私は今週の土曜日は、ロンドンにビジネスセミナーに行っているので、今日は、録画で日本語の歌詞を勉強します。Because I am going to London for a business seminar this Saturday, so today I have prepared a pre-recorded video lesson. We will study song lyrics!
みなさん、歌のリクエストありがとうございました。
Thank you everyone who submitted song requests.
歌詞を勉強して、意味がわかったら何度も何度も聞いて、一緒に歌うと、リスニングと発音の練習にいいと思います。I think studying song lyrics, listening over and over when you do not understand, and singing along is great listening and pronunciation practice.
月に一回、日本語の歌詞の勉強をしたいと思います。今日は、絢香の「I believe」です。
I would like to do lessons where we study song lyrics once a month. Today’s song is “I believe” by Ayaka.
絢香は自分で作詞作曲していていい歌が多いですが、キーの上下が激しくて、私には歌うのが難しいです。
Ayaka writes her song lyrics by herself and she has many good songs, but the key goes up and down so it’s difficult for me to sing.
Official music video by Ayaka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJItuaykRRk&list=PL52xxqBBFC8XAH2HwnhEP1-NnHEHYroiR&index=28
Cover uploaded to YouTube with lyrics
I believe – 絢香
この胸の中に隠れてる 不安の渦
Hidden inside my heart, is a whirlpool of uncertainty
This verse is not technically a complete sentence. Here, 不安の渦 is a qualifying noun. The only verb in this sentence is modifying or describing the noun 不安の渦.
不安 = anxiety, insecurity 渦＝Whirlpool
The direct meaning of 胸の中 is “inside of my chest”, however in Japanese, it is used to mean “in my heart”.
目の前にある 自分の進むべき 道はどれか
If I have to walk on, which way do I go?
Qualifying noun = 目の前にある自分の進むべき道 The paths I should take that are in front of me
どれか？ – which one?
In daily conversation, we say, どれ？どれかなー？どれだろう？not どれか.
人に流されてた日々。 そんな自分に「さよなら」
As the streets overflow with people. I say “Goodbye” to that uncertain me.
人に流されてた日々 is qualifying noun that means “the days I was washed away by people”. Here, 私 is omitted.
We say, 川の水に流される, however, we usually don’t say 人に流される。The songs are different from daily conversation because it’s poetic.
そんな自分に「さよなら」- The word is normally さようなら but sometimes Japanese people omit う。
Also, “I say” is omitted. It could have been そんな自分に「さようなら」”を言う”
I believe myself
信じることで 全てが始まる気がするの
I know that if I believe everything and anything can begin.
気がする means “it feels like”.
信じることで means by believing.
I feel like everything starts by believing.
I believe myself
あたたかい光は まちがっちゃいない 歩いて行こう
As the sunshine warms me I walk on without failing myself because
This is a very poetic and complex sentence.
“Warm light is not wrong, let’s keep walking.”
まちがっちゃいない comes from 間違ってはいない。
I’m not quite sure what the meaning is here. Perhaps the warm light means that things are going well and she feels good, enough to keep going forward.
I believe
偽りの中でウソの微笑み浮かべて 生きる人を 幼き自分と重ねて見て ため息つく
Small lies begin to surface from the falsehoods that people create in life. As a young girl I saw the lies pile up sighed to myself.
偽り means “fiction”.
偽りの中でウソの微笑みを浮かべて生きる人 is a qualifying noun. That means, “people who show fake emotions”.
重ねる – pile up. Here it means “identify with someone”.
Then, “I” identify those people with me when I was younger and sigh.
どんな色にも染まらない 「黒」になろうと誓った
And I swore to myself to color the lies in “black”
She does not want to change her opinion influenced by others.
染める – dye
染まるーto be dyed
Some Japanese men say, “彼女を僕の色に染めたい” ーHe wants to dye his girlfriend in his color, meaning that he wants to change her personality to better suit taste.
In the past, Japanese men said younger wives are better because they are easier to manipulate in this way. I guess it’s easier to control younger women.
So I guess Ayaka means that she will never let others change her opinions.
I believe myself
信じることで 全てが始まる気がするの
I know that if I believe everything and anything can begin
I believe myself
あたたかい光は まちがっちゃいない 歩いて行こう
I believe myself, and as the sunshine warms me. I walk on without failing myself because
I believe
今 目に映る この広い空も 素直に生きる この気持ちも
Right now as the wide sky is reflected in my eyes
I think this sentence is connected to the “I believe”. There are two qualifying nouns here: 今目に映るこの広い空 and 素直に生きるこの気持ち.
I believe ”this vast sky which spans before my eyes” (今、目に映る この広い空も)
素直に生きる — I live honestly.
この気持ちも- these feelings of mine too.
I believe myself
信じることで 全てが始まる気がするの
I know that if I believe everything and anything can begin
I believe myself
あたたかい光は まちがっちゃいない 歩いて行こう
and as the sunshine warms me I walk on without failing myself because