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*Last edited April 15* Well, of BLOOD's international album, only one song remains to be translated by me. And that's not counting Sweatest [sic] Disease, which is in English, and #01, of which all but exactly 2 lines are in English. I may make a project later of translating those 2 lines along with the little poem Takeshi-san wrote for inclusion in the CD jacket. But anyway, the only Japanese-lyrics song left to translate is Oboro. And even before setting out to romanize and translate this, I can sense way more meaning in the lyrics than any translation of mine could hope to convey. To be honest, I don't want to translate it. I know I'm gonna blow it. T_T But since the sound is just pure BLOOD, and knowing Takeshi's lyrical style, I'm very curious as to what's going on in this one. This song kinda has an intimidating feel... Takeshi's voice is as deep and commanding as I've ever heard it, the instrumentation is appropriately deep and gloomy, and the guest voice, Lauren, adds another layer of eerie to the mix. It reminds me of creepy whispering voices heard in the gloom of a dark, musky night in a graveyard, or something. Put simply, Oboro is a very fitting title. Based on my findings, the kanji for oboro is not normally used on its own, as it is in this song; it tends to appear in compound words, with other kanji. But its basic meaning is vagueness, haziness, dreamlike-ness, or gloom. All different terms for pretty much the same feeling. So just think of the title as a representation of that hazy-gloomy feeling, because I'm not going to translate the title. The feeling is more important than the word. That hazy, eerie gloom just pervades every nook of this song. It's a great listen. So here we go... romanization followed by translation, as usual. BLOOD - OBORO Hoshikuzu-tachi yo watashi o michibiite Ikusen no yume kirameku tsuki no shirabe Ima, mezame yo inishie no kotoba-tachi Towa o egaku mugen no kanata e Minamo ni hayuru sumire no itoshisa yo Moyuru kaze to kagen no oboro no takeki koe Ima, mezame yo inishie no SCENARIO Towa o egaku mugen no kanata e Ima, mezame yo inishie no kotoba-tachi Towa o egaku mugen no kanata e Chiriyuku sadame no hana no you ni ichizu na omoi o shinjinagara... [1] OUCH. *clutches head* I can't say for sure, but it seems to me that BLOOD was going for an antiquated, classic, poetic kinda feel with these lyrics, which led to the use of several kanji and words and usages that are either really rare or no longer in frequent modern use. That or I'm just even more of a baka-gaijin than I realized. >_< Anyway, footnote... [1] Well, it took me months, but I figured out what Takeshi was singing in place of the "unmei" that appears in the lyrics sheet: he replaces it with "sadame." Which I thought was normally written with different kanji... *shrug* But they both mean pretty much the same thing, so oh well. On to the translation, if I can pull it off... this one's going to give me 10x the grief Sakura gave me... >.< Stardust, show me the way Through a thousand dreams, in search of the glittering moon [1] Now, ancient Words, awaken! To the other side of eternity, painting immortality [2] The fairness of the violet, reflected on the water's surface A burst of wind and the moon's last quarter - a fierce voice in the gloom [3] Now, ancient scenario, awaken! To the other side of eternity, painting immortality Now, ancient Words, awaken! To the other side of eternity, painting immortality Like the scattering flowers of fate, while believing in this feeling with all my heart... [4] ...Now, I know it's not just me. This makes no sense, does it? >_< Jim Breen was little help with this one... I found some of the vocab there, but I had to wing it more than once, based only on what the kanji mean. I could've footnoted every line of this song, literally, but I tried to restrict it to just verses. 9_9 [1] First off, the "-tachi" suffix in the first line is a pluralizer. Example... "tenshi" means angel, so "tenshi-tachi" means angels. However, by definition, it's only meant to pluralize living things, but in the first line, it's attached to stardust, which is inanimate. So we're giving the little stardust particles a taste of sentience here, I guess. *shrug* Also, I finally broke down and added the "through" connector in between "show me the way" and "a thousand dreams." The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. I hope I'm not wrong... [2] Once again, "-tachi" is added to an inanimate - "kotoba" (word, language). So words are sentient, or something. As for the second line, "towa" and "mugen" both mean pretty much the same thing - infinity, eternity, etc. I don't know how eternity can paint eternity. I changed the wording a bit, but it still doesn't make sense. Eternity is painting immortality. Arg. [3] "Itoshii" means dear, fair, beloved, etc... the "-sa" suffix it has in this verse makes it a noun. Like, dear-ness, beloved-ness, that kinda thing. Unfortunately there's not really a word for that in English. I originally used 'belovedness,' but that sounded too long and clunky, so I changed it to 'fairness,' which sounds ambiguous to me. -_-; Also, the nearest translation I could find for the kanji of "moyuru" was to burst open or sprout, like a flower does. Of course, wind doesn't really do that. So I called it a burst of wind. And I'm pretty sure the fierce voice is the moon's, but I'm not sure how to translate that so it makes sense. >< [4] I just don't like this line at all. In English, that is. I could not translate it and make it sound right. I think it makes a little more sense now than it did before though... I hope. I'm done. For now. This has to be the least satisfied I've ever been with any of my translations. Just listen to it and figure it out yourself, dangit. Feeeeeel the oboro. (disclaimer: this song belongs to BLOOD, not me. I only take credit for the romanization and 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 2:18 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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