Rocking in Hakata

Awesome. This is a Japanese fan-made translation of Jonathan Coulton’s humorous closing credits song for the new Valve game Portal. It has been run through a popular Japanese text-to-speech (singing voice) program, Vocaloid 2. I found it on YouTube, but am hosting a copy here just in case. Anyway, I’m just going to list the lyrics, in original English text, translated Japanese text, and retranslated English text, for comparison’s sake, after the “fold.” I hope you enjoy it.

Original Song, sung by Ellen McLain:

(I will place the MP3 of the cover before the lyrics later so you won’t need to scroll back up. No need to worry.)

Still Alive

This was a triumph.
I’m making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.
It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction.
Aperture science.
We do what we must because we can.
For the good of all of us
Except the ones who are dead

But there’s no sense crying over every mistake
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake
And the science gets done and you make a neat gun
For the people who are still alive

I’m not even angry
I’m being so sincere right now
Even though you broke my heart and killed me
And tore me to pieces
And threw every piece into a fire
And as they burned it hurt because
I was so happy for you

Now these points of data make a beautiful line
And we’re out of beta we’re releasing on time
So I’m glad I got burned think of all the things we learned
For the people who are still alive

Go ahead and leave me
I think I prefer to stay inside
Maybe you’ll find someone else to help you
Maybe Black Mesa
That was a joke. Haha. Fat chance.
Anyway, this cake is great
It’s so delicious and moist

Look at me still talking when there’s science to do
When I look out there it makes me glad I’m not you
I’ve experiments to run there is research to be done
On the people who are still alive

And believe me I am still alive
I’m doing science and I’m still alive
I feel fantastic and I’m still alive
While you’re dying I’ll be still alive
And when you’re dead I will be still alive

Still alive
Still alive

Japanese Cover, “sung” by Vocaloid 2:

I don’t know who is responsible for the subtitles - the translator or a fan of the translation, but I just reproduced them verbatim from the video. I don’t get some of the kanji / no-kanji choices, but hey - that’s a problem I’ve had for many other things. Anyway, slap a huge parenthetical SIC on the whole thing, and let me off the hook for the oddities. Thanks. Ha ha. Here we go. Enjoy.

生きてる *** 成功よ この記録を残そう 全ては私の思い通り アパチャーサイエンス やるべきことをしよう それは生きてる人だけのため 失敗するたび泣いても 仕方が無い ケーキのためにやりなさい そして素晴らしい銃出来ました 生きている人のため 怒ってないよ とても落ち着いてる あなたに殺されたけどね 引き裂かれ 火の中に投げ込まれ すごく苦しい でもうれしいよ データの点が合わさって 完全品が出来あがる だからうれしい 身体が燃える 生きてる人のため 置いて行って 私はここが良い あなたは別の誰かと それはブラックメサ なんてね冗談よ しかしこのケーキは とてもおいしい 科学については任せてよ あなたが居ないとうれしいね 私はこれから実験だ まだ生きてる人で まだここで私は生きてる 科学をするの生きてる とても良い気分生きてる あなたが死に掛けても生きてる あなたが死んでも生きてる 生きてる 生きてる

Still Alive *** It’s a success I’ll leave this note It all went as I thought it would Aperture Science Let’s do the things we should For only the living people Even if you cry when you mess up You’ve got no choice Do it for the cake Plus, we made an excellent gun For the living people I’m not mad I’m very calm Even though I was killed by you And torn apart And thrown into a fire It’s really painful But I’m happy Points of data come together We make perfect products So, I’m happy My body burns For the living people Place me here and go I’d rather be here You and someone else Perhaps Black Mesa What a joke But this cake Is crazy delicious Leave the science-related to me I’m happy when you aren’t here I’ll be doing experiments now On people who are still alive I am still alive here I am doing science, alive It feels really good, alive Even as you die, I’ll be alive Even once you’re dead, I’ll be alive Living Living

Hat Tips: Came across this cover by way of GameSetWatch, via Joystiq, via Jonathan Coulton’s post on YouTube haters (with which I wholeheartedly agree). Thanks to YouTube user flatfacex for posting the video and mp3. That covers the whole kit and kaboodle.