Breaking down songs was supposed to be a series of articles, but we have only had 1 so far. We only covered 光るなら, and at that time my knowledge was limited, so it didn’t turn out to be a good article. Recently, our friend Luiz Rafael has been writing articles about learning nihongo with music, which reminded and motivated me to continue the series of articles. So now that I have more knowledge, let's break down songs.
I chose a song that is already present on our Facebook page Amefurashi no Uta アメフラシの歌 or Beautiful Rain, a song from the anime soredemo sekai wa utsukushi それでも世界は美し. It is not a successful anime, and the song may not be your style, but I chose it for being a bit slower, and the video quality is better than the one I intended to break down.
Below we have the video with the song and its lyrics in Hiragana and Kanji, watch the video as many times as you want, then we will break it down. Don't forget to turn up the volume.
dismembering the letter
To facilitate the understanding of the kanji below, we recommend the Insert Furigana plugin (it exists for other browsers, just search). We will not place the lyrics in hiragana, as there is the video above. We will break down the lyrics with kanji, which is why we recommend using the plugin.
Some sentences are difficult to translate with any sense, so in some sentences, we will only leave the meaning of the words, try to understand on your own the message that the sentence wants to leave.
今日生まれた 悲しみが 空へ舞い上がる
Today sadness was born and rose towards the sky
- Sky = Céu
- Today = Today
- Born = To be born, to come into existence
- Sadness = tristeza
空は目覚め 風を呼び この胸は震える
The awakening of the sky and the call of the wind stirs my heart.
- 目覚め = Awakening
- Wind = Vento
- 呼び = Called
- This chest = It can be understood as my chest
- 震える = Tremble shake
あなたを守りたい 運命に触りたい
I want to protect you, I want to touch destiny.
- 守る = Protect
- Tai = Form tai, to want, to desire
- 運命 = Fate
- 触り = Touch
Touching destiny can be understood as changing or controlling.
こぼれた涙 胸のくぼみを 喜びで満たしたいの
tears spilled or the emptiness in my chest I want to fill with joy.
A better translation would beI want to fill the void in your heart and stop your tears from being filled with happiness.
- Spilled + tears = Derramar + lágrimas
- Recess = Recess, depression, emptiness
- Joy = Joy + the particle で makes it something like "with joy"
- 満 = Fill, satisfy, enough
It's a tender rain so that this song can reach you.
With this gentle rain. Maybe this song will reach you
- 歌 = Song
- 届き = Reach, arrive
どんなに遠くに 離れていても 信じてる 伝わること
- No matter how = However, even though
- 遠くに = Far away
- 離れていても = Even when apart
- Believe = To believe
- To convey = trip
Singing in the rain, the raindrops shine beautifully.
Singing in the rain, The likes of rain, are beautiful and bright
- Rain = Chuva
- Drips = Gotas
- Beautifully = Beautifully
- 輝 = Shine, light, spark
悲しみ全部が 消えるそのとき 世界は動き出すの Please come the tender rain
The moment when all sadness vanished into thin air. This world will start to spin
- Sadness = Tristeza
- All = Whole, entire
- Disappearing = To disappear, to extinguish, to put out
- World = World
- Movement = Movement Out = Out
この景色が いつの日か 枯れてしまっても
Even if someday this scenery withers
- This scenery = Este cenário
- Someday = Algum dia
- 枯れて = To wither, To dry up
その瞳に あふれる想い 注ぎ続ける
I will continue to fill those eyes with these overflowing feelings
- 瞳 = Eyes, pupils (in a poetic way)
- Overflow = Transbordar
- 想い = Feelings
- 注ぎ = Fill
- Continuar = Continue
心をつなげたい 痛みに触れていたい
I want to connect to your heart, I want to touch your pain
- 心 = Heart
- つなげ = Connected
- Pain = Pain
- 触れて = Touch, feel
目覚めた朝の 濡れた大地に 蕾はきっと… 咲いてる
When you wake up in the morning, flower buds on this wet ground will surely bloom.
- 目覚 = Awakening
- Morning = Manha
- Wet = Molhado
- Earth = land, ground, soil
- 蕾 = Bud
- きっと = Surely
- Blooming = Florescer
It's a tending rain 耳を澄まして柔らかな空気に溶けて
Listen carefully to the soft rain dissolving in the air
- Listen carefully
- 柔らかな = soft, softness
- Air = Ar
- Melting = To melt, to dissolve
静かに静かに 舞い降りてゆく いつだって そばにいるよ
Silently, silently floating down always by your side
- 静かに = quietly
- 舞い降りて = Floating down
- いつだって = Always
- そばにいるよ = I'm by your side
Singing in the rain 私は歌う雨音に想いを乗せて
I will sing and send the sound of rain with my feelings
- 歌う = Sing
- 雨音 = Sound of the rain
- 想い = Feelings, thoughts
- Get on = , place, all strength
何処までも続く 時の彼方に 眩しい愛があるの Here come the tender rain
To continue anywhere beyond time a dazzling love. Here come the tender rains
- Where to = Para onde
- 続く = Follow
- Time = Tempo
- 彼方に = German
- 眩しい = Intense brightness, dazzling
- Love = Amor + is present = There is love, there is love
どんな運命も 結び合う心は 奪えない
No matter what our fate, our hearts united will not be stolen (or caught)
- Any fate = Qualquer destino
- Unstealable = Don't steal, don't take
どんな悲しみも 微笑んで 空へと還る
No matter how sad we are, we're going to restore the sky by smiling.
- Any sadness = Qualquer tristeza
- Smile = Sorriso
- 還る = Return, come back, restore
From there the choruses repeat and the song ends.
I hope you enjoy this song and others to increase your vocabulary. You can try to break down your songs yourself, or send me suggestions, it took me over 3 hours to do it, it's really not an easy job, but it helps a lot to study.
