Breaking down songs was meant to be a series of articles, but so far we've only had 1. We only had 光るなら, and at the 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
- 空 = heaven
- 今日 = Hoje
- 生まれた = to be born, to come into being
- 悲しみ = sadness
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
- 風 = wind
- 呼び = Call
- この胸 = It can be understood as my chest
- 震える = 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
- たい = Tai form, want, desire
- 運命 = destination
- 触り = To play
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 shed or the emptiness in my chest I want to fill with joy.
A better translation would be: I want to fill the void in your chest and stop your tears filling you with happiness.
- こぼれた + 涙 = Shed + tears
- くぼみを = recess, depression, emptiness
- 喜び = Joy + the particle で is something like "with joy"
- 満 = fill, satisfy, enough
It's a tender rain may this song 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
- どんなに = However, even though
- 遠くに = Far
- 離れていても = separate
- 信じてる = believe
- 伝わる = trip
The raindrops are shining beautifully.
Singing in the rain, The likes of rain, are beautiful and bright
- 雨 = rain
- しずくが = drops
- 美しく = beautifully
- 輝 = brightness, 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
- 悲しみ = Sadness
- 全部 = integer, all
- 消える = Disappear, erase, extinguish
- 世界 = World
- 動き = 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
- この景色が = this scenario
- いつの日か = Someday
- 枯れて = To dry, To wither
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)
- あふれる = Overflow
- 想い = Feelings
- 注ぎ = To fill
- 続ける = 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
- 痛み = 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
- 朝の = Morning
- 濡れた = Wet
- 大地 = Earth, ground, soil
- 蕾 = Broto
- きっと = Certainly
- 咲いてる = bloom
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
- 耳を澄まして = Listen carefully
- 柔らかな = soft, softness
- 空気 = air
- 溶けて = melt, 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 = silently
- 舞い降りて = floating down
- いつだって = Always
- そばにいるよ = 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 rain
- 想い = feelings, thoughts
- 乗せて = Gather, 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
- 何処まで = Where
- 続く = To follow
- 時 = Tempo
- 彼方に = German
- 眩しい = Intense shine, dazzling
- 愛 = love + がある = 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)
- どんな運命も = any destination
- 奪えない = 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.
- どんな悲しみも = any sadness
- 微笑 = smile
- 還る = return, refund
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.