流れる川の水
It's a natural question for an American guy studying Japanese: Why?
(って言うか、どうして日本語を勉強するの？)
For many, the answer is "アニメ"; for me, not really. Besides the occasional Miyazaki film, I've watched a total of:
- Nichijou (about 13 episodes)
- Space Dandy (about 3)
No judgement about anime superfans here; I'm just not a good source of recommendations. すすめがない。
If there's time, I probably will start up Cowboy Bebop (カウボーイビバップ), in which (checks Wikipedia) bounty hunters called Cowboys go bounty-hunting in a spaceship called Bebop. Though critics have praised the series with "masterpiece" and "one of the greatest anime of all time", what hooked me is the soundtrack. A friend linked me to the title theme "Tank!", and I was quickly off to find other works by the same artist.
Yoko Kanno, composer and keyboardist, and her band Seatbelts (シートベルツ) perform the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack. The music is fantastic. Let's listen to "Time to Know ~ Be Waltz" from the album "Cowboy Bebop OST: Future Blues":
There are lyrics here, starting about two minutes in, spoken by Hideyuki Takahashi. Although YouTube commenter Hayden Samuels provided lyrics in romaji in the link above, I wanted to find kanji and kana, which are easier to read and translate. Fortunately, a Livedoor page from 2006 by user "Ｎダ" had what I was looking for.
I'll say thanks to "Ｎダ" for this, but otherwise leave her alone. We'll take a look at her profile (自己紹介), and try out a convention of providing a very literal translation (blue) and more natural meaning (orange).
それは絶対に教えない。 おまえにも教えないよ
As for that, I'm absolutely not telling you. You [impolite] also I'm not telling.
None of your business.
Something about "Time to Know" caught the attention of "Ｎダ" as well. From her page:
ビバップの映画のＣＤを聞いているわけだ
Bebop's Movie CD, listening to because.
Because I'm listening to the Bebop soundtrack CD.
"Time to know"、好きなのに何言ってるか全然わからん.
"Time to Know" even though I like, what's being said I completely do not understand. (わからん is slang for 分からない: "I don't know.")
Even though I like the song "Time to know", I don't understand what is being said at all.
日本語だということしかわからない。
It's Japanese, to say, besides that I don't know.
All I know is that it's Japanese.
よっし！聞き取り。
All right! Listening.
こういのうのなんていうんだっけ？フラ語でさ、聞き取って書くやつ
What does this mean? In French, guy who writes what he listens to. (フラ語 is slang for "French", and やつ is slang for "guy".)
What does this mean? In French, a transcriber.
Now let's get to the lyrics. Some of the meanings I can't puzzle out, and I apologize.
流れる川の水のようにどうかい？それこうかい
Flowing river's water, like, how about? Like this?
How about like the water of a flowing river? Like this?
争いの価値
value of conflict
それは人間の付加価値
that is a value added by humans
これが新鮮なたましい
this is a fresh soul (たましい == 魂)
めったにないことだし
it's rare
楽しい今を生きるそう言い切るやりきる
happy-now will live out so declare complete decisively
I'm gonna live my fun living happily
楽しみ・・・ワカンネ・・・それは嬉しい・・ワカンネ
fun... I don't know ... glad... don't know (ワカンネ is even more slangy than わからん)
(let's look at the next section)
(from romaji transcription: Tanoshii yo sore wa ureshii tsumori nai CHANGE da shi) 楽しいよそれは嬉しいつもりないCHANGEだし
It's fun. That's a change without intent to be glad...?
That's fun. Unintentionally happy change?
新鮮な気分
fresh feeling
争いを勝ち残る・・・ワカンネ
win the conflict and advance to next round... I don't know (she got it right, though)
win the conflict and advance to next round
流れるときに手をこうかいそれいいかい
In flowing time do your hand like this is good
Do you like hands as it flows?
争いを勝ち残る楽しみを勝ち残ろう！
I'm advancing past the fun of advancing past the conflict?
Let's survive the fun winning the fight!
これが新鮮な魂
This is a fresh soul
これが新鮮な魂
これが新鮮な魂
And "Ｎダ"'s comments:
こう聞こえた！
This way I heard it!
This is what I heard!
新鮮なタマシイ！
Fresh soul! (タマシイ == 魂)
Fresh soul! (more slangy)
Chords
The chords take some work to figure out as well. Here a few, starting at the lyrics portion:
Links
- "Time to Know" opening guitar tab - not quite right but pretty close
- Yoko Kanno - 7 Minutes (epic metal prog + choir bridge + ...)