A Love Song
Since You’ve Been Gone by Weird Al Yankovic, in Japanese. Because I can. And I was in a middle-school reverie earlier. Just go with it.
Since you’ve been gone
あなたから離れてから
Well, I feel like I’ve been chewing on tinfoil
僕はアルミホイルを噛んでいるようだ。
Since you’ve been gone
あなたから離れてから
It’s like I got a great big mouthful of cod liver oil
僕は肝油を口一杯のようだ。
Oh well, I’m feelin’ like I stuck my hand
僕はミキサーに手を入れて
Inside a blender and turned it on
電気を付けたように感じる。
You know, I’ve been in a buttload of pain
ねぇ、信じられないぐらいの痛みがあるよ、
Since you’ve been gone
あなたから離れてから。(Since you’ve been gone)
（あなたから離れてから）
I couldn’t feel any worse if you dropped
僕のつま先に２トンのボーリングボールを落ちても
A two-ton bowling ball on my toes
今よりも痛くならない。
(Since you’ve been gone)
（あなたから離れてから）
It couldn’t hurt any more if you shoved
赤熱のサボテンを僕の鼻に押し付けても
A red-hot cactus up my nose
今よりも痛くならない。Since you’ve been gone
あなたから離れてから
Well, it feels like I’m getting tetanus shots every day
僕は毎日破傷風抗毒素の注射をしているようだ。
Since you’ve been gone
あなたから離れてから
It’s like I’ve got an ice cream headache that won’t go away
アイスクリームを早く食べ過ぎての直らない頭痛があるようだ。
Ever since that day you left me
あなたが離れて行った日から
I’ve been so miserable, my dear
こんなにみじめで、
I feel almost as bad as I did
今の悲惨な状態はスゲェー悪いけど、
When you were still here
あなたがまだ残っていた時の方が酷かったなぁ。
I think I’ll do another over-the-top post-breakup song along the same vein from Weird Al next week. If you liked this one, you’ll like that one too. If you hated it, just avoid the next one I post too. Ha ha. I chose this one because it’s original - I didn’t want to have to explain the various modes of parody (stylistic, genre, lyrics, references) that he uses in his other material. This struck me as bizarre enough by itself. So we’ll see how it comes across, I guess. My other attempts at translating humor have been interesting, so if you missed them, take a gander. And feel free to suggest other stuff. (Already pondering a few short jokes from Mitch Hedburg. Anyhoo.)
on October 4th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
あなたから
Hmmm… How about あなたと離れてから? Is that also a possible way to put it?
on October 4th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Actually, Clay, I have no idea. I just used から because it seemed right. Can anyone confirm or deny? Dunno. I felt that から made it feel like separation, because と maybe indicates unity of action? I dunno…I don’t think that から is wrong…I just don’t know if と is possible and / or a better choice…
on October 4th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Well, Google makes と seem unlikely. But anyways, I don’t think it means unity necessarily. But that may just be an English thought pattern, like “since I broke up with you”. The with in that is not unifying.
on October 5th, 2007 at 9:22 am
Hmmm…I’ll see if I can ask a native speaker. Seems like a nuance thing to me.
on October 10th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Please tell me you’re going to post “One more minute with you”. You know, the Elvis-sounding song about all the reasons why the singer can’t stand to spend one more minute with you…
on October 10th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Man Scott…you’re clairvoyant. That is indeed the song that’s going up soon.
on October 14th, 2007 at 7:58 am
Just catching up on a few days worth of posts I’ve missed, and I love this one! Only Weird Al could do carry it off…
Loved the photos of the rainstorm approaching the big building, etc. and the world’s longest escalator. Awesome visually.
Miss you! Counting the days!
on October 15th, 2007 at 9:36 am
[...] One More Minute by Weird Al, translated into Japanese. I said I’d do it, and I did. Again, because I can. If you missed the first helping of (anti) lovey-dovey absurdity, go catch it here. [...]
on October 22nd, 2007 at 1:15 pm
[...] You blog some in Japanese. I especially like your posts translating English humour into Japanese (Weird Al’s song). What motivated you to start posting in Japanese too? Which post in Japanese is your favourite so [...]