[quote="Spike"][quote="GoldenRhino"]MAKE IT STOP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJAjJggUoPY[/quote]

I've heard far worse covers. Gotta give him credit for trying but some more effort and actual video would have raised the production value. The english translation is never going to straight-up match to the tempo so 'cutting and pasting' the lyrics and playing the song like normal is gonna sound like shit.

Or maybe i'm just more sympathetic because I can't sing for shit either?[/quote]

this is really hard, I've tried with several songs to take translations and rework the wording to keep the ideas and images right while having a strong rhyme scheme. But it never works out to feel the same, added on top of sawao's unique tone. I've tried with strange chameleon, scarecrow, shiroi natsu, and carnival. Now the only pillows song I play for my friends is subhuman. It's probably the best english pillows song for an acoustic guitar. No substance and advice are great too.

It sucks because you have friends you want to share the messages with and emulate the feel of the music but you cant communicate it to them without showing them the translations unless they know japanese.

For an English-translated cover, that was actually pretty good. Try as I might, I really can't hate on it.

The Patricia bass one started off really good, but kinda goes off the rails once it gets to the verse. He's not playing the same thing as Kashima at all.

Ben 10. I can't hate on him at all. He did a hell of a lot of a better job than I could have with an acoustic guitar and some vocal cords.

I'm pretty sure that GR owes us a cover of MM about now.

On a side note, I guess we all have higher standards for things we know and love, but in reality, we should be encouraging pillows fandom instead of criticizing efforts at it. I'd rather see a shitty cover than none at all. I mean, I sure as hell won't watch it, but the more the merrier. Furthermore, people who are likely to post pillows covers are, you know, likely to lurk and/or join our community, and I at least like for people to introduce themselves before tearing them a new one.

I do appreciate the effort, and it could have been a lot worse. It's just that I really really hate it when people just read the translated lyrics sheet and somehow [i]expect[/i] that the meter/rhythm will line up and make sense. It does not work when you take two to say what Sawao said in six.

It's a lot harder to conform a translation to an existing meter than it may seem (which is significantly harder than merely translating the meaning, in my opinion), and it sounds [i]a lot[/i] worse to [i]us[/i] (the pillows elite!) than it really is, because of our familiarity and expectations for the song (not that I'm saying he did the best job here - just not as bad as our ears tell us). Even when I am writing original music, changes (or even [i]improvements[/i]) may seem far worse at first listen, because I am already used to my original design. In fact, sometimes I may never fully get over it, even if I know that it is, in fact, an improvement. This is also why the first version (usually the original) of a song usually sounds better, unless the song's style is changed significantly.

[quote="GoldenRhino"]I do appreciate the effort, and it could have been a lot worse. It's just that I really really hate it when people just read the translated lyrics sheet and somehow [i]expect[/i] that the meter/rhythm will line up and make sense. It does not work when you take two to say what Sawao said in six.[/quote]

He did a better job than many, even rearranging and altering to create some rhyme patterns and stuff.

[quote="sheerheartattack"]It's a lot harder to conform a translation to an existing meter than it may seem (which is significantly harder than merely translating the meaning, in my opinion), and it sounds [i]a lot[/i] worse to [i]us[/i] (the pillows elite!) than it really is, because of our familiarity and expectations for the song[/quote]

I understand it's hard, I just don't think it should really be attempted unless you can pull it off well. And honestly, I wasn't aware of much of the translation of Ladybird Girl before hearing this song (I remembered a few lines though), so lyrically I didn't see a huge disconnect or anything. I see what you mean about how it's going to sound worse than it really is, because we're comparing it to how Sawao constructed the Japanese original...but still, there just seems to be something *off* about direct translations regardless of how the original sounded. Words hang and are elongated way too often - there's a certain musical quality that's lost.

edit: like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhmsy5o9WAA#t=1m20s

I'm sure there's a diverse range of opinions on this subject, but personally I have no problem with re-arranging some words and/or taking a slightly looser translation when trying to sing it. Of course, this works better if the person who wants to sing it is also the translator and understands the original language...

[quote="ThinlineTele"]I'm sure there's a diverse range of opinions on this subject, but personally I have no problem with re-arranging some words and/or taking a slightly looser translation when trying to sing it. Of course, this works better if the person who wants to sing it is also the translator and understands the original language...[/quote]

In addition to this, my advice, not that anyone's listening, would be to not worry about rhyming. The songs get by without it (admittedly rhyming is not very interesting in Japanese) - so why make it harder on yourself and add it in?

Hikaru Utada's 'Hikari' versus 'Simple and Clean' (Japanese vs English version of the same song) is a decent example... IIRC the notes do differ a bit, and the lyrics to each are virtually unrelated which does make it a lot easier.

[quote="ThinlineTele"]

The Patricia bass one started off really good, but kinda goes off the rails once it gets to the verse. He's not playing the same thing as Kashima at all.[/quote]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvsvyJ1o_jU
This guy is good...

[quote="Johnny"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvsvyJ1o_jU
This guy is good...[/quote]

It's not bad, but the tone is just all wrong. Sounds like really crappy generic metal distortion that loses so much of the dynamics of the song. There are several parts he could improve by just watching manabe play the live version, and his playing is a bit sloppy and could use some tightning up. He's obviously have a ton of fun and thats what matters, but if you're gonna do a cover of a song like Naked Shuffle and put it up on Youtube, you better be sure to bring your A-Game.

Timing seems to be off by just a bit fairly frequently, but he nails a couple parts pretty well too. I actually like that tone for that song, myself lol.

He kinda made the song his bitch, and had fun with it.