By The Way They Dance

June 8th, 2007
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By The Way They Dance by Jump (Little Children)

And-a-one step and he’s sliding
(一、二、はい）　一歩と彼は滑る
And-a-two steps and she’s gliding
(一、二、はい）　二歩と彼女はするすると動く
3 and-a-1 and-a-2
三歩と一歩と二歩
And then they float in the air
そして、二人が空中に浮かぶ

Side to side and she shows him
横へ横へ、彼に見せる　（愛を）
Back and forth cause she knows him
後ろへ前へ、彼を知っているから
Round and round again
部屋を回り、何度も回る
All that see them can’t help but stare
彼らを見る全ての人は見詰めているしか出来ない

Cause everyone knows they’re in love
だから、皆は二人が愛し合っていることを知っている
Everyone knows they’re in love
皆は二人が愛し合っていることを知っている
Yes and everyone knows they’re in love
そうだ、皆は二人が愛し合っていることを知っている
By the way they dance
二人の踊り方によって

Cheek to cheek cause he needs her
頬っぺたと頬っぺた擦り付ける、彼は彼女が必要のように思うから
Hand in hand as he leads her
手に手を取って、彼は彼女をリードする
Face to face cause they know
顔が顔の近くに、もう知っているから
They’ll never dance alone
これから絶対に一人で踊ることにならない

Cause everyone knows they’re in love
だから、皆は二人が愛し合っていることを知っている
Everyone knows they’re in love
皆は二人が愛し合っていることを知っている
Yes and everyone knows they’re in love
そうだ、皆は二人が愛し合っていることを知っている
By the way they dance
二人の踊り方によって

By the way she moves in surrender
彼女は彼にしたがって従順に動くと
Ever so sweetly she wins him completely
優しくて魅力的で彼の心を捕らえてしまう
By the way he holds her so gracefully
彼は彼女を優美に支える支え方で
The hand that he lends her is able and tender
彼女に貸す手は能力があって優しい
Never a step to chance
不慮のできごとが起こらないように
Cause everyone knows they’re in love
だから、皆は二人が愛し合っていることを知っている
By the way they dance
二人の踊り方によって

Cause everyone knows they’re in love
だから、皆は二人が愛し合っていることを知っている
Everyone knows they’re in love
皆は二人が愛し合っていることを知っている
Yes and everyone knows they’re in love
そうだ、皆は二人が愛し合っていることを知っている
By the way they dance
二人の踊り方によって

Cause everyone knows they’re in love
だから、皆は二人が愛し合っていることを知っている
Everyone knows they’re in love
皆は二人が愛し合っていることを知っている
Yes and everyone knows they’re in love
そうだ、皆は二人が愛し合っていることを知っている
By the way they dance
二人の踊り方によって

This is really rough, so I appreciate any and all corrections for meaning. This waltz was written by a local band from my native Charleston, South Carolina. It was written specifically for their friend’s wedding ceremony. I think it’s gorgeous, simple, and sweet. It uses sooo many expressions that are difficult to translate, though. By the way, there are likely loads of errors, because my principal and vice principal got in on the translation act because they were bored. When does that ever happen? Ha ha. They took up my cause, we asked the music teacher questions, and this is the end result.

Special comment: The part of the song that says “And-a” is meant to sound like a person practicing music, in my opinion. Since it is a waltz, these words are more noises than words with meaning, and they indicate 6th notes leading into the measure. Does that make sense?

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Deas Customary Drivel, Media, Music

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  • Wow...I'm behind on responding to comments! Ha ha.

    Clay - I use a flash audio player to embed songs. That way I'm not particularly worried about breaking copyrights or allowing downloads of songs I want to feature. (Not foolproof, but you'd have to be far more determined to get at the music than a normal person, and you'd have to know some tricks.)

    まゆみ - Thanks for the input. I changed the verbs as recommended. (This was actually a point of contention between my principal and vice principal.) Good call. I agree that it looses its charm when it's translated, as do most things crafted in their mother tongue. The nuance is removed and it becomes rather mechanically explained. However, once the base meaning is understood, it's possible for someone to better grasp the feeling behind the song than if they were to miss the literal interpretation of what the song is describing. I think. (If that made any sense...)

    Chuck - Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can do it too if you sit down with a dictionary and a bored coworker or two. Nothing to brag about. :-) Still, thanks for the implied compliment. I had this song stuck in my head for about 4 days before I decided to post it. I really like it. Glad you did too.

    Mom - Same goes for you! I bet you've heard most of the harder rock stuff from JLC, but they wrote quite a few really amazing songs. Depends on the songwriter. The Matt guy tended to write about sex, drugs, or rock. Predictable. But it had a really good beat... Meanwhile, Evan and Jay tended to write introspective, romantic, charming songs. Check B-13, Cathedrals, Pigeon - which incidentally reminded me greatly of John Updike's short story called Pigeon Feathers, or Mother's Eyes. And remember that video I posted from the aquarium in Osaka soooo long ago? That was from Jump too. Might have to refresh that page to get the video to play...it's a bit archaic at this point. ;-) I miss you, Mommy Dearest, and love you too. (Awwww.) Hope I catch you sooner rather than later.
  • Mom
    Hi, Deas! Tried to find you online, missed again...Listened to this song, and I love it. Not exactly what I expected from JLC. Guess I've just heard the loud stuff. :)
    Missing you!
    Love,
    Mom
  • Nic
    I'm so envious that you can do things like this. Really neat.

    I love the fact your VP and Principal got in on the action. And I agree - sweet song.
  • What a sweet song! However it always becomes less cool to translate English lyrics into Japanese. Don't you think so? I have also tried translating some lyrics and poems on my blog. It was a lot of fun for me to do so but very time consuming to choose appropriate Japanese.

    I would say「知っている」instead of 「知る」because both are state verbs(?) but the former expresses the fact. hmm It is very difficult to explain.
  • I added this to my shared items, but unfortunately the little play button doesn't show up; you must have the MP3 inbedded a little differently than my usual fare.

    If this makes no sense to you, check out my sidebar or here: http://www.google.com/reader/s...
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