I should be able to get started on the translations in earnest after the weekend, I'm currently busy with work/helping at the local elite high school's English club, and on top of that am translating a presentation for a coworker over the weekend.

Just Song for Hermit left to translate now. I'll get to it later on.

Updated a line in New Animal to "Without leaving behind a single speck," since it makes more sense in the overall context of the song and I wasn't sure on that part anyway.

[quote="Marekenshin"]

If the world ended tomorrow
I'd want to go see you right away
Be by my side and smile one more time

From the time we met
My heart has always, always been in pain
What do you call this unfamiliar feeling?

The night sky burns red
At the distorted horizon,
I want to quietly sing
my first and final melody for you alone

I stand in this crumbling landscape
that I've become used to
and wave my hand at a slow motion bird

The stars are all falling
and the moon is swallowed by darkness
It'll be over soon
I guess I'll sing quietly
while being blown by the black wind

If the world ended today
who would you want to see?
I'm waiting at the horizon.[/quote]

I never realized how awesome this song was. Pied Piper has been my most ignored album as of late, but it looks like I'll have to go back through and give it a listen. This song definitely has the same poignancy that I've come to expect from Sawao's lyrics.

[quote="NotSoFunnyBunny"][quote="Marekenshin"]

If the world ended tomorrow
I'd want to go see you right away
Be by my side and smile one more time

From the time we met
My heart has always, always been in pain
What do you call this unfamiliar feeling?

The night sky burns red
At the distorted horizon,
I want to quietly sing
my first and final melody for you alone

I stand in this crumbling landscape
that I've become used to
and wave my hand at a slow motion bird

The stars are all falling
and the moon is swallowed by darkness
It'll be over soon
I guess I'll sing quietly
while being blown by the black wind

If the world ended today
who would you want to see?
I'm waiting at the horizon.[/quote]

I never realized how awesome this song was. Pied Piper has been my most ignored album as of late, but it looks like I'll have to go back through and give it a listen. This song definitely has the same poignancy that I've come to expect from Sawao's lyrics.[/quote]

How do you guys distinguish these lyrics from emo preteen poetry on Myspace?

[quote="GoldenRhino"]How do you guys distinguish these lyrics from emo preteen poetry on Myspace?[/quote]

Come now, I'm sure you can distinguish them just as well as I can. At any rate, if you dislike them I can't change that. There are pillows songs that I don't like, too. I respect your opinion, but I fervently disagree with it. Let's leave it at that.

It's impossible to really get the grasp of the poetry without understanding Japanese, and impossible to really fully understand that without BEING Japanese, so even a really good translation wouldn't have the same sort of poetry to it as the Japanese lyrics do. As such, I haven't really been trying to put much poetry into my translations except in a few rare cases of songs I particularly like once in a blue moon.

[quote="Marekenshin"]It's impossible to really get the grasp of the poetry without understanding Japanese, and impossible to really fully understand that without BEING Japanese, so even a really good translation wouldn't have the same sort of poetry to it as the Japanese lyrics do.[/quote]

Right, and I think that's important. Therefore, I think it's bullshit when people read the translated lyrics (no offense at ALL meant to you or whoever's translating) and think: "Oh my god, Sawao is a lyrical genius."

A lot of this is about
- his heart being swallowed in darkness
- the eternal pain
- love going on forever
- the encroaching night/gloom
- living for you, that one person
- shedding tears because the crescent moon is dimmer because you're gone
- venturing onwards

Maybe I'm expecting too much. the pillows are a pop band, they have pop lyrics. There's no subtlety. That's fine, I listen to a lot of bands with shit-for-brains lyrics (though I wouldn't call Sawao THAT bad). I think we just need to be more fair and analyze them for what they are: pop lyrics. The vast majority of Sawao's love song lyrics are schmaltzy love song lyrics. I do not agree with the notion that he is an amazing lyricist.

Does anyone here agree? Anyone?

Strange Chameleon, Swanky Street, Hybrid Rainbow, Trip Dancer, Robotman, and bunch of their good friends would like to have a chat with you, Grey.

[quote="Marekenshin"]It's impossible to really get the grasp of the poetry without understanding Japanese, and impossible to really fully understand that without BEING Japanese, so even a really good translation wouldn't have the same sort of poetry to it as the Japanese lyrics do. As such, I haven't really been trying to put much poetry into my translations except in a few rare cases of songs I particularly like once in a blue moon.[/quote]

I don't really find your translations lackluster. You can only do as much as the lyrics allow you to. If you did any more, then the original meaning of the song might become obscured. That's how I feel, anyway. I don't really know first-hand, since I can't speak/read Japanese. I only speak French; the language of surrender.

[quote="GoldenRhino"]

Right, and I think that's important. Therefore, I think it's bullshit when people read the translated lyrics (no offense at ALL meant to you or whoever's translating) and think: "Oh my god, Sawao is a lyrical genius."

A lot of this is about
- his heart being swallowed in darkness
- the eternal pain
- love going on forever
- the encroaching night/gloom
- living for you, that one person
- shedding tears because the crescent moon is dimmer because you're gone
- venturing onwards

Maybe I'm expecting too much. the pillows are a pop band, they have pop lyrics. There's no subtlety. That's fine, I listen to a lot of bands with shit-for-brains lyrics (though I wouldn't call Sawao THAT bad). I think we just need to be more fair and analyze them for what they are: pop lyrics. The vast majority of Sawao's love song lyrics are schmaltzy love song lyrics. I do not agree with the notion that he is an amazing lyricist.

Does anyone here agree? Anyone?[/quote]

I see what you're saying now. You were being kind of ambiguous with your whole "pre-teen emo poetry on Myspace" analogy.

I don't see how labeling these lyrics as "pop lyrics" is being fair. If anything, being fair would be stripping the lyrics of genre and observing them as what all music really is: a form of poetry. Placing them in a specific category means judging them in the context of only that category, instead of the entirety of the medium. Know what I mean?

I'm sure we all have different standards for the music we listen to and the lyrics we read. Maybe mine are just lower than yours, if you want to look at it that way.

[quote="Marekenshin"]Strange Chameleon, Swanky Street, Hybrid Rainbow, Trip Dancer, Robotman, and bunch of their good friends would like to have a chat with you, Grey.[/quote]

Just off the top of my head:
[i]I've thrown away my emotions
I only want to sleep quietly
But it's so strange to be alone
The flowing tears wet my cheek
So cold, so like a robot I am
[/i]

...really? Really.

Call me raging rabid pirouzu fanboy, but in their defense, not everyone can write life-changing lyrics like Neil Peart does, but atleast Sawao tries AND he doesn't fail to deliver the [size=85]emotion[/size] behind each song in live shows and studio recordings. You have to give props to this guy, he has been delivering since 1989.

Can we see a piece of your poetry, GR?

Robotman has awesome verses. The flow of the lyrics are very awesome.

Also, speaking of 1989, that song's fucking fantastic lyrically too.

[quote="Marekenshin"]Robotman has awesome verses. The flow of the lyrics are very awesome.

Also, speaking of 1989, that song's fucking fantastic lyrically too.[/quote]

While 1989 isn't one of my favorites I do have to give props to the lyrics in this one.

also naked shuffle