself it was easy to think of things like, "To get this sound in, I'll take this out." What kind so things were obviously different from recording with a band?
I wasn't playing the drums myself, but I was deciding when the bass and snare would be hit, where the hi-hat would open, and making the bass line respond to that; I was changing all those things at will, so I would say definitely the fact that every part is done according to my own idiosyncratic tastes, with timing that feels good to me. In the band, I was playing guitar and singing, and things would develop based on what kind of bass and drums came back at me, and then the recording would be mixed by (You) Ishihara. So this time there's quite a degree of purity, I guess—I think it's like a concentrated essence of me (lol). Whether that's good or bad is another story.
So it's an album that came not from the influence of some input, but from all your own controlled outputs, huh.
Hm, yeah. But, it's not the case that I broke up the band because I wanted to do this. More like there was no one else around, so there was nothing else to do but do it myself.
So was it the case that you felt some pressure to do something by yourself?
Rather than pressure, I had this feeling that if I could create something that I could accept and then everyone was disappointed, I wouldn't take it personally. Something that would pass my own standards...well, if I couldn't manage to do that I just wouldn't release it (lol).
When about did the plan for the album come together?
Before all the tracks were set, I had the feel of the songs with the congas in and everything, so I went from there.
If the period you were making the album was from late last year to this fall, that means right in the middle was the earthquake. Was there anything that changed as a result of that?
Well I think it had some effect on the lyrics, but the feel and direction did not change due to the earthquake.
So you mentioned lyrics. For example, I think "Dancing with Pain" could be taken as you singing about having a wounded heart after the disaster, but I think it could be taken as a love song.
This actually goes for everything, but I end up feeling like even songs made as love songs might have that meaning as well. And I don't think that's limited to my songs. In songs where there's a blank space for the listener's imagination to fill, I have the feeling that since the earthquake and the nuclear power plant accident, thoughts of those events (how can they not get entangled) have been on the rise.
So you're saying more than the artists putting it out there that it's the listeners who end up thinking that way?
Actually, I think there are other songs besides just the one previously mentioned, "Dancing with Pain" where I can't deny an influence.
But it's not like you're putting those parts in as a message?
I think if I were to mention a song, the lyrics of which I want to hear right now, it would not be one where they're about forgetting reality, or about a dream that has nothing to do with reality, or something disconnected from reality; I don't want to listen to songs to escape. But still, I also don't want to be forced to listen to how awful things are all over again. Don't you have that feeling where even in the midst of something like despair, you want listening to music to be fun? When it comes to what lyrics are most fitting at those times, that's kind of how I think about it. When I listen to—I guess, positive songs, like about doing your best and working together, it's just the opposite—I end up getting depressed. But I also hate pretending like nothing happened.
I have one more thing on lyrics… "In a Phantom Mood" which you brought out as your first single, I read too much into it and felt maybe you were maybe implying a declaration that you're going solo. Kind of like, "What should I do with this newfound freedom?"
That's not the case; it's more a song about how to make a compromise with your despair and continue living—despair…or maybe I should say the whole of society… The song touches on how we do what we can do, but at the point where I decide to do music, what should I sing about?
What about the album title, "How to Live with a Phantom?"
I also thought maybe the first track's title would be a good album title but…I guess if I did that it would be just saying the same thing over again.
By the way, what made you decide to make your own label?
I guess I don't really have a good way to explain it except as a natural course of events. I thought maybe it would be good if I did it myself.
Also, the first printing seems to come with an instrumental album?
The instrumental is really just a mixed down version. And it's kind of weirdly good. The backing vocals are still there, but the main vocals are taken out. Since I thought the backing vocals on their own were actually a really good amount, I was thinking I'd like to release it, but selling that (the instrumental) on its own would not quite cut it. So I released it as an extra.
Wouldn't live performance in this format be practically impossible? I guess you could do it if you found a bassist, but are there no plans for concerts?
Hmm, I kinda think it's ok to not do them until the feeling that I spontaneously want to arises.
