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Yeah, yeah. Long time no see. It's been an interesting couple of months. First, I thought I should mention that I have finally added disclaimers to my translations here. I'm pretty sure no one ever comes here except me and maybe Dumplin', but better safe than sued, ne? So I've just returned from Ohayocon 4, where I attended my first (and probably only... lousy America... -_-) J-rock concert. The band, BLOOD, put on an amazing performance that somehow managed to get me hooked not only on the group, but on the entire visual kei genre. BLOOD is a relatively new yet excellent J-rock band consisting of four wonderful guys, Kiwamu, Kaede, Taichi, and Takeshi... and I really hope they become insanely successful in Japan and worldwide, because they deserve it. Check out their official homepage sometime. It's cool. They're cool. Love BLOOD. Anyway... long story short, I now own the international version of BLOOD's first mini-album, and I've been listening to it almost nonstop for, like, 7 or 8 hours now. I only have access to the original Japanese lyrics, no romanizations or translations, so I can only base my opinions upon their sound right now... and based on that, my favorite track so far seems to be Prayer. So I figured, hey, why don't I transcribe this sucker and post my romanization here, possibly followed by other BLOOD romanizations in the future? And once I get those out of the way, why don't I try my hand at translating them? But, well... in the time it's taken me to type this and my dippy review of Ohayocon, not to mention pore through every BLOOD website I could find looking for more info (without much success >.<), I kinda forgot that I might actually have classes tomorrow, despite the level 2 snow emergency, and though I have no homework, I should probably try to actually sleep. I think I've slept a total of about 7, maybe 8, hours over the past 3 days. I'll be lucky to get 6 tonight. But you know what? I'm not tired. I'm too psyched. So here we go~ BLOOD - PRAYER Korogeochita ashimoto wa Kuroku yami ni umoreteku Ore wa koko kara nukedasu koto naku [1] Shiroi hane ga furisosogu Hoho o kasumeteta kaze ga Kimi no koe o omoidasu koto ga dekinakute Ore no naka de ikiteiru Kimi dake omoitsuzukete Nagarete kuru namida no wake o shireba [2] Ansoku no chi nado mou doko ni mo nai no sa (tada...) [3] Ima kono nemuri kara samete kure; sono hiekitta tsubasa wa tobenai no ka? Ore o tada shibaritsuketeita kusari wa mou ima kieta kara... Korogeochita ashimoto wa Kuroku yami ni umoreteku Ore wa koko kara nukedasu koto naku Shiroi hane ga furisosogu Hoho o kasumeteta kaze ga Kimi no koe o omoidasu koto ga dekinai Ansoku no chi nado mou doko ni mo nai no sa (tada...) [3] Ima kono nemuri kara samete kure; sono hiekitta tsubasa wa tobenai no ka? Ore o tada shibaritsuketeita kusari wa mou kieta kara... Hateshinaku tsuzuku kono toki no naka o kakeru kemono no you ni Kedakaku... utsukushiku ikite yuku! (tada...) [3] There you go. A general note, first of all: I romanized this song based on what is actually sung, not just by what the lyrics say. There are small discrepancies, both in the order and in the wording. As for wording, these are the main differences: [1] The lyrics booklet here says "~nukedasu koto mo naku," but only "~nukedasu koto naku" is sung. There's not too much difference, except the former is a little more emphatic. Read that as you will. [2] Takeshi-san sings "wake" here, but the kanji in the lyrics booklet say "imi." The words aren't all that different in meaning, really... they both mean... well, "meaning", basically. [3] Yes, I know this one comes up 3 times. That's because the same thing happens 3 times: as you can see by the parentheticals, at the end of each of these lines, Takeshi-san tacks on the word "tada," even though it's not written in the lyrics. Not sure why... maybe it'll clarify itself when I try to translate it. Or maybe not. Who cares - it sounds good. ^^ And that is my romanization. Now for the part you came here to see: my translation! dun dun duuuun~ My stumbling footsteps Are buried in black darkness I will not escape from this place White feathers pour down like rain The wind brushing past my cheeks Can't recall the sound of your voice... You, living on inside me, Are all that I ever think about If only you knew why these tears have begun to flow [1] There is no place of rest in this world anymore [2] Awaken now from this sleep; can those frozen wings no longer fly? Because the chains that once tied me down have now disappeared... My stumbling footsteps Are buried in black darkness I will not escape from this place White feathers pour down like rain The wind brushing past my cheeks Can't recall the sound of your voice There is no place of rest in this world anymore [3] Awaken now from this sleep; can those frozen wings no longer fly? Because the chains that once tied me down have now disappeared... Like a beast running about within this unending time, I'll go on living... noble and beautiful! [4] You know the worst thing about translating things from one language to another? In a lot of cases there are tons of different words in one language that you can use to express the same idea in another language. This was the biggest roadblock between me and this translation, which is most likely not perfect, but I think the meaning comes across well enough. Comments, tips, etc. are always appreciated, as usual. Yoroshiku onegai shimaaasu. Anyway, here are the translation footnotes (some of which tie in with the ones in my romanization)... [1] Japanese has a tendency to avoid using pronouns as often as possible. You very rarely hear words like I, me, you, him, her, it, etc. uttered in Japanese, because they're understood in context. That being said, another way this verse might be translated is something like "I live within myself / Thinking only about you / If only I knew why these tears have begun to flow." There are probably other possibilities too... but I just picked the one that seemed to make the most sense to me. [2-4] See the romanization footnotes in the post below for more detail on these. Basically, Takeshi-san added "tada..." to the ends of these 3 verses. "Tada" can be glossed as free(ly), just, only, merely, etc. I didn't include it in the translation because, in [2] and [3] at least, I don't know if it's supposed to be linked with the phrase that comes before "tada" or the phrase that comes after. But I don't think the word makes any significant change in meaning to any of these verses anyway, so... meep. >.>;; (also, for [4]... the word for "beast" here just means an animal, probably a wild one, not like a demon beast or anything. personally I imagine a deer, or wild horse... something known as a graceful runner.) I guess that's all I have to say about Prayer, translation-wise. Be on the lookout in the very near future for more BLOOD romanizations and translations, because I still can't stop listening to this album. ^_^; Plus, I'm learning quite a bit from these transcription and translation deals. Learning Japanese is good. Very good. So if it's cool with y'all, I think I'll stay with this habit. (disclaimer: this song belongs to BLOOD, not me. I only take credit for the romanization and the translation. I'm just a fangirl trying to make J-music a little more accessible to Americans. No copyright infringement is intended. Please don't sue me, I'm a poor college student. T_T) posted by Becky at 1:30 AM |
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about me__++
name// Becky Cottrill birthdate// 6.23.1982 location// Ohio, USA interests// J-music, J-drama, Japanese language, visual kei, fluffy things... upcoming// refer to Taiji Project! | |
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I'm always finding Japanese songs that I adore, but can't find English translations for. So I've made a hobby of translating such songs, and this is where I put them. Can't find the song you want? Send me the lyrics (kanji if possible, but romaji will do) and I'll see what I can do. But no promises, as I'm not exactly the most fluent Japanese speaker around. Also, PLEASE don't display any of these lyrics elsewhere unless you credit me. Just my name and a link back here would be great. Thanks!
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