So at this point what comes more natural is doing recordings?
Or I might just say that I haven't actually thought about it at all. I was concentrating on finishing up the album I had in front of me and the rest would just happen as it would. It's already done, so…
Title: How to Live with a Phantom Artist: Shintaro Sakamoto
On sale November 18th, the long-awaited first solo album. Several guest artists participated, but besides guitar, he did bass, keys—almost everything himself, so it really is a "solo" album. Hip gaps and exquisite omissions in a casual groove make up this strange brand of pop. The first printing comes with an instrumental disk.
Shintaro Sakamoto
Born in Osaka on September 9th, 1967. In 1989, he started singing and playing guitar in the rock band Yura Yura Teikoku. Over the course of 21 years they put out three cassette tapes, 10 studio albums, a mini album, two live albums, a remix album, and two best of albums. In 2006, the art book "Shintaro Sakamoto Artworks 1994-2006" was released. Yura Yura Teikoku broke up in 2010. After that, a two-part DVD box was released. Sakamoto wrote three songs for salyuxsalyu 「s(o)un(d)beams」in 2011. He also started a solo project under his own label, zelone records. The highly anticipated album was released in November 2011.
Notes:
The highlights designate parts that I'm either hesitant about or that were really hard. Not that there aren't other hazy or difficult bits, but these were the ones that really stuck out as "Hrm, not sure if I really got that..." Really the thing is that my understanding of the Japanese has to improve. I presented the last highlighted bit to some Japanese friends (in Japanese; they are translators in a way, since we're working on the same volunteer translation project) and they were not really sure what to make of it either, although their advice was still helpful.
Anyways, it would be great if I could just put this in a file somewhere and forget about it, but I have to put it up whether it's awesome or not because that is the point of this blog, to share my practice nonsense and mayyyyyybe get feedback if someone has time to leave constructive comments. Also I mean, even if my translation is not that great (I have no delusions!) you can get an idea of where Sakamoto is coming from, which is perhaps worthwhile...
Perhaps you have missed Goro Noguchi. I haaaaaaaaaaaaaave.
Along a Private Railway Line - Goro Noguchi
There you were by the exit
always waiting for me
I loved getting off the train
and looking for you
I locked the sadness in my heart
and the flowers at the flower shop changed.
Won't you please have some hot coffee with me
once more in my part of town?
Someone there asked, [1]
"How are you doing?"
I write about you on the message board [2]
and go home
Perhaps if I search my memories
It'll be as if you've returned to this part of town [3]
I guess our love is over? [4]
The season has also changed.
When you visited
you were always cleaning my room [5]
I don't know either
"How are you doing?"
The lights will probably come on soon
in this district busy with shoppers
Today I'm going to avoid the crowd again
and just go home, all alone
Unable to leave this town [6]
I await your return
Notes:
[1] I changed this line out of passive voice and added the "someone" subject. In a way it's better because it preserves the vagueness of who is being asked? Maybe it's not vague to a native speaker. Well.
[2] UPDATE: YOU GUYS, I SAW THIS MOVIE, AND IN THIS MOVIE THERE ARE ACTUAL MESSAGE BOARDS, CHALK BOARDS, OUTSIDE TRAIN STATIONS THAT YOU CAN LEAVE MESSAGES ON. The second I saw it I was like WHOOOAAAAA. Original Note: Yeah sorry, I dunno what else to say here. Anyone know what this is actually referring to in 1975?
[3] Pretty pleased with myself for changing the tense of 来る. This is more natural English, right?
[4] T_T
[5] Feel like I smoothed this out a little bit in a good way? Also, wow this line lol Can't tell if I should find it cute or what.
[6] Out of the various ways this could have gone I felt like this sort of blunt way seemed the best translation. I dunno. I thought about going more dramatic with "unable to escape" but I don't think that nuance is in the original really? I'm not entirely sure I got it right to begin with, but it does make sense in context....